Outwardly, the graphic medium may resemble painting, but the structure of the creative process is entirely different. In painting, the gesture acts directly — the hand guides the brush, and the mark appears instantly, in response to an impulse. In printmaking, the crucial stage is the intermediary one: the matrix. The act of creating an image through an intermediate medium — the process of “matrixing” — compels one to think ahead. The artist doesn’t see the result immediately; they must trust the process, reading it, in a sense, in reverse. The matrix is not a passive carrier — it has its own texture, its own memory, it offers resistance. When we incise with a drypoint needle, apply aquatint, or build the relief of a collagraph, each of these actions involves working with matter that responds to our gestures differently than canvas does. This introduces an element of reflection — and sometimes uncertainty — that can itself be creative. Techniques such as monotype or collagraphy carry within them the potential for accident and surprise. Through that, they teach humility toward both material and process. Thus, matrixing is not merely a technical stage — it is a key moment in the formation of the image. The way an artist thinks about the matrix translates directly into the language of their printmaking.