This turned out to be the most difficult subject so far. It all started with my idea of using leftover paper scraps from the last series and try out what I could do with strips of torn paper, used as masks. I thought I might develop a subject using backdrawing on top of an imaginary landscape or cloudscape.

I prepared paper stripes to fit over the plate in portrait format, and started the series very simple by making some prints with yellow ink. The first prints looked interesting. I played around with placement of the strips to include horizontal straight lines or not, and tried out different arrangements. The yellow ghost prints and the prints off the plate without masks were too light so I decided to lay them aside. I continued with a two-colour plate, a gradient from yellow to read, and then proceeded to purely red layers which I printed over the earlier yellows. Over the next day I also printed in blue and blue-red gradients. With these darker colours, the ghost prints and prints off the plate looked more interesting and I kept these for printing additional layers.

Then I took some time to consider how I might further develop the image idea. I was thinking about backdrawing, maybe a still life or a self portrait. So I proceeded with a first backdrawing on one of the multicolour prints. I chose a potted rosemary and drew from life, on the balcony. Despite liking both the coloured background and the drawing separately, I wasn’t overly satisfied with the result, because there was no connection between the background and the drawing.

  

I wasn’t quite sure what to make out of it and tried a self portrait next, choosing a print with softer colours with the idea that then the two techniques might blend better into another. I found this one indeed better than the first. Actually the print felt very personal, and I was able to interpret lots of meaning into it. It was about “a person in the clouds”, dreaming of being somewhere else and living a different life. I think there’s some potential in this subject, but I did not want to pursue it further for this series right now. I just wasn’t in the mood of drawing more self portraits, it felt too personal.

  

Instead, I got back to an interesting photo I recently made during a lunch break at work. I wanted to try out my camera and how well it was able to capture dark foliage against a bright sky. I quite liked the idea of using this photo as a source for a backdrawing on a coloured background, and having the coloured stripes represent a multicolour sky.

But looking at the result, I felt again that the coloured background and the black backdrawing marks did not work well together. The subject was hardly recognizable and the black ink looked just muddy. As a fourth subject, I tried a small still life of a pitcher and a bowl of fruit. I selected the most colourful of my background prints and took care to have the plate only lightly inked to avoid accidental smudging. Indeed the lines are very crisp and fine, and I made well defined shadows. Only, they don’t look good on the background because one can hardly see them.

  

I also pulled prints off the backdrawing plate which looked quite interesting, but they were too dark to be used with my coloured backgrounds. I might have cleaned the plate partially but decided not to because I wanted to see the effect in its entirety. Maybe they’d look interesting with a second backdrawing layer of black lines on top, but I didn’t want to explore that further for now.

       

At this point I was questioning the entire approach for this series, because nothing seemed to work as intended. I took a day off to gain some inner distance and reflect what I might do with the topic, or whether I’d rather switch subject completely.

Choosing the skyline topic

I liked the skyline topic best and thought it had some potential, so decided to continue with that one. I’m not exactly sure where the idea came from, but I thought making a solid overprint might work better than backdrawing, because the overprinted areas would be strong enough to compete with the colourful background. At first, I used one of the backdrawing plates and cleaned up the sky area, then made a ghost print on top of one of the fainter prints. The result was promising. I then made a mask to avoid having to clean up the plate all the time, then printed the silhouette over all my coloured backgrounds using that mask.

I selected three of these prints to add a backdrawing of the foreground foliage and trees as a third layer.

     

But I found that backdrawing simply did not work well, and then decided that I’d just leave my other prints as they were. These are the remaining prints of the series:

I find them quite atmospheric and like the dark silhouette against the colourful, textured background sky. The series takes up a subject I started earlier in part 1, skylines. I guess I’ll get back to this subject in the future again. It’s what I see every day when I go outside. Although I’d prefer living in the countryside, I do acknowledge that the highrises have a special beauty to them. Choosing this subject also means to sort of accept that I’m living here.

For this series, I had chosen a new paper: Bright white, 90 gsm acid free printer paper. I bought this paper on the internet because it was relatively inexpensive and I wanted something to try out ideas which wouldn’t fade as newsprint does. The bright white worked well and made the colours shine, but otherwise I wasn’t too happy with my choice. It is indeed good for trying out ideas, but I think I prefer heavier paper for good prints.

Reflections on my learning

I think this series made me aware that I can make nice prints by simply plaing with the techniques and colours, but that I need to develop actual ideas for the image I want to create. I think I got stuck with this series because I started out with a technical idea, but had no concept for the image. As soon as I had decided on the skyline topic, I found it much easier to evaluate the prints and decide on how I might improve them.

Before starting project 4, I was slightly intimidated by the task of having to devise 4 different subjects. In earlier courses, in particular the drawing course, I struggled with overly prescriptive course materials that left no space for developing one’s own subjects – only in part 5 there was some more freedom. Now having to develop four different substantial topics was a big step from there. I highly value the opportunity and think this is vital for development as an artist. But it’s tough!

Now I think I need a small break to get myself together before tackling series number 4 of this project.

Materials
Ink: Akua intaglio
Paper: 90 gsm bright white, acid-free printer paper (too light for my taste)