botanical monotypes – Monique Day-Wilde

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Workshops

22 January 202322 January 2023

I’m very please to say that my printmaking workshops have been very well received and I will do a few more this year – my next one on Saturday 28th January.

“Wilde Impressions” – An Introduction to botanical Printmaking

In introduction to Botanical Printmaking on paper, I teach some of my printmaking techniques using physical plant specimens and a home-made gelatine plate. I share tips on inks and the recipe to make your own gelatine plate. Inks and paper will be supplied. If you’d like to print on fabric, please bring your own. Fine cotton suits these techniques best.

Includes materials (not fabric), and refreshments.

Please contact me if you’d like to join this or any other workshop that’s coming up. You can download a workshop schedule for the first quarter of the year here.

TextileArtist.org Stitchclub

14 January 2022

Early in 2021 I was delighted to receive an invitation from TextileArtist.org to do an online workshop for their online membership stitchclub. I happily agreed and was told I could do anything I wanted to. I had to get a proposal together to give them an idea as to what I wanted to do and there lay the difficulty! I am a serial experimenter and love to try all sorts of things so it was tricky to whittle it down. In the end, I had to ask myself what is at the core of everything I do and therein lay the answer – botanical printmaking. There are many, many ways to make prints, so I chose the simplest way I could think of with the least amount of equipment, which was easily accessible across the world. As most of the members work in stitch on fabric, I used fabric paint/fabric printing ink as the medium and my preferred substrate – paper. As a mixed media artist, I use collage in a lot of my work, so there was step two and then of course, nothing is complete without stitching! A workshop was born. Read more “TextileArtist.org Stitchclub” →

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Artists Interview

10 January 202210 January 2022

My interview on Textileartist.org is up on their website – read more about my process and details of some of my work. I’m so excited to be presenting an online workshop for the members of the Stitchclub. Unfortunately membership is closed for the moment but subscribe to their really interesting newsletter which will give you a heads-up when membership is open again. There is a subscription box on the interview page. Leave a comment here or there and I’ll do my best to answer soon.

Blog

Portrait

30 December 202130 December 2021

Even taking the dreaded lurgy out of the picture, it’s been a tough year – the toughest. I’m not always sure how I manage to keep making work but somehow it’s what saves me, time and again. It’s a valuable lesson to keep creating, in spite of circumstances – it’s very definitely therapy. I may not be creative every day but there is generally something on the boil to keep me moving forward. I have found in the last couple of years that I am stitching into my work more than I ever have – perhaps an analogy for keeping things together.

The South African portrait award was held again this year, hosted by Rust-en-Vrede Gallery in Durbanville, despite losing their major sponsor. All kudos to the team for keeping things going under very difficult circumstances. I took the plunge and entered my stitched self portrait with the title “Every Woman in me is Tired!” Read more “Portrait” →

Blog

Flight of the Bumblebee

1 March 202130 December 2021

A valuable part of my process is walking. Besides being good for your health, it’s good for the psyche too – and Scout, our dog would never say no! I’ll often sit and do a quick sketch or watercolour but collecting samples is also an important part of my practice. I pick up all sorts of things, from dried leaves to rusty bits and pieces and Fynbos too from which I make monoprints. Most of my work starts with printmaking, whether it be a print with stitching, a collage, or painting – and I’ll often experiment with different papers, including teabags. Read more “Flight of the Bumblebee” →