CONCLUSION

To summarise my printmaking module, I feel I have successfully been introduced to the print studio and processes, though I have not yet had a chance to try silkscreen printing, which I would like to try next term in my own time.

I found keeping a reflective blog of my progress difficult initially but once I got used to it I found it a logical and visually interesting way to evaluate myself. I found myself really having to think about objectives like 'visual sensibility' and 'active participation' and now feel equipped to talk about my progress in all modules with more confidence.

I feel the technique I most got to grips with was mono printing, as I used it for my final piece an I like the unique and fairly unpredictable results it produces. This is surprising, as I initially hated mono printing, and found it difficult, having never tried it before.

Here's a picture of the best prints I made this term - I put them all out out on the floor to help me decide what to include in my portfolio.

There's also a video.

Some tips for next term's printmaking people:

+Bring an old towel and nailbrush, there's never paper towels in the print room. The ink gets everywhere, and you'll need to wash your hands a lot to make sure you don't make your paper dirty.

+Have an old shirt to wear over your clothes/wear old clothes - there's a few aprons in the print room but they won't cover your arms etc, and the ink doesn't wash out.

+Use different coloured pens for mono printing (when you use the same image to make repeat prints you won't get confused about which bits of the outline you've already gone over).

+Update your blog at least weekly, so you don't forget what you've been doing and where you're going. I found it really helpful to blog about each session directly after as it consolidated the ideas in my mind as well as reminding me what to focus on next time.

Printmaking: Week 8

Today I printed my final pieces

Rose Power 27/09/10

How many prints did you make? 3x A1 ‘wallpaper’ samples.

How many of these taught you something new? These were my final pieces, but I still feel I learnt something new from them, having not worked to this larger scale before. It was difficult to stop the paper curling up and to remember which images to trace onto which areas, considering my design would be in reverse. I also realized after printing onto plain paper as a practice, that this might actually look better/ less cluttered than my original plan to print onto wallpaper.

How many hours did you spend in the printmaking workshop? 9

Assess yourself this week for:

Competence in printmaking techniques: I think my mono printing technique has excelled as I started the course having never tried it before; my first attempts were atrocious. I’m happy with the execution of my final piece because, although it looks blurry, this was inevitably going to happen due to printing onto thick (wall)paper and I quite like the unusual effect.

Thoughtful and imaginative approach to printmaking/Visual Sensibility (understanding and expressing ideas in images): The outcome I envisioned was very similar to what I actually achieved, although it’s difficult to make out the shapes of my birds as I ended up adding a lot of floral detail around them. However, I like this as I was aiming for them to look ‘trapped’ in the rest of the wallpaper, and only visible when viewed closely. If I was to make the wallpaper again I would make the birds smaller and more spaced out, as when I tried printing only 3 birds, as opposed to 6, they looked more distinctive.

Using research to expand knowledge, enrich thinking and affect your work: I found I was able to incorporate research successfully into my work, but as I was using new techniques I had to carefully consider this when researching. I think I managed to gain inspiration from Victorian wallpaper and the era in general (focusing on zoos, travelling the world, collecting exotic treasures etc) as well as adding my own personal, contemporary input.

Active participation in taught sessions: Despite hospitalisation and snow, I think I have managed to catch up the hours I missed, but I wish I could have more time to experiment, as this was the main aim of the project. If I had been able to attend more scheduled studio sessions I would have been able to bounce ideas off other students and compare my progress to theirs. However, the times I was in the studio, I made sure to have a look round and take in what was going on. This was really interesting as everyone had very different ideas, though we were all given the same brief, and I would like to see their final pieces. On unscheduled days I also talked to 2^nd year students and looked at their work. This was extremely useful as they could give me advice from experience.

I give myself a score of: 95

Pictures of some of the 6 final images before I printed them all onto one big sheet of wallpaper.

I printed 3 together to look at spacing.

The finished wallpaper design on plain paper

Wallpaper

Wallpaper with spaces

I prefer the middle one, which was going to be my final piece. I like the blurring from the ink being slightly too thick, but other people might not have the same appreciation for happy accidents. I like the way the 6 designs are linked together with additional foliage that I drew in, rather than being 6 distinct drawings.

Printmaking: Week 7

Today I talked to Caroline again about where my final piece was going (as next week is our last week)

Rose Power 06/12/10

How many prints did you make? 5

How many of these taught you something new? All, as I had not experimented with printing onto wallpaper before. Aside from the 4 mono prints I created, I tried the lino block I'd cut at home while I was ill, which probably taught me the most as I realized I much prefer the style I have developed through mono printing.

How many hours did you spend in the printmaking workshop? 6

Visual Sensibility (understanding and expressing ideas in images)/ Competence in printmaking techniques: My mono printing style is definitely improving and I am able to better communicate my idea through this medium now.

Using research to expand knowledge, enrich thinking and affect your work/Thoughtful and imaginative approach to printmaking: I took all of the research I have done into consideration when printing today which I think helped produce good images. I thought a lot about the lines I was making and drew onto the paper/ink more carefully and slowly than I have before.

Active participation in taught sessions: It was good to be back in the studio on my scheduled day, after weeks of snow and illness! I found it useful to see how everyone else is progressing and drawing their projects to a close

I give myself a score of : 85

I've decided from today's experiments that I want my final piece to be mono printed on wallpaper. I originally wanted to print my own wallpaper and then print onto that, but I realised due to time restraints it would not be possible. I asked Caroline if it would be ok to use existing wallpaper and she said yes, especially as it inspired my idea originally. I have chosen the yellow one (above) as I have loosely been using the pattern from this one to draw outlines.

Printmaking: Week 6

I didn't go to printmaking on Monday as I was snowed in.

But I worked in the print room a couple of extra days this week to catch up, here's what I did:

Some of today's more successful prints (above)

I used a mixture of red, purple, brown and black inks to give a marbled effect:

I experimented with making 'masks' from cut out pheasant shapes, drawing wallpaper-inspired floral shapes inside the outline.

I also played around with the outside frame shape I want to use for each bird image. Once I'm happy with these, I'll combine them with the pheasants.

I realised that I could use the same drawings over and over again to trace the image onto the ink, but it became confusing as I had already gone over the lines, so I found using a different coloured pen each time was really helpful.

However, different pens produce different effects, for example the line from a biro is very different from a felt tip, so I got some different coloured biros, as I preferred this stronger line. I also found different a paper thickness changed the end result; wallpaper is thick so the line comes out quite blurred, but I like this effect.

I need to be very careful when tracing my drawings onto ink as if the paper moves, the image will be skewed.

Printmaking: Week 5

It's really more like week 7, but I've been away.

Today I sat down with Caroline and discussed where I'm going with my project as I've missed a lot of Printmaking sessions and the deadline's looming; I need a final piece!

From looking at my sketchbook at my drawings of a taxidermy pheasant and sketches from the zoo, we discerned that my strengths lie in simple illustrations on wallpaper and incorporating the floral wallpaper designs into the drawing.

From here we discussed wallpaper designs, the Victorian era and birds. We also decided that, due to time factors, it would not be beneficial to continue experimenting with different print techniques and I should instead focus on mono printing. This is quite disappointing as I would have liked to have had a chance to try silkscreen printing, but time is running out. The idea of using mono printing for my final piece came as a shock as I have found it difficult so far and have not been impressed with the images I have produced (see week 1's disastrous experiments if you don't believe me!)

However, I am willing to keep trying with the mono prints. The best idea is to keep practicing, I can't exactly get worse. I made a few experimental mono prints today by simply tracing an image from my sketchbook that I drew at the Horniman museum (pic of drawing).

I have a lot of more focused ideas now, so after some thorough research I will be able to begin work on my final designs.

Rose Power 22/11/10

How many prints did you make? 2

How many of these taught you something new? both did; it's been a while since I've done mono printing and, though I know how to do it, there is still a lot of room for improvement in technique. Also, I have only made mono prints by drawing freehand in the past, today I traced an existing drawing and it was interesting to compare the finished print to the original sketch in terms of aesthetics.

How many hours did you spend in the printmaking workshop? 1 - the rest of the day was spent at the computer, researching.

Assess yourself this week for:

Competence in printmaking techniques : Though I was returning to a technique I had used before, I feel I have not improved a lot as my work still looks very amateur. I need to practice more over the next week.

Thoughtful and imaginative approach to printmaking: I certainly did a lot of thinking this week, and tried to imagine how things would translate from initial drawings to prints. Mono printing lends itself well to experimentation as it is fairly quick to set up and very quick to produce. I will be able to try out my designs before I produce the final ones, to see what works well and what doesn't.

Visual Sensibility (understanding and expressing ideas in images): see above. I need to focus on WHAT my ideas are going to be before I try to express them... What do I want the images to be saying?

Using research to expand knowledge, enrich thinking and affect your work: I spent a lot of time researching today so I have a lot of relevant and interesting resources to work from now. I could look at more artists to see what they do well, and what I aspects of their work I can use/ manipulate. I think looking at modern interpretations of Victorian ideas is a useful and interesting aspect of my research.

Active participation in taught sessions: I spent a short while looking at other people's work at the start of todays session, to consolidate my work with theirs and try to fill in the gaps I where I have missed taught sessions. It was helpful to do this, but also intimidating - most people have done a lot more work that me, as I have been in hospital.

I give myself a score of : 75/great. I have made good progress today with ideas, despite being intimidated by returning to printmaking after such a lot of time off.

Bit confused

I've been ill for a while and feeling kind of overwhelmed by all the work I'm missing.

I decided to sit down and re-read the printmaking brief, to try and sort things out in my head.

Here's the to-do list I made!

(Miss you! )

Have also updated my summary of Leo de Freitas' lecture on printmaking.

Printmaking: week 4

Today I improved my lino printing technique vastly, by slowing down and paying more attention when cutting the lino, as you can see below

BEFORE

(last week)

AFTER

(today!)

I also incurred far fewer injuries this week, which is another good improvement.

I was able to experiment more closely with how much ink to use on the roller and how best to incorporate text into the design. It needs to be in reverse, but on the red piece I decided to do the words round the right way (so they would print backwards) as I thought this would be an interesting detail to decipher and would not detract from the image as much as immediately legible words.

I learnt that:

• Sometimes the 2nd or 3rd print comes out better as the lino has been coated in ink several times.
• If you warm the lino up before cutting into it, it's easier and more pliable.
• I should make sure my hands are clean before putting paper into the albion press; I got inky fingerprints everywhere.
• Aiming lino cutting tools AWAY from your fingers reduces the risk of slicing them to pieces.

Rose Power 18/10/10

How many prints did you make? 8

How many of these taught you something new? All, though I only cut two lino tiles this week, as I wanted to add much more detail and experiment with colours and perfect the thickness of the ink.

How many hours did you spend in the printmaking workshop? All day! (6 hours)

Competence in printmaking techniques : Much better this week but still a long way to go.

I give myself a score of : 85

Printmaking: week 3

Today I tried drypoint and lino printing.

Drypoint was interesting as the outcome had a very unusual effect. It's kind of blurry and smeary. I don't know if that's a word but it was smeary. Ok.

I liked the way it was difficult to predict how it would look. And the press is fun to use because it looks big and old and impressive. So is the albion press for lino cuts.

My lino prints were very bold and quite clumsy as I have not quite mastered the art of using the tools in a delicate or subtle way; all my lines have the same thickness.

I made one of a lizard and then experimented with mixing inks on the roller.

Then I did a gorilla one.

We also learnt about silk screen prints like those made by No Brow. I might get to try this next week.

Rose Power 11/10/10

How many prints did you make? 7

How many of these taught you something new? Nearly all of them because I experimented with different colours on each lino print and with the dry point I was able to reuse the etched card with different ink coverage.

How many hours did you spend in the printmaking workshop? All day (6)

Assess yourself this week for:

Competence in printmaking techniques : Not great – like last week I was trying these printing techniques for the first time.

Thoughtful and imaginative approach to printmaking: It was difficult at first to imagine what the print was going to look like, as I had no idea. With dry point, I tried to picture the image in reverse and the light parts and dark parts as lots of different shades of grey. I feel I was able to be more imaginative than with the lino prints because I was struggling to use the lino tools.

Visual Sensibility (understanding and expressing ideas in images): I wanted to stay loyal to my original drawings while making the most of the new print techniques and their unique effects. I feel I achieved this to a certain degree, but need to experiment much further to improve my visual sensibility. I want to practice using the lino tools, so I can vary my lines and marks in a more effective way.

Using research to expand knowledge, enrich thinking and affect your work: I looked briefly at the No Brow site and the history of the albion press, but need to look into these further.

Active participation in taught sessions: I think I participated well and learnt a lot today, but could look more closely at others’ work and take ideas from it.

I give myself a score of : 70

Printmaking: week 1

Today we learnt how to make mono prints.

This was something I had never tried before, but I found it quite easy to pick up.

I need to practice it a LOT more before I can use it successfully... as you can see from these DISASTROUS experimental prints.

What IS this!?

I think mainly I need to use less ink. And remember that the image comes out in reverse, so text needs to be written backwards.

This looks so very much like Oliver.

Some animals from my memory

I googled monoprinting; here's an artist who uses it to draw landscapes: Mark Willen Bruch

Much better than mine!

EDIT: just realised I'm supposed to be blogging in a STRUCTURED and RELEVANT way...
here's what I was meant to do:

Rose Power 27/09/10

How many prints did you make? 6

How many of these taught you something new? all of them, as I have never done mono prints before and on each one I tried something different, for example applying different amounts of pressure or using more/less ink.

How many hours did you spend in the printmaking workshop? 6 - a full day. I would say I spent as much time observing and helping others as doing my own practical work, as we were all new to the print studio and mono printing; we helped each other out.

Assess yourself this week for:

Competence in printmaking techniques : Little/complete lack of competence. It was my first day! Though by the end, I felt more competent and confident.

Thoughtful and imaginative approach to printmaking:

Visual Sensibility (understanding and expressing ideas in images):

I had to think a lot about what I was doing and how the image would turn out as I didn't really know what would happen. For example, I discovered the text came out in reverse so had to take this into consideration when drawing on the paper (and write backwards). I used my imagination to turn my existing drawings into more interesting printed images and drew directly from my imagination for a couple of prints.

Using research to expand knowledge, enrich thinking and affect your work: I arrived with very little knowledge of printmaking, particularly mono printing, but as you can see above, I googled the process and artists who use it.

Active participation in taught sessions: I payed close attention to Caroline's demonstrations as I was initially clueless about the mono print process. I was able to apply this when teaching someone else how to mono print, and found this repetition a useful tool for reminding myself how to do everything correctly. I also took the initiative to ask someone who was drypoint printing to give me a quick demo, as I was interested in how it worked.

I give myself a score of : 75/great