Wimmera Monoprints

Wimmera Monoprints

These small monoprints, generally 150mm x 100mm (although some are as wide as 220mm) were made and printed en plein aire in the Wimmera region in the North West of Victoria. Each print is unique and is made by placing ink on a copper plate using a variety of tools including brushes and fingers, rags and smudge sticks. Some of the brushes used are extremely fine or badly damaged. Each brush has a particular mark making characteristic. The plate is inked at the remote scene depicted and then taken back to the printing press in a van and printed.

The years 2005-2008 were in the middle of the decade-long drought. The lakes had dried out and the farmers’ dams were empty; the surface of the earth was dry and brittle. These monoprints document that difficult and arid period.