Experimental Monotype Drawing Class

Ready to loosen up your drawing practice and explore a more intuitive way of making images?Making monotypes using drawing is fast, tactile, and wonderfully unpredictable—a chance to make images that feel alive the moment they touch the page.In this energetic, hands-on workshop, we’ll explore several expressive monotype approaches, including trace monotypes, additive monotypes, and painterly monotypes, all created simply with your hands, pressure, and intuition.Using soy-based Akua inks, you’ll work from magazine images, your own drawings, or natural history objects from our studio collection—seed pods, shells, driftwood, and other coastal treasures—to generate immediate, responsive imagery.Monotypes have been around since the mid-1600s, when artists like Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione began drawing directly onto inked plates to create one-off prints. Later, artists such as Edgar Degas, Paul Gauguin, and Henri Matisse embraced monotypes for their spontaneity, using the process to capture movement, gesture, colour, and atmosphere in ways traditional printmaking couldn’t match.Today, monotypes are a favourite in contemporary art for their gestural freedom, fluidity, and immediacy. Because you don’t need to carve, etch, or prepare a plate, monoprinting opens space for creativity, experimentation, and intuitive mark-making.It’s a process that encourages you to respond directly to the moment—perfect for artists who want to loosen up, explore new ideas quickly, or reconnect with the joy of drawing.

group_add

Save $10 when you book with a friend

By the end of the session, you'll take home a series of experimental drawings with the skills and knowledge to experiment more at home. Read more details