For the first attempt, I went back to the penguins motif. The first was made using the sketch on top of the paper and tracing it with a ballpen. The second was made on top of an existing monochrome print in yellow. I had some trouble figuring out how to obtain a traceable image to put on the back of the paper, and the final very simple solution was to place a sheet of tracing paper onto the original and draw the contours. This could be reversed and then used as a guide for the backdrawing. The third was a ghost print from the plate after the second backdrawing. The fourth was another backdrawing directly onto an older monochrome yellow penguin print, this time the negative shapes. I drew not only the contours, but also made a layer of marks to transfer blue into the positive shapes.

I then experimented with a third colour, violet. I made a backdrawing onto the ghost print of the very first blue backdrawing. The ghost print is in monochrome violet.

Then I made a multi-colour layered print: First a yellow backdrawing, then a violet backdrawing, and then a blue layer to colour the penguins and tint the background up to the edges of the plate. The series concluded with another ghost print, made from overprinting the yellow ghost with the violet ghost.

I then made some backdrawings from life. I chose a dried tulip in a pot, which I had kept because of its very bizarre but interesting shapes. I made the backdrawing and a ghost print.

Next I made a backdrawing of my cat Gina while she was sleeping on a stool. Without re-inking, I made another backdrawing of dried roses in a vase, and then a ghost print from the plate. The roses are very difficult to read. I think all the backdrawings from life look very interesting, but would need some reworking.

Reflections on the process

I had some trouble with the Akua inks, because they were so transparent. In particular the blue tone, which was ultramarine pigment. I mixed it with transparent base to obtain a thicker ink, but the pigment was so thinly spread that hardly any blue transferred onto the paper. It was only after several adjustments by adding more and more liquid ink that finally at least a moderately intense tone was achieved. Similar difficulties appeared with the other colours. I tried to improve the intensity by adding the liquid pigment directly onto the plate, but this caused a very irregular inked plate. I realized that this must have been the “viscosity effect” – inks of different viscosity repel each other. I’ve seen a tutorial where this effect is used to create printmaking effects. I did not further explore the effect this time, but maybe will in the future.

The quality of the line resulting from backdrawing is very interesting. The resulting prints have a very special appeal. I also like how the ink transfers around the line. The effect is difficult to control and adds an element of chance to the print. Backprinting from life is also an interesting technique although I found it difficult to handle practically. Making a second backdrawing from an already used plate wasn’t so successful because it further blurred the effect of the soft lines, and the resulting drawing is very difficult to read.

I think I’d like to further experiment with the technique when reworking prints that need a linear element. I do have some in the Clematis series where the effect might greatly improve the overall result.