Printmaking a mess: Week 5

Following on from this week's discussion with Caroline and decision to focus on monoprinting, I looked at some of these ideas in more detail:

Victorian life - the British empire, travelling to 'exotic' places, collecting taxidermy/decorative items, discovery, zoos...
Victorian wallpaper/textiles
Modern interpretations of these
Birds in flight
Birds in museums

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Victorian life - the British empire, travelling to 'exotic' places, collecting taxidermy/decorative items, discovery, zoos...

Victorian wallpaper/textiles

William Morris: “Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful”

I like this bird/anenome wallpaper as the birds are hidden in the design, being the same colour as the flowers. The simple use of just 2 colours lends itself well to printmaking ideas. It was designed in 1882.

This textile design, also by Morris, looks typically Victorian and heavily designed with lots of colours and detail. I like its symmetry and could experiment with using this in my own designs.

Modern interpretations of these

Laura Ashley 'oriental garden' wallpaper

modern pass-production techniques allow this to be produced in large quantities at a cheap cost (compared to decadent Victorian designs aimed at the upper classes). I like this colour-way as the design looks at though it's a negative, being lighter than the background. I think the design is very pretty and, though the metallic finish keeps it looking modern, you can tell it is influenced/inspired by Victorian wallpaper.

Laura Ashley 'summer palace' wallpaper

This is more brightly coloured than the dark/drab Victorian designs I have been looking at and looks summery/ suitable for a child's room. I think I prefer the simpler design above, but this is also pretty.