It has been quite some time since I completed project 3, I had to make a break to work on other things. I’m not happy about having to make breaks because it really interrupts the flow of ideas and experimentation with techniques. But in the future, I will avoid making a pause in the middle of a course like this time. It’s much better to make the break when there’s a natural break, as after completing an assignment.

Coming back after two months is hard, but it’s for the first time that I really appreciate my extensive writing on the blog. This permitted me to find my way back relatively easily. I’ve now compiled a brief summary of the exercises and techniques explored so far, including inspirations and ideas from research and exhibition visits. So I feel ready to tackle project 4, where we are supposed to find four different subjects and employ and combine suitable techniques for each subject.

I extracted the following central elements of the task description

“Find four contrasting subjects that lend themselves to different techniques
–        Make preparatory sketches and drawings to work out composition and ideas
–        Print on a range of different papers
–        You can overprint a monoprint several times to create layered textures
–        Keep textures simple and be bold with masks
–        Try out different colour schemes for a subject
–        Combine two or more printmaking techniqes

I’m actually feeling overwhelmed by too many instructions, so I guess I will try to break it down and start with simple ideas, then develop these further.

An array of techniques and ideas

From my coursework for part 1 so far, I identified the following ideas and techniques from which I might draw in project 4:

Project 1, Painted monotype: Direct painting on the printing plate, making marks with a brush and painting from life

Project 2, Positive and negative masked monoprints.

•  Starting with drawings of simple shapes that can be cut out as a positive and negative mask set.
• Discovered a basic printing sequence of four prints from one masking setup. 1) Printing the masked plate, 2) Making the ghost print of the masked plate (works better with a press and/or damp paper), 3) Printing from the inked side of the mask, and 4) Printing off the plate after peeling off the mask (experiment whether this works better with or without the ghost print)

Project 3, multicoloured masked prints and variations

• Printing with positive and negative masks combined, using multiple colours, accurate alignment (registration) versus deliberate misalignment, overprinting to create more colour variation
• Using textured objects to create patterns in the inking plate. Discovered process: Placing textured objects onto the inked plate and running the setup through the press, to create the textured plate, then take the print from the plate
• Backdrawing: Impressing lines or shapes on the backside of a sheet of paper placed on an inked surface. This creates a transfer image on the front side of that sheet
• Discovery: selective inking and wiping off ink before printing of multiple layers

Additional ideas from research and exhibitions

From the research on Linda Germain: Using a gelatine printing plate for special effects: printing without a press, using simple found objects as masks, cutting the inking plate into unusual forms, reductive cutting into the plate. Permits printing of large formats without a press as large plates (A3 or a bit larger) can be created inexpensively, although larger sizes become increasingly difficult to handle and store (in fridge)

From the Degas research point: Inking the plate and taking off ink by scratching, wiping, etc with a variety of instruments (subtractive technique). Combining this with adding ink back on the plate (additive technique)

From the Matisse research point on cut-outs: Using thin cut out lines to clarify elements of a bolder shape or to separate objects

From the Paul Gauguin exhibition visit: Exquisite backdrawing and painted monotype examples