Monday 7 February 2011

Critical appraisal of reduction lino cut in 3 colours and black




I have included the original sketches of the rusty shackle I chose to make a print from and I think it attracted me because of the subtle purple and rust colours and the interesting shape, I ignored the background (more on that later!)

I carried out a series of A3 drawings in black felt pen and some coloured drawings in an effort to sort out how I was going to print the image. I planned it but changed the plan several times in the process (see notebook) I think I made the right decisions because I was trying to rescue the print which I thought was not working out as well as I would have liked.

I decided to use a rocking motion with a large broad tool to create the texture of the pebbles in the background and on reflection this was a mistake. I also chose to do an initial print in process yellow which I thought would create a bright airy feel but actually ended up dominating the other colours. By removing so much lino in the background with my initial cuts I created too much white. I would have done better to use a subdued grey colour and only remove the highlights of the metal work with my first cut.

Also by using the rocking motion to create jagged, strict diagonal lines I have created an extremely lively background when it should be subdued.

Apart from the use of yellow the remaining colours worked well, I was particularly pleased with the use of oil paints as ink to print the rusty red colour which came out with a pleasant transparent quality which I will value in future prints.

I also feel the image could have been transformed if I had used one of my more lively sketches in felt pen rather than the sterile, almost mathematically produced drawings I ended up using.

I bought some BFK Rives paper and whilst it was lovely it was extremely expensive and I'm not sure it justified the expense. Fabriano seems a much more cost effective option and remains my favourite.

Of the eight original prints, I ended up with three that were of suitable quality and as the brief only required two I used one to experiment with subduing the background using watercolour washes. This was not successful.

In conclusion I have met the requirements of the brief and some of my print making technique has improved enormously, I was particularly proud of the orange print and kept an example as part of the work I am submitting to my tutor. But my design let me down.

What have I been up to then?



Since my last post I have been working on the Advanced Relief Print projects. I decided to spend at least a month just researching and working in my sketch book on the theme of erosion. This took me to an ancient Victorian cemetery and led to distressing bits of paper with bleach, it's still very much a work in progress but I used one photo from it, of an old rusty shackle, as the basis of my lino cut.

I have included the full entries from my note book as I completed the project, on a separate page.

My original thinking for choosing the theme of Erosion came from reviewing an old sketch book which had taken some black and white photo's of Brompton Cemetery and then extended with collage to cover A3 sheets (see pictures included). I liked the textural qualities I had created, the crumbling masonry, ivy and disfigurement of angels by the elements. When I tried to push these ideas in my sketch book I found it difficult and ran out of steam somewhat. I will come back to it later and may even use some of the images in my final relief prints.

I also felt that this course requires me to explore printmaking not themes like Erosion in an abstract way. That doesn't mean I shouldn't continue my sketchbook explorations as new ideas emerge but I shouldn't feel bad about using an image I generate simply for it's suitability as material for a print rather than to illustrate something I feel about 'Erosion'. In short the course is about Print.