Moon Dogs

I am still very busy with the moon project and last week started making some monoprints to get some more experience with this form of printmaking. 

The proposed series is developing from the idea of the moon as being a constant thing, the same quiet sphere hanging in our sky for centuries, changing very little. What has changed are the theories, knowledge and ideas which we have formulated around it or discovered about it.

So I am keeping some consistency about the moon in the prints and changing its surroundings to reflect some of my own research findings.
If nothing else it’s a good exercise in monoprinting which is very unpredictable. I made a mask to keep the prints the same size, decided to use only black and white and cut some moon masks of the same size.

Knowing how unpredictable it is I decided to do as many as I could in a day using different tools and pressures and papers. I think I stopped at about 40, threw lots away and had about 20 to play with.
Inevitably some worked well, some did not, but all this is experimental so that’s fine.
To start adding some content to the basic prints I went on to cut some simple card shapes to ink up.

Many animals and myths and misconceptions are associated with the moon, so here, for a start is the dog howling at the moon.
In black….

and in white….