During her visit to Manneken Press in February 2017, Brenda Zappitell created twenty seven monotypes. This was the first foray into printmaking for Zappitell, a painter known for her use of exuberant colors and vigorous brushwork.
Zappitell synthesizes her observations of nature, the concept of Mindfulness or awareness of being in the present moment, and life experiences with aspects of automatism and action painting to form a hybrid abstraction for the 21st Century.
The artist began each print with a plate rolled with a uniform color ground of ink. She established initial forms by making intuitive marks with silver ink, which functioned as a neutral tone, and further developed the image with additional colors and gestures. Many of the prints were complete only after multiple passes through the press, creating a layered richness of color. The “ghost image” left on the plate was often utilized in subsequent impressions. Metallic particles added to certain inks impart a shimmer to the finished works.