This painting is part of a series of new floral monotypes I began early this year. Early in the 90s I became interested in printmaking and dabbled in a variety of techniques — woodcuts, monotypes, collagraphs and serigraphs. I took a workshop class with noted Iowa artist, Wendall Mohr. He encouraged the class to produce serigraphs, an easier method to make original copies of your design. I found it to be a very time-consuming technique; monotypes suit my work better.

I cut some bright coneflowers from our garden and put them in a Ball jar and painted a simple still life. Working from my sketch, I place it under a sheet of glass the same size and paint with acrylics directly from the sketch. I use many different soft printmaking papers, which are dampened first and taped alongside the glass to stay in registration. I paint the shapes in sections. It is an additive process and I love the painterly results — and I can use the sketch again, perhaps using different colors. On occasion, I do overpaint colors for added depth.