Printmaking, Fine Art

Linocutting and colour mixing today.

 

Printmaking taster

The teacher emphasised that we should keep a log of each stage.
Ideas / design / block / print(s) / reflection / research (for ideas and inspiration)

There are four main types of printmaking.

- Intaglio. Ink sits beneath surface in a groove. Etching (acid), drypoint (manual scratch), engraving.
- Relief. Ink sits on raised area of block. Lino prints, woodblock, collagraph (drawing with glue).
- Planographic. Printing with a whole flat surface, monoprint, heat transfer.
- Stencil. Ink goes through the stencil. Silkscreen.

I chose one of my summer drawings, of two cows in a field.
I traced the outline onto tracing paper with an 8B graphite stick.
I turned it over and rubbed it onto the lino, leaving a vague imprint.
I cut away the lines with a lino-cutter.  It's hard on the thumbs!
I rolled ink onto the linocut.  The ink is quite sticky, so when the paper is laid onto it, it doesn't move around and smudge -- it also peels off neatly.
For my first print, I laid a piece of paper over the linocut and rubbed it down with a barren (like a drawer knob with a soft felt disc on the end). It made a ghostly impression.  It looks like it was made by a photocopier that's running out of toner.  This type of hand-printing is good if you want to make something look old and softened and worn.
For my second print, I put the linocut between two sheets of paper, covered it with a large sheet of lino, and rolled it into the printing press.  I pulled down hard on the lever and rolled it out again.  It made a clear, sharp impression, although the carbon black colour still made it look like a photocopy!  I thought this type was better for the image, which is quite busy and detailed.
For my third print, I stuck some green sugar paper together and made another press print. I cut out two cows from an earlier print I'd done on white paper, stuck those on.  I also quickly cut out some flower shapes from a spare piece of lino, and printed that onto tissue paper, which was really too delicate to take the ink.  I stuck those onto the grass meadow.
I thought I could also print the image onto newsprint or a magazine article.  That would give it extra layers of meaning -- either an article about milk, beef or farming; or if it was an article about e.g. fashion, my simple image of some cows could turn into a more political comment or satire.

Homework: Research four print artists. For two of them, write a brief outline about their methods, materials and a little about why you like their work.  Suggestions: Wayne Thiebaud, Picasso, Edward ]Bawden, Judy Pfoff.

Fine Art taster

The course is going to be structured like this...

1. Exercises in colour. Homework: analysing a painting.
2. Painting techniques. Hw: John Piper and Terry Frost.
3. Exercises in colour and composition. Hw: Henri Matisse.
4. Impasto painting. Hw: Impasto worksheet. Presentation/discussion: what is fine art?
5. Finishing off session.

Types of paint and their binding agents: Acrylic (polymer resin), watercolour (gum arabic), oil (linseed oil).  We're going to be working chiefly in acrylic.

Today I learned about colour.

First, I put blobs of the dark primaries onto a tray: ultramarine blue, cadmium yellow, cadmium red (and white).
Then I created a colour wheel.

Complementary colours are opposite on the wheel. When put together, they make each other look more vibrant.
Harmonious or analogous colours are neighbours.
Half of the wheel is hot, the other half is cold.

Then I explored the range of hues between the primary colours -- red to blue, yellow to blue and yellow to red.  I found this quite tricky, mainly because I'm not used to acrylics... it's like painting with caramel.  Other students made a delicate, gentle shimmering spectrum of colours all blending together, whereas mine is all chunky and blocky, not finely graded at all.

The teacher also handed out some colour companies from a paint shop.  I practiced mixing colours by trying to match the paint charts.  The green and red ones look good, but the blue one needs a spot of yellow.  I also notice that my paint colours look slightly different now that they're dry.

Lastly, I had a look at colour relationships, and saw how complementary colours can make one another pop out and look 3D.

The teacher showed us some paintings by famous artists and asked us to comment on the use of colour. 
Homework: Analyse two painting and comment on how the artists use colour.  Make presentation pages of A3 size, using lots of colour images and arrows to help explain your ideas.