I have now completed the first of the four final prints to complete module One of the five modules together with sketches and drawings and notes but I am far from satisfied with the results.
I started off wanting to do a print of the inside of an old barn but the stencil I cut was too fiddly for this type of basic mono printing. It might work with block printing or screen printing but not mono printing.
What I ended up with was a representation of a tractor in part of a barn which is not quite as spiritually uplifting. Also whilst I did some good experimentation with layering of transparent colours over the top of others to get interesting colour effects the overall colour combination was quite naff! It was well printed for me with good regristration of interlocking shapes and a relatively flat application of colour but it fell short of what I aspired to.
The conclude, there was no subtlety. It strikes me that if you go for subtlety in monoprinting you need to look to the accidental brush marks and textural effects you get from second generation prints.
I realise I need to re think my approach to the remaining three images of this module. I had neatly planned what they were going to be about but now I think I need to create new ideas for images from the textural effects I am getting, in other words working more closely with the medium.
Monday, 5 July 2010
Thursday, 1 July 2010
Southbank Printmakers Exhibition
I went to the Southbank Printmakers exhibition yesterday which was in the crypt of St Martins in the Fields off Trafalgar Square and liked the venue and the work. Many of the printmakers who exhibited also had work at the Bankside exhibition I went to recently.
It was a good exhibition with a high standard of work by professional printmakers. The group also run their own gallery on the Southbank near the National Theatre which I must go to at some point.
I think the most useful thing for me is to see how much progress I am making with my printing technique and to be honest I am a long way from being good enough, that said I am still experimenting whilst these printers have already worked out their preferred method of printing and then just improved it over the years.
I also know what sort of prints I like and as I refine my taste it will help me in the artistsic choices I make with my own work.
I recently picked up a copy of Printmaking Today Magazine from The London Graphic Centre which featured an article on the printmaking of Henry Moore who is one of my all time favourite artist/sculptors and I really must buy a book of his prints or go to the forthcoming exhibition of his work or both.
Finding out what the printmaking network is and plugging into it has been quite hard but I am getting a feel for what is going on.
I'm also getting more and more bits and bobs, particularly inks which I try out for various effects. I recently saw a printing demonstration done with black, cyanne, process yellow and process magenta which is the way commercial printers do colour and I've bought these colours with a view to doing the same. Using an extender I make very transparent colours and layer them over each other to get other colours. I really like the transparent effect which reminds me of watercolour.
I have also bought a large tube of Rowney medium which enables me to mix ordinary oil colours and use them as printing inks which is an approach to colour that I am more used to because I can just use my existing oil palette and the paints in my box which I know how to work.
I am on track to finish the first of the five modules by the end of July but the progress I am making is still agonisingly slow, I will have taken seven months. But there is no alternative if I am going to learn the lessons I need to learn to produce degree standard work, I am afterall teaching myself a completely new skill.
It was a good exhibition with a high standard of work by professional printmakers. The group also run their own gallery on the Southbank near the National Theatre which I must go to at some point.
I think the most useful thing for me is to see how much progress I am making with my printing technique and to be honest I am a long way from being good enough, that said I am still experimenting whilst these printers have already worked out their preferred method of printing and then just improved it over the years.
I also know what sort of prints I like and as I refine my taste it will help me in the artistsic choices I make with my own work.
I recently picked up a copy of Printmaking Today Magazine from The London Graphic Centre which featured an article on the printmaking of Henry Moore who is one of my all time favourite artist/sculptors and I really must buy a book of his prints or go to the forthcoming exhibition of his work or both.
Finding out what the printmaking network is and plugging into it has been quite hard but I am getting a feel for what is going on.
I'm also getting more and more bits and bobs, particularly inks which I try out for various effects. I recently saw a printing demonstration done with black, cyanne, process yellow and process magenta which is the way commercial printers do colour and I've bought these colours with a view to doing the same. Using an extender I make very transparent colours and layer them over each other to get other colours. I really like the transparent effect which reminds me of watercolour.
I have also bought a large tube of Rowney medium which enables me to mix ordinary oil colours and use them as printing inks which is an approach to colour that I am more used to because I can just use my existing oil palette and the paints in my box which I know how to work.
I am on track to finish the first of the five modules by the end of July but the progress I am making is still agonisingly slow, I will have taken seven months. But there is no alternative if I am going to learn the lessons I need to learn to produce degree standard work, I am afterall teaching myself a completely new skill.
Thursday, 3 June 2010
Royal Society of Printmakers exhibition at Bankside Gallery 22nd May
I went to this exhibition expecting to be impressed by the work of the best printmakers this country has to offer but came away rather underwhelmed. I will give a more detailed log of my favourite works later (yes there were some I liked!) but this entry is a more general reflection. The Bankside Gallery is ideal for this sort of specialised exhibition being a 'professional' space in an area of heavy footflow and big enough to exhibit small to medium size graphic works so the exhibition experience was always going to be satisfying.
There was a steady flow of the general public through the exhibition in the two hours I was there and the Society had provided a demonstration of etching by one of the members which attracted a good deal of attention. The fact that this was done at all is interesting because it shows how little the idea of Print has permeated the public consciousness and how useful and entertaining such eduction is.
For most people it's all Art and how it's made is of secondary interest which raises the question, "What was this exhibition about?", was it about ideas, or decoration, or was it about technical ability?
I felt the exhibition was too much about technical ability and how proficient the members were at their particular discipline rather than how Print can express ideas in a unique way that other mediums cannot.
On my own progress I have spent the time since my last entry developing a series of prints using stencils, both positive and negative, from an initial life drawing session using a pregnant model. These drawings morphed into a boxer! It was a good solid shape for making stencils and anyway the point of the exercise was to explore the possibilities of layering and offsetting stencils with colours and of introducing textures to the inked plate.
Some of the prints were successful and some were more experimental but still useful. I thought the textural effects achieved by back drawing were particularly useful.
On a separate note I wanted to make a printing press using angle iron and a car jack which I can use for small scale relief prints and having designed such a press I constructed it and experimented with blocks of lino about 4" square using plant leaves as stencils. This actually produced some very clear and well defined prints but I am still experimenting with registration and getting a completely consistent and flat spread of ink.
Using larger bits of lino didn't work because the pressure didn't extend to the outer edges giving an inconsistent layer of ink but I can build up larger images in a patchwork of smaller prints if I design my images cleverly.
I am really looking forward to the last part of this module which will involve using all the techniques employed so far in producing four finished pieces. I would like to do some horses and the inside of an old barn and some landscapes similar to ones I saw at the Printmakers exhibition.
There was a steady flow of the general public through the exhibition in the two hours I was there and the Society had provided a demonstration of etching by one of the members which attracted a good deal of attention. The fact that this was done at all is interesting because it shows how little the idea of Print has permeated the public consciousness and how useful and entertaining such eduction is.
For most people it's all Art and how it's made is of secondary interest which raises the question, "What was this exhibition about?", was it about ideas, or decoration, or was it about technical ability?
I felt the exhibition was too much about technical ability and how proficient the members were at their particular discipline rather than how Print can express ideas in a unique way that other mediums cannot.
On my own progress I have spent the time since my last entry developing a series of prints using stencils, both positive and negative, from an initial life drawing session using a pregnant model. These drawings morphed into a boxer! It was a good solid shape for making stencils and anyway the point of the exercise was to explore the possibilities of layering and offsetting stencils with colours and of introducing textures to the inked plate.
Some of the prints were successful and some were more experimental but still useful. I thought the textural effects achieved by back drawing were particularly useful.
On a separate note I wanted to make a printing press using angle iron and a car jack which I can use for small scale relief prints and having designed such a press I constructed it and experimented with blocks of lino about 4" square using plant leaves as stencils. This actually produced some very clear and well defined prints but I am still experimenting with registration and getting a completely consistent and flat spread of ink.
Using larger bits of lino didn't work because the pressure didn't extend to the outer edges giving an inconsistent layer of ink but I can build up larger images in a patchwork of smaller prints if I design my images cleverly.
I am really looking forward to the last part of this module which will involve using all the techniques employed so far in producing four finished pieces. I would like to do some horses and the inside of an old barn and some landscapes similar to ones I saw at the Printmakers exhibition.
Tuesday, 20 April 2010
Haven't handed in my first module yet after eight months which has caused me to take stock. I don't like having a non existent tutor that you can't interract with but then if I haven't sent any work to her yet what do I expect? I don't like the on Line learning log although I chose it because it's not my preferred way of doing things (I like note books) but I wanted to get outside my comfort zone. On top of this printing is a completely new technique I am painstakingly trying to learn and I am also trying to achieve a quality of work that matches that I did for my Watercolour course for which I got an 'A' which is unrealistic (or is it?) considering I spent years learning how to paint water colours before I ever started the OCA course.
To be fair to myself I have had a slipped disc and sciatica this autumn which was a distraction and at the end of February I lost my job which initially I thought would give me more time but I actually spent most of it worrying and looking for a new job, which I have now found. Also my band have had some dates abroad and some recording to finish which has meant time rehearsing and writing material.
So I now find, after 8 months, that I have completed Project One of Module One of a five module course ie. a fortieth of the overall course!! Having said this the course is supposed to take 400 hours and the project I have done 10 hours but I have spent nearly 50 hours on it.
What have I to show for this time? About 30 A3 monoprints and a series of preparatory sketches and photographs which isn't bad for the time spent. I have at least 2 prints I think are quite good. I've also got to grips with the inks, the rollers, the techniques of this type of mono printing and worked out how to do things like registering. I've also done some things like stencilling that are part of later projects. So none of this is wasted and will pay dividends later on.
The next two projects are about mastering stencilling techniques using a single image which I should be able to complete quite quickly as it requires very little creative development other than in originating the image.
The image I have in mind comes from an excellent life drawing session I took part in recently with a pregnant female model. I generated several very interesting drawings which I will refine to a single outline for use as a stencil.
The final project in this module requires me to produce monoprints using the techniques in question from four diverse subjects. This will involve much more creative input so whilst I am completing the two stencil projects I need to be thinking in parallel about ideas for the final project.
The Royal Society of Printmakers exhibition starts at the Bankside gallery on 7th May and it would be great to finish the stencil project by then so that I can use the exhibition as a stimulus for the final project.
The bad news is that between now and then I have a new job to start and an Art exhibition to organise for my local Art Society plus framing my own paintings. Nothing I can't handle.
Taking impetus from the Bankside exhibition (for which I will include an entry in this log) I want to spend a lot of time, maybe May, June and possibley July completing project four. I want the work for this project to be up to the standard of my watercolours ie. exhibitable.
The next Module, which is basically introducing Linocuts, I'd like to finish by the end of September, spend the rest of 2010 doing Module 3 (Advanced and Experimental Relief Prints) and then I have until the end of Setember 2011 to complete Modules 4 and 5.
So completing the course and getting an 'A' is still possible!
To be fair to myself I have had a slipped disc and sciatica this autumn which was a distraction and at the end of February I lost my job which initially I thought would give me more time but I actually spent most of it worrying and looking for a new job, which I have now found. Also my band have had some dates abroad and some recording to finish which has meant time rehearsing and writing material.
So I now find, after 8 months, that I have completed Project One of Module One of a five module course ie. a fortieth of the overall course!! Having said this the course is supposed to take 400 hours and the project I have done 10 hours but I have spent nearly 50 hours on it.
What have I to show for this time? About 30 A3 monoprints and a series of preparatory sketches and photographs which isn't bad for the time spent. I have at least 2 prints I think are quite good. I've also got to grips with the inks, the rollers, the techniques of this type of mono printing and worked out how to do things like registering. I've also done some things like stencilling that are part of later projects. So none of this is wasted and will pay dividends later on.
The next two projects are about mastering stencilling techniques using a single image which I should be able to complete quite quickly as it requires very little creative development other than in originating the image.
The image I have in mind comes from an excellent life drawing session I took part in recently with a pregnant female model. I generated several very interesting drawings which I will refine to a single outline for use as a stencil.
The final project in this module requires me to produce monoprints using the techniques in question from four diverse subjects. This will involve much more creative input so whilst I am completing the two stencil projects I need to be thinking in parallel about ideas for the final project.
The Royal Society of Printmakers exhibition starts at the Bankside gallery on 7th May and it would be great to finish the stencil project by then so that I can use the exhibition as a stimulus for the final project.
The bad news is that between now and then I have a new job to start and an Art exhibition to organise for my local Art Society plus framing my own paintings. Nothing I can't handle.
Taking impetus from the Bankside exhibition (for which I will include an entry in this log) I want to spend a lot of time, maybe May, June and possibley July completing project four. I want the work for this project to be up to the standard of my watercolours ie. exhibitable.
The next Module, which is basically introducing Linocuts, I'd like to finish by the end of September, spend the rest of 2010 doing Module 3 (Advanced and Experimental Relief Prints) and then I have until the end of Setember 2011 to complete Modules 4 and 5.
So completing the course and getting an 'A' is still possible!
Monday, 15 February 2010
Saturday 13th February
Tried out my new oil based inks on Saturday. What a difference. The drying time is mach slower so you can work it longer and paint back into a plate that's been used over and over again to get more textural and gradiated effects.
Mixing the ink with linseed oil changes the quality again and makes it flow more easily.
I did some cats which are ok but I need to work out my colour schemes more which I will I be doing this week, I also need to absorb what I have learned and put it into practise next time. So I'm going to pause for a while.
What I can do in the meantime is try some of my still lifes but using oil inks and maybe smaller than A3 for a change.
At the start of my work on Saturday I tried messing around with blue circles in oil based ink to simulate water. The circles got smaller nearer the top of the paper to create recession. I then thought I could paint these over some orange gold fish and it would look like goldfish in a pond so I did some and put them to one side.
After about three hours on other work I had the idea to use gestural marks done in water based ink over the top of the oil based (because obviously it would resist the water) and to try to get that fluid feeling that you get with using very wet ink. I was pleased with the result which is quite abstract yet recognisable as fish in a pond. I have shown it here.
The colours worked really well and my learning from this is that I need to make better colour choises to get the most out of my ideas. I'm going to collect examples of great colour combinations from magazines and put them in my scrap book for reference.
Mixing the ink with linseed oil changes the quality again and makes it flow more easily.
I did some cats which are ok but I need to work out my colour schemes more which I will I be doing this week, I also need to absorb what I have learned and put it into practise next time. So I'm going to pause for a while.
What I can do in the meantime is try some of my still lifes but using oil inks and maybe smaller than A3 for a change.
At the start of my work on Saturday I tried messing around with blue circles in oil based ink to simulate water. The circles got smaller nearer the top of the paper to create recession. I then thought I could paint these over some orange gold fish and it would look like goldfish in a pond so I did some and put them to one side.
After about three hours on other work I had the idea to use gestural marks done in water based ink over the top of the oil based (because obviously it would resist the water) and to try to get that fluid feeling that you get with using very wet ink. I was pleased with the result which is quite abstract yet recognisable as fish in a pond. I have shown it here.
The colours worked really well and my learning from this is that I need to make better colour choises to get the most out of my ideas. I'm going to collect examples of great colour combinations from magazines and put them in my scrap book for reference.
Tuesday, 9 February 2010
Print Workshop - Saturday Morning 6th Feb, Ipswich
As a surprise birthday present my sister in law bought me a lino cut workshop. I was sceptical at first but it turned out to be one of the best birthday presents ever! The tutor was Dale Devereux Barker who is a fellow of the Royal Society of Painter Printmakers amongst other things and he really knew his stuff.
He fined us £1 if we referred to the inks as 'paint' and used profesional lithographic printers inks which were very viscous and oil based. He showed us how to roller out the ink until it stopped making that sticky sound and became satin in appearance. We then applied the ink to blank blocks of lino and printed them on proper printing paper using a hand press. We then over printed using stencils made out of paper or found objects like feathers.
I was amazed at how precise the printed images of feathers were and how flat and even the printed colours were. Of course you can go on to use second generations of print from the same block or spray vegatable oil onto the block or contaminate it with talcum powder to give special textured effects too.
What made it all work, unlike my own attemps at home, was a subtle combination of using the right inks. in the right way, on the right paper and with the right press. I have to admit that I have been finding water based inks very frustrating as they dry too quickly and give a very poor quality print (unless that is the quality you want).
Also we worked very small, Dales view being that the larger you go the less consistensy you will acheive because most of the pressure from the press is in the centre. He showed us some of his own work done with lots of small, blocks combined to make a larger print and this is something I will try.
For the second half of the morning we worked on cutting the lino to produce images and then going back to the block and removing more lino and printing again in another colour. Reduction method.
I also found that where I had marked the lino with red felt pen it came out on the print and this is a technique I will use also.
Following the course I tried to get some oil based inks from an art shop and managed to get a small tin of White. I have since tracked down the supplier and ordered five more colours.
I tried buying some professional lithographic ink from a company I tracked down on Google but they seemed almost reluctant to sell it to me saying it probably wouldn't dry if I didn't use a proper printing press! I find this hard to beleive and have contacted Dale to find out who he gets his inks from.
Dale suggested that I get in touch with print firms in the Watford area where I live and ask if I can dive into the skip that they throw their empty print tubs into. Apparently they usually leave quite useable amounts in them and this could be a useful source of free ink. So I'm off to Watford Printers Ltd.
I'm also going to get some proper printing paper from John Purcell Paper in Stockwell as I feel the extra fine and shiny, brilliant white cartridge paper I have been using is probably hindering my efforts.
I don't think the printing I have done so far has been wasted, I just think I should be aware of the characteristics of both water based and oil based inks and use both, in combination if necessary, where a prticular effect is required.
I've posted some of Dales work here as I like it very much.
He fined us £1 if we referred to the inks as 'paint' and used profesional lithographic printers inks which were very viscous and oil based. He showed us how to roller out the ink until it stopped making that sticky sound and became satin in appearance. We then applied the ink to blank blocks of lino and printed them on proper printing paper using a hand press. We then over printed using stencils made out of paper or found objects like feathers.
I was amazed at how precise the printed images of feathers were and how flat and even the printed colours were. Of course you can go on to use second generations of print from the same block or spray vegatable oil onto the block or contaminate it with talcum powder to give special textured effects too.
What made it all work, unlike my own attemps at home, was a subtle combination of using the right inks. in the right way, on the right paper and with the right press. I have to admit that I have been finding water based inks very frustrating as they dry too quickly and give a very poor quality print (unless that is the quality you want).
Also we worked very small, Dales view being that the larger you go the less consistensy you will acheive because most of the pressure from the press is in the centre. He showed us some of his own work done with lots of small, blocks combined to make a larger print and this is something I will try.
For the second half of the morning we worked on cutting the lino to produce images and then going back to the block and removing more lino and printing again in another colour. Reduction method.
I also found that where I had marked the lino with red felt pen it came out on the print and this is a technique I will use also.
Following the course I tried to get some oil based inks from an art shop and managed to get a small tin of White. I have since tracked down the supplier and ordered five more colours.
I tried buying some professional lithographic ink from a company I tracked down on Google but they seemed almost reluctant to sell it to me saying it probably wouldn't dry if I didn't use a proper printing press! I find this hard to beleive and have contacted Dale to find out who he gets his inks from.
Dale suggested that I get in touch with print firms in the Watford area where I live and ask if I can dive into the skip that they throw their empty print tubs into. Apparently they usually leave quite useable amounts in them and this could be a useful source of free ink. So I'm off to Watford Printers Ltd.
I'm also going to get some proper printing paper from John Purcell Paper in Stockwell as I feel the extra fine and shiny, brilliant white cartridge paper I have been using is probably hindering my efforts.
I don't think the printing I have done so far has been wasted, I just think I should be aware of the characteristics of both water based and oil based inks and use both, in combination if necessary, where a prticular effect is required.
I've posted some of Dales work here as I like it very much.
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