“Final Outcome” for Print-making Project

I ended up using this print for my “final outcome” I do like the print however I just don’t really like having to call something a “final” piece. Nothing is ever complete in my eyes. So much more could be developed from this project however I am happy with what I have achieved in the time. During this project I have been thinking about what I could do for my next project. A lot of ideas have sprung to mind and there has been a lot of influence from the visuals I have been exposed to in the print room. I shall speak about these thoughts and ideas more in my next post.

Print Experimentation

Below are some of the experimental pieces I produced whilst trying to get to grips with the lithography print-making process and developing some ideas for a final print.

These are some of the prints I made using a plate developed from the sound drawings I initially created in the drawing project for the background and then printing a photograph I took of an iris in the botanic gardens (with the petals taken out) over the top of it.

I wasn’t really thinking about colour at this point so I just used whatever inks were out which other people were using.

I thought these prints would turn out better than they have. It may be the colour that is putting me off them but I think its more the boldness of the background appearing through the overprint.

These prints appealed to me a lot more. There’s something subtle about the print underneath but also the strong contrast between the man made rails and the floral image. The railings almost become part of the flower providing a pattern for its petals. Even though this appears as something visually appealing; the fact that the railings are providing  some visual “beauty” to the flower is quite sinister seen as though man is ultimately destroying nature all of the time !

In my very first experiments with lithography I used the original Iris photograph. I decided on these developmental prints to use the  original photo plate again to produce some backgrounds to print onto.  The second floral photo plate I created was ideal to do this as I had cut some sections out on Photoshop meaning when I printed a different colour over the top of the full original print the original colour and detail from it would show through the sections I had cut out. I think these have worked really well, however it doesn’t really convey the contrast between man and nature I have been looking at. I therefore decided to continue producing some prints using the railings photograph and the Iris photograph (with sections cut out). Because there wasn’t really much time left after I had produced a lot of these experimental prints I needed to really come up with what I could produce as a “final outcome.” I never like the idea of final outcomes however I needed one so I then decided to produce some more thought out prints using specific colours.

I decided to use an orange rusty colour for the railings and then a more natural colour ( blue/green) for the overprint. The print above was produced on newsprint so appears a lot bolder than it does on paper. This was another thing I had to think of ! Paper ! I started experimenting with a few different ones and came to the decision that the thinner paper worked best (even though the quality of the paper wasn’t so great !). I really liked the prints I produced on a sort of grid like texture – I’m unsure whether you can see this on the image below but it gives quite a nice feel to the print. 

^ Grid-like texture this paper seems to give. 

I also started thinking “why can I not print onto a more textured surface?!” and therefore looked at printing onto pieces of paper I had collaged with advertisements – resembling a surface covered in torn posters etc (a well known man made image!) . I wish I had more time to experiment with this idea however I only produced a couple of these last minute and I never really had time to develop them further.

Apologies for the wonky photographs ! Lol !

Waterless Lithography

OK so I’ve never really done any printmaking before which is why I chose to do this project ! I decided to carry on with my theme of Man / Nature and the contrasts etc.

I have managed to do some test prints using this method of lithography which have come out quite successful and I can really see the potential in using this method !

I have carried on with the idea of drawing sound but also how to combine this with natural elements. Below are some experimental pieces I’ve been playing around with on Photoshop. I first scanned in one of my “sound drawings” which I have also worked into. Then I overlaid a floral image on top in which I had cut the petal sections out ….revealing the drawing underneath.

I plan to use this same method in producing my next series of prints. Firstly by printing a drawn onto lithographic plate and then printing a photographic one over it with the floral image (and sections cut out) on top of it - hopefully this will work but lets just wait and see ! Printmaking can be so unpredictable !

One of the Sound Drawings I worked into in my sketchbook

Floral image (with petal sections cut out) overlaid on top of sound drawing using Photoshop.

Same image but smaller Photo – giving a border of the sound drawing.

David Byrne

http://www.davidbyrne.com/art/art_projects/playing_the_building/

Drawing Drawing

So this week I’ve been getting on with a drawing project. In this project we have literally been asked to question “what is drawing?” and think a lot deeper into why we draw and the ways in which we draw certain things. Like the previous project - so far this has been a real eye opener ! We were told to go on an hour long walk and basically think of how we would draw things and what especially stood out and appealed to us and yet again what was it for me – the contrasts between man and nature !

I don’t know why but this thought / notion of the strong contrast between man and nature just keeps coming back and back into everything I do. It’s not necessarily what I want to do….it’s something which I always just become so inspired by and pick up on all the time. I try to get out of my comfort zone by trying not to go back to it but it doesn’t work. However this is not necessarily a bad thing as there are always new techniques and ways of working in which I can challenge myself whilst working on this theme. For instance at the moment I have been producing quite detailed drawings / paintings of natural objects whilst creating free “blind” drawing-esque drawings of sound (in particular the noises of cars passing by / the constant noise of the roads) around these detailed natural visuals.

I’m really enjoying this way of working at the moment. The control of producing detailed natural visuals – which seems to be some-what relaxing and therapeutic. But also the freedom of producing “sound” drawings in quite a loose way. It seems ironic that the more free / organic drawings are actually of something created by man whilst the more controlled and restricted way of working is of something organic and natural. It almost flips the idea on it’s head however the contrasts do still exist – even if in the opposite way to normal !

Although the drawings of sound I have produced so far have been quite successful I plan to experiment more with this idea as I think a lot can be achieved from it. I’ve been looking around the web and have come across some pretty interesting stuff about “visualising sounds” something which particularly interested me was this TED talk by Evan Grant on “cymatics”

Unfortunately this is only a one week project. I would’ve loved to carry this on and explore even further however I can always use what I have learnt again in future projects as I’m sure I will return to this theme once more and also use the technical skills I have gained during the time working on this topic.

Ron Mueck

Ok so I’ve now finished my digital project. Although I’m not entirely impressed with my final outcome I’ve learnt so so much from creating the film so this is more than enough for me !

A few days ago I visited Aberdeen…mainly to go out with one of my flat mates who lives there, however I had the next day to look around the city. As I was walking around I came across Aberdeen Art Gallery and obviously had to go and have a look inside. I was expecting all the usual traditional artworks, however on entering the pieces on display were a lot more contemporary than I expected !

Tracey Emin’s neon text pieces , Alison Watt’s beautiful realist paintings of draped fabric which I have always wanted to see in the flesh and most impressive and astounded of all: Ron Mueck’s hyper realist sculptures.

Ron Mueck had a variety of his sculptures on display however most breathtaking was his sculpture of a new born baby. However it was no regular sculpture…the baby was of much larger scale and very intimidating to look at for a long period of time, but also beautiful in a way ! It was extremely realistic and had the umbilical cord still attached. I’ve never seen anything like it and was completely blown away and inspired.

Obviously I’m very glad I decided to nip inside of the gallery. Although there was not tons of stuff to see, from what I did see I was very inspired by. It was my kind of artwork which I was not expecting on first entering the space !

Next week I think were doing some sort of drawing project….not to sure what this is yet as were on reading week atm but hopefully it should be good ! I’ll be glad to get back into some drawing !

Man-made Disaster

Film I made for Uni project "From Still to Life". First film I've ever made and first time I've ever used Final Cut / Soundtrack Pro ! Such complicated programmes but such amazing ones at the same time.......being introduced to these programmes / way or working has opened up so many possibilities for future work it's actually mind boggling !!

The film is pretty self explanatory so I'm not going to go on explaining what its about...I'll leave it up to you =)