Assignment 5 – Personal Project

Cells!

Cells! is what I have decided to call this personal project; a project that incorporates ideas from project 13, one that builds on those ideas with further research and exploration.

My title I feel reflects my further research and sketchbook work. Not that I’ve looked deeply into the world of the microscopy of trees, only scratching at the surface, but from what I have seen that is much visuality to be gleaned from the subject. Lots of interesting images and words to digest, things to sketch and re-interpret, and some interesting works by artists that are interested in and producing work from their studies.

Artists such as Marita Putetti and Loraine Roy. Research

For this project I have decided after much consideration to keep things abstract but return to working with lino, time to get the cutting tools and rollers out.

But when I tried, the larger size wouldn’t work, somehow it had lost its intimacy and impact.

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• Print 1 –. this print, much larger (7×7”) is more than twice the size but the netting used is all wrong, its texture is much harsher, the holes to close together.
• Print 2 – the same size plate, and hooray I’ve got the Chine Collé background to work, but it looks like a pair of fishnets on a canary. I tried in another colour and it looked no better.

Rather than push on regardless, as I have in the past, I decided to step back and try something else.

I played around with an old vinyl record, after all its a surface with rings in. I found though that the grooves weren’t deep enough to create a good print, maybe an old 78 is required. Persevering I cut into the vinyl with a craft knife, I wasn’t concerned about the unevenness of my marks as the rings of a tree aren’t even. I had some interesting results but wasn’t sure if this would count as collagraph, more like an etching.

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I returned to my sketchbook and selected some pages to work with. All these sketches had elements of what I hoped to represent in my final series; abstraction, rings, cut marks & cells, some linking and interwoven, others floating off on their own.

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I drew my ideas directly onto a 4×6″ block, spontaneous, each new mark influenced by the previous. I carefully cut away, there were a few complicated links and crossovers that I wanted to include.

So, 1 plate cut, and worked. These were only test prints of ideas at 4×6″ as I still wanted to upsize.

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Now I’m starting to get the hang of adding the Chine Colle as background at this size, I like the extra dimension and depth that it adds but I’m not sure I would be able to go bigger.

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• Print 1: Blocks of colour – too linear
• Print 2: As are the placement of smaller pieces of Chine Collé
• Print 3: Here the bottom of the print has come together, but the top is fragmented. The circle needs more definition and needs to be drawn into the rest of the print. As a consequence the blank area may need to be a little more ‘naked’. The overlapping of colour within the abstract shapes creates a coming together of the different elements.
• Print 4: The circle has colour and depth, the empty area has a feeling of openness but is not bare. By placing papers at angles and overlapping with the lino lines there is a flow that takes the viewer around the print.

Cells! – a series of 10 x5 ” Lino prints with Chine Collé printed on Unica paper. In contrast to the fragility of the final 2 prints in project 13, I wanted to embibe that feeling of chunkiness that comes with a cut log, as if it had been just picked from the forest floor and thought that the heaviness of the paper would help to reflect this.

My colour palette, with a propensity towards the brown, cream, green and yellow, reflects the colours of the woodland and logs that have dominated my research. For fun, on the last two prints I have added some orange (inspired by th epoker plants now growing behing the log) to give the added zing, pop and energy!

The abstract shapes are derived form my research and sketches and imply all things discovered, the rings, saw marks, cracks, splits and pattern enthused by those single celled algae.

The Chine Collé is an assortment of papers, threads and fabric.

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Reflection

Demonstration of technical and visual skills – In this final part of the course, not only have I discovered the art of Chine Colle, but I have also been able to revisit some of the printing methods used throughout my studies

While I understood the concept of the Chine Colle process I initially struggled with its application, both in the physical aspect of gluing and laying it on the plate and also how to use it to maximise and manipulate the print.

I still haven’t mastered the amount of glue or the misbehaviour of the papers, I have learnt about the relationship of using different papers but I think that visually I have used the Chine Colle to determine my ideas, bring focus to my prints and the meaning that I am trying to portray in my work.

My sketchbook this time is overflowing with ideas, many of which I will return to in the future, I feel that I have come a long way from the Part 1 when I only had a few pages of ideas, certainly using loose leaves of paper has made me feel more expressive and consequently record more.  My tutor has suggested using collage more to record my findings and bring ideas into my work. I have tried, and I think it’s a question of perseverance, but although I do lack drawing skills for some reason I feel happier with pencil and ink.

I have given more though to my colour use, rather than select colour at random I have drawn inspiration from the subject matter that I have explored, to some extent maybe the use of the Chine Colle has helped as I have applied both layers of texture and colour to each print.

Quality of outcome – Again I have worked in response to my sketchbook, and the marks, textures and colours that I am using. The unexpected is usually the most exciting, for example getting the position of a paper, or the mix of colours right.

Looking at the work of my researched artists has also informed me, especially that of Marita Putetti, the connections she makes with shape, colour and form in an abstract manner have helped in my sketchbook work and although my colours were much more muted, perhaps my use of some bright orange and bits of gold have been influenced by her bold and vibrant colour.

I think that my strength lies in my collagraph intaglio work and prints 3 and 4 from project 13 demonstrate this belief. I enjoy wiping the ink around the plate and playing colours off against each other as I did when testing the vinyl plate.  Whereas my relief work is often messy with too much ink or not enough. I guess it’s a case of practice practice practice.

Demonstration of creativity – I have probably spent too much time experimenting and not enough time applying, but then it’s all preparation for where I am going, it’s just a lot of work if it isn’t right.

Having said that I felt that I have achieved what I set out to do. I wanted to explore the logs, their patterns, colours and begin to look at their stories, and record in an abstract way their surfaces with a nod to other influencing aspects of once being a ‘tree’.

Context – This has been a journey of discovery in how to use a different media to introduce colour to my work. I feel I have demonstrated this by exploring and experimenting with both colour and texture of the media that I have had to hand; successfully producing work that includes other elements that I have learnt on this course, namely monoprint, linocut and collagraph to at least the minimum standard required for Printmaking Level 1.

My sketchbooks show a path of how I have arrived at my final prints and the development of my ideas and theme. I have continually asked myself what am I trying to achieve and I have finally worked out to take more from looking at detail of my subject, rather than seeing the surrounds.

I hope that I have conveyed meaning of my subject to those that choose to investigate.