Working into Prints

I decided that prints that were neither great or unsuccessful could be used to work back into. The two prints above have been worked on with watercolours as experimentation for what to do with my final prints. The results aren't exactly what I was expecting. I suppose, in a way, I had greater expectations of how these prints would look with a wash of watercolour in them. I am not particularly happy with how they look. The first print looks a little messy and kind of dull. The other print on the right isn't too bad - definately the best of the two. I think the limited use of colours makes it more visually interesting than the other and the bolder ink lines emphasise the print aspect of the piece. I guess if time management wasn't such a problem, I would have spent longer with applying the watercolour and continued to work back into them to make improvements.

Unsuccessful Prints

These are the prints that didn't exactly turn out as planned. Prints can be unsuccessful for all sorts of reasons and the ones above each had their own problems as to why they didn't print well. The first didn't have enough ink applied to the plate which is why the lines are faint and the print itself looks light and pale. The reason for the second print looking the way it does, is because not enough pressure was used from the printing press. That's why that print is also pale. For the final print, the ink was applied un-eavenly to the tile causing smeares of thick ink to appear on the paper. I still displayed these prints in my sketchbook as they show that not all prints turn out great and it gave me the opportunity to acknowledge the reasons why they aren't always successful.

Displaying Prints

The remainder of my prints (those that haven't been mounted onto foam board) have all been put on display in my sketchbook. Each have been mounted onto black card with a 5mm border to help emphasize the shape of the prints. I thought a lot about the size of the card because I didn't want to distract too much from the prints themselves. I do think I have been successful in creating an equal balance as I don't think the amount of card used does distract from them.

Artist Reference: Graham Sutherland

 

In the pitch, Kim mentioned Graham Sutherland as a reference for my work. He wasn't someone I was familliar with but he had been mentioned to me a couple of times and now was a good opportunity to take a look at his work. I'm not too sure what to make of it. I've taken a look at his paintings and admire his loose, expressive paint quality but his prints don't relate to my work at all. However, I do think his painting technique will come in useful when working into my prints. It is something I plan on experimenting with to see if the results are successful or not.

Read about Graham Sutherland at http://www.graham-sutherland.com/ or take a look at his paintings and prints at http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/graham-sutherland-om-2014.

Artist Reference: George Shaw

As well as his paint quality, it's contemporary artist George Shaw's thought process that influences me. His paintings are all based on a two mile radius from his childhood home in Coventry, with the content being of buildings that he has rather fond memories of or strong connections to. The majority of his paintings are made up of mainly browns and greens - very earth-like colours. The one above however, slightly different from his usual work, has obvious similarities with one of the many photographs I took myself.

This acrylic and biro combination was created for the earlier project, 'Grids, Layers and Reflections'. After Richard had a look through my work in that project and my sketchbook for this one, he noticed the similarities instantly. Although it needs quite a lot of work, I think this is a great example of developing work from artist research. The painting has been made up of similar colours and the blocks of colour seen in Shaw's painting and mine are both easily visible so I think I achieved my goal for this particular piece, with the option of working back into it to make improvements.

Working on Wood

This small piece of wood (16.5x10cm) was a found object which I thoought would come in useful for this project. I have had it for quite some time but never been 100% sure about what I should do with it. A fellow student suggested it would be ideal for a painting and that was always my intention. Looking back through my sketchbook work, it seemed to me that a 'Mitzie Green-style' painting would suit the material best.

Working again in a similar style to her, and using similar techniques, I planned to create a painting from one of my own photographs. Two large pieces of newspaper were used to cover the board for working back on top of. The majority of my paintings in this project have been watercolours so I went back to using acrylics for this particular piece as this will work better with the combination of materials seen above.

This piece developed in the same way as previous paintings based on Green's work in my sketchbook. The acrylic paint was watered down before being applied to the wood, so that the newspaper remains visible, creating an interesting look to the piece as a whole. I rather enjoyed painting on wood and think the results were quite successful. I think more time could have been spent on the painting for it to look it's best but this was more of experimentation with the combined materials to see how they worked together. My next step is to produce a similar painting on a larger scale (A3 size) to see if that too, will be as, if not more, successful.

Stepping out of the Sketchbook

With the project soon coming to an end, it's about time I thought about working beyond my sketchbook and focusing on other pieces. The photo above shows the various materials I intend to work on, all of which vary in size so that I have a range of pieces which will accompany my sketchbook by the end of the project. I have thought a lot about the materials I intend to use. For example, my prints have been mounted onto foam board becase I think they'll have more of an impact than if they were placed on card. Also, some paintings will be on board because they provide a more interesting texture and look than they would on paper or canvas. I have chose materials I am comfortable with and what I personally think works best for the pieces as a whole.

Wash of Watercolour

This watercolour is preperation for working back into my prints, as well as continuation from my research on Ian Potts. The light, slightly expressive feel is what I want to incorporate into my detailed prints as a way of creating an equal balance of realism and expressionism. The more layers of colour added, the more depth is given to the painting. I intend to work back into this to make the piece as a whole a lot stronger, as I don't feel I have achieved this well here (see the final photo above).  

Plans for Prints

My original plan was to mount some prints (approximately eight) on an A1 sheet of black card but after suggesting to Kim that they might have more of an impact mounted on a thick layer of foam board, she agreed and said it would be more interesting to do that. The 'Garage' plate was my favourite of the three, definately the most interesting, which is why these prints are based on that subject and on observation, these were the most successful prints. The three prints differ in tone and I plan to display them in order of light to dark after working back into them. The watercolour I plan to add will strengthen the prints and I will darken the watercolour as I go along working in each print. In a way, this will show the devolopment and progression of one piece that will also stand as three pieces individually (if that makes sense).

Dry-Point Prints

To my delight, the majority of my dry-point prints dried clear and visible made up of strong, solid lines. Experimenting with the pressure on the printng press and altering how much ink I applied to the plate, meant I was able to find a good way to produce prints of this quality. However, not all prints were succesful. Some of the earlier prints from the smaller tile on the left didn't turn out very well. A thin layer of ink on the plate is to blame for the faint lines in the prints. Although, on the plus side, they could be used further If I worked back into them to create mix-media pieces.

Printing Processes

Me applying ink to the dry-point plate.

When printing from my dry-point plates, I used a variety of techniques to produce prints that have different line qualitites to them. With some, I added a thick layer of ink and raised the pressure on the printing press to create a bold print where as for others, I applied a thinner layer of ink which created a lighter-lined print. The prints themselves were printed onto plain white cartridge paper so that I can work back into some of them with watercolours when they are dry.

Recreating Potts' Paintings

'The Quays at St Martin'

Ian potts isn't that well-known for his work but, in my opinion, his contemporary watercolours are visually stunning. I was particularly drawn to this painting above when looking on his blog. The similar colours and blending of the watercolours look incredible and the contrast of the reflections seen in the water sort of divides the piece in an intersting way.

The photos above show the development process of the watercolour recreation of Potts' painting. I didn't want the two to look identical but I have used similar colours and worked back into the painting numerous times as Potts does himself in his own work. As the painting progressed, I was more and more happy with it. I am pleased with the end result and think the colours used in this painting work really well together. His limited use of colour works really well in his original painting and I wanted to work the same way in recreating the watercolour.

Artist Reference: Ian Potts

Thanks to this project, I have found myself comfortable with using watercolours, paints that I have rarely used in the past. They are easily accessable and when used in a drawing, can look incredible. A great example of this can be found in the work of contemporary artist Ian Potts. He adds layers and layers of watercolour to his paintings which creates depth and an interesting blend of colour within his work. I particularly like how his paintings have a kind of even balance between realism and expressionism. I admire his unique style and brush technique as, in my opinion, the results are just incredible.

 

 

'The Spa Bath, Bath' 2004 57x57cm

"Potts' insistence on drawing is a fundamental feature of his land- and city- scapes and in many of his images buildings anchor the view. However, the depth and limpidity of his washes, layer upon layer sometimes, give the real substance to his paintings".

Source: 'British Art: A Walk Around the Rusty Pier' book.

'St Mark's Venice' 2004 57x77cm

The photo above shows the early stages of a recreation of one of Ian Potts' paintings. I have tried to create this watercolour using a similar style hoping to create that equal balance of realism and expressionism. Upon reflection, I have noticed that I need to be looser when applying my brush to the page in order to make my painting a little more expressive.

Take a look at more of Potts' work on his blog: http://www.ianpottsartist.com/

Exploring Simple Media

Theses sketchbook pages were used as a chance to experiment with simple media in preperation for printing. Just one section from a photograph was used as the focus point of the drawings. The biro drawing was a quick way of recreating the look that a dry-point print could create and the light wash of watercolour in the second drawing gave the detailed pen-work a softer, lighter feel to it. The final one, made using acrylic paints, was intended to be quite expressive but the final outcome is maybe too messy for what I hoped to achieve. Perhaps I worked back into it, It would look a little better. Experimenting with these materials was useful for deciding upon which type of media would be used in future work and what simple materials work well.

Using Watercolours

 This recreation from one of my photos was a way of giving a hard-edged detailed pen drawing an expressive quality to it. Watercolours are great when used loosely as they provide a light wash of colour to enhance the fineliner and give the drawing a slightly less realitic look. The drawing was quick and simple and I think the contrast between the soft watercolours and the bold fineliner works well. Although, to me, the drawing is unfinished. There is a lot that can be done to improve this painting in order to give it more depth so I do plan on working back into this at some point.

Contrast in Photographs

When looking through my sketchbook, Richard commented on the photo above saying he likes the idea of something that's normally small being big and something that's normally big being small (if that makes sense). So I've tried my best to capture that exact description in the photograph below. The pole with the engraved lettering is small in comparison to the entire allyway but in this photo, it is in fact the dominant feature of the scenery. Thinking a lot about the contrast makes the photos more visually interesting and are ideal to develop work from.