Printmaking updated

Does anyone remember the blog post way back in February, where I explained the current series of prints? If not feel free to read it again: link

It's now December and I recently put the last of my monthly prints up on the website. An image of Cowes, it's original photograph was taken in June 2008 during Cowes week.

Sunny Cowes 2011 drypoint on tissue paper, handcoloured

Since starting printmaking at South Hill Park I've learnt a great deal. I've had to put it on hold during the last term due to financial and time pressures, but hope to get back to it in the near future.

Since last I spoke about it, the reasoning behind the prints has not changed at all. However after doing 14 different images I felt I wanted to explore other ways print could be used within my practice. Print after all has a great variety of processes, some of which suited the postcards on tissue and others that didn't but had other intriguing qualities.

As well as drypoint, I learnt how to etch plates which was one of the few processes I had done once previously at University. It worked quite nicely for the postcard prints, two plates were made using this method, a Venice and a Southwold image.

Beautiful Venice 2011 etching on tissue paper, handcoloured

The display of the tissue prints was an issue until I came across clear frameless acrylic frames from Muji that are both extremely unobtrusive and very clever. I would have them suspended in front of a window allowing the transparent qualities to shine through. Obviously in a home setting this isn't always entirely possible, after exhibiting them recently in this fashion I now understand the rate that the inks lose their colour. This can be only a matter of months for obvious discolouration, so in a home setting you might want to actually hang them out of direct sunlight, maybe even in a different sort of frame that has UV protective glass.

Southwold Beach Huts 2011 etching on tissue paper, handcoloured

There were two other print processes that while they didn't work for the postcards on tissue were very interesting nevertheless.

Solar plate is a process that uses a photo sensitive layer on a metal plate. It is then exposed to light through a transparency printed with your design. The black areas on the transparency stop the light while the pale areas let light through. When gently washed in warm water the areas that were protected from the light wash away, leaving an indentation. In many ways the process is like etching and drypoint, where it is the worn away areas that hold the ink and produce the black areas.

The results tend to be a very close to a photographic reproduction of the original image, and it was for this reason that it didn't suit the tissue paper postcards. When shrinking the original A4 drawings down to A6 size, then computer printing for the transparency, the small imperfections that make it look like a drawing are lost. When printed as a solar plate, while beautiful, they looked too much like a computer manipulation rather than a drawing. This was too close to the mass produced nature of the postcard for me.

Sunny Brighton framed at South Hill Park Student Open exhibition

Polymer Plate Lithography uses a plasticised paper that you can transfer an image onto. The action and method of transfer changes how areas of the plate react to water and oil. On the transferred image water is repelled and the oil based ink can adhere to the surface, while on the white portions the water stops the ink from sticking. (This may be a little inaccurate, I'm only just getting my head around the concept).

Like solar plate, the images are photographic transfers, rather than hand “drawn” like etching and drypoint. Unlike solar plate the images have to be far more graphic and less tonal. This method does not deal with grey areas well at all.

Beautiful Venice framed at South Hill Park Student Open exhibition

Both of these processes have some very interesting qualities, so some of my most recent prints have been looking at starting a new series that uses these photographic qualities along with the notion/subversion of the postcard. I also have another project in mind that will utilise the polymer litho but both projects are in very early stages. Another development has been the use of coloured inks as well as black.

I have however used all of the above processes in my sketchbook for the Sketchbook Project, which is nearing completion and will require it's own blog entry very soon.

Secrets - Part Deux

So another secret project is enough off the ground to talk about.
Secret project 4 as I have said is printmaking based. Taking inspiration from (as usual) postcards and touristic imagery and using a monoprinting process called drypoint I have recreated a selection of my drawings into black and white prints.

It took a little while to hit on drypoint as a good process for what I wanted. I tried a woodcut but the result was too blocky. Trying to recreate a fine line using a relief process is not at all easy. However, drypoint is a process where you etch lines into a sheet of perspex (or metal, but perspex is cheaper and easier) using a needle like implement. The ink then sits in the grooves you have made and is transferred to the paper when pressure is applied.

Original Photograph

So why make prints of drawings? Well I love the drawings, but sometimes I'd also like to see them with colour. Now I'd never want to colour them as they are because it would dirty the concepts and reasons for them having among other things, black skies. However I was particularly intrigued by the process of printing and it's ability to recreate images on many surfaces. So taking inspiration from my drawings I created drypoint plates from them.

After thought, I hit on the idea of taking my postcard imagery back to it's roots. This meant creating postcard sized prints of drawings that were originally created to subvert the postcard image. The size aspect of my work has always been part of the subversion, the paintings are giant postcards and while the drawings probably take more from tourist posters and their scale is less of an issue, they also have links with postcards and as such are also far too large to be realistically postcards. But it was important that they really resembled postcards because I had found another way other than size to subvert the postcard.

Drawing version

My initial idea took some time to pull off. I knew that I wanted to play with the postcard itself rather than the associated imagery. I already had the imagery, but what else was there to subvert that would also fit in with the desire to take them back to postcard size. The answer seemed obvious when it hit me, material, however while printing on normal paper was no issue and produced some really interesting results printing on anything else I had in mind was fraught with difficulties. However in the end I managed to produce a good result printing onto tissue paper.

So why tissue paper? Well most importantly was the aspect of fragility inherent with it. Tissue is so easy to tear and crumple, and doesn't stand up well to damage of any kind. It would not cope with being posted, transported, put through machines or any or all weathers. It is also quite transparent and so trying to write on the back would obscure and alter the image.

Drypoint Plate

As I said I wanted to colour these images as well. I really wanted to see what effect reintroducing colour into an initially monochromatic drawing would have. It also seemed natural to add colour and make it resemble traditional postcards even more. Initially I have chosen to hand colour as I could control the colour better than I could using printing processes (I am a painter after all). I wanted to use drawing inks to maintain transparency and depth/clarity of colour however it also meant that the inks were not light fast At first I thought this was a problem but actually it added another dimension of fragility to the postcard print. I did know that I wanted the colouring to be as much as possible block colour, tone and line being defined by the print. As such the colour of the sky was an issue, do I have it black or do I introduce a stormy apocalyptic sky? However I realised that strangely these skies should be blue, unlike all my other works. Blue skies meant that block colour was easy and they looked even more like traditional postcards.

Print onto paper

Like all traditional printing techniques you don't get exactly the same print twice. With drypoint I have been getting quite a variation in strength of line. Each time you print you need to reapply the ink and prepare the plate. As such the surface sometimes has more ink left and sometimes less. No prints are the same, especially so when you also start to hand colour them.

The first attempt at hand colouring was almost disastrous as I didn't realise that the shellac based ink would dry and stick to the paper underneath the print. As such I had to very carefully peel the print off the paper. Since then I paint sections fast, move the image frequently and dry them hanging on a rudimentary washing line.

Millennium Dome Print on Tissue

So why have I only started doing prints? Well the last time I had access to a good print studio was back at university (2003-06). Back then, while I picked up a few techniques, I was also only just understanding what this obsession with postcards was and was concentrating on getting the paintings right. I can do this now because I have found the wonderful resource that is the Printmaking Studio at South Hill Park Arts Centre in Bracknell, Berkshire. I signed up to a course because I needed the experience of full time printmakers to assist me. Currently the Artist Printmakers in Residence are Chris Smith and Holly Drewett but I've mainly been working with Holly, who is a star even if she keeps trying to get me to print in colour :P

So future plans for the prints.

Well as you may have seen from the website already I have prints on there right now. I plan to release a new one every month so stay tuned. I need to look further at ways to frame and exhibit them and I am thinking about other print process other than drypoint that I might use. These would have to be processes like drypoint to achieve anything a finish that is anything like the original drawing, but could be etching or solarplate.

Final Coloured Version