My head is all over the shop, but I am still managing to get some arty things done as well as the bibs and bobs that are called 'life'. Last Thursday as part of our efforts to support each other and prepare for the Maleny Printmakers exhibition, Susan and I went to Steph's studio where we focused on lino cutting and printing.
It was quite challenging to see if we could get something happening; working out how thoughts and ideas translated into images, and then how those images could be expressed through lino.
There were moments of success and moments of "darn, after all that effort..."
Still it was great as ever to sit and work together, chat, ask each other questions as we went along and keep an eye on what each other was doing and how.
It confirmed for me that printmaking can be sociable! I'm not sure there is any way I could sit doing calligraphy and chat in the same way that we do as we print.
So I wanted to try some poppies. they are almost my favourite flower and they are blooming at the moment in our garden. I love bringing them inside and smiling at them as they do their wiggly stem dance up from the vase.
One of the best learnings for me from the day was - rub your lino cut with a graphite pencil to see where you might still need to chop and cut! So simple and so brilliant! Maybe everybody already knew this but as a novice/faux printmaker I didn't and I am most chuffed that I now know. And in the end I loved the rubbings tremendously - totally fell in love with them.
So next, a proof print (may I say, I do sooooo many proof prints!) giving me the odd clue about where I might need to go back into the lino and chop some more.
One of my ideas for the poppies was that I wanted to print the silhouette onto a red square or background of some sort. So I inked up some red ink and a square to see how that would go...a bit rough in places but enough to give me a sense of the the thing.
And the poppies over-printed onto the red.
The question now is - poppies on red or just poppies on white? I have cornflowers and daffodils to do as well...
It was quite challenging to see if we could get something happening; working out how thoughts and ideas translated into images, and then how those images could be expressed through lino.
There were moments of success and moments of "darn, after all that effort..."
Still it was great as ever to sit and work together, chat, ask each other questions as we went along and keep an eye on what each other was doing and how.
It confirmed for me that printmaking can be sociable! I'm not sure there is any way I could sit doing calligraphy and chat in the same way that we do as we print.
So I wanted to try some poppies. they are almost my favourite flower and they are blooming at the moment in our garden. I love bringing them inside and smiling at them as they do their wiggly stem dance up from the vase.
One of the best learnings for me from the day was - rub your lino cut with a graphite pencil to see where you might still need to chop and cut! So simple and so brilliant! Maybe everybody already knew this but as a novice/faux printmaker I didn't and I am most chuffed that I now know. And in the end I loved the rubbings tremendously - totally fell in love with them.
So next, a proof print (may I say, I do sooooo many proof prints!) giving me the odd clue about where I might need to go back into the lino and chop some more.
One of my ideas for the poppies was that I wanted to print the silhouette onto a red square or background of some sort. So I inked up some red ink and a square to see how that would go...a bit rough in places but enough to give me a sense of the the thing.
And the poppies over-printed onto the red.
I do like it on the red. Gives it some depth.
ReplyDeleteThanks Roberta - I was hoping that approach might work.
DeleteLove the simplicity of the white with black poppies. It is great to find a way to be social when making art... doesn't work for me while painting, I'm so focussed that even someone sitting quietly in the studio throws me off a bit.
ReplyDeleteMe too Valerianna - even tho I love the red as well. I am torn! I am exactly the same with calligraphy as you are with painting - it needs to be a pretty solitary undertaking. This printmaking tho seems much more sociable!
DeleteI'm pretty much a novice at lino printing too - just a few goes about 50 years ago (now there's an admission). That tip about rubbing the lino cut with a graphite pencil is so obvious when you know - but I didn't ... so many thanks!
ReplyDeleteHi Charlton - we are all still learning all the time I figure...and yes I loved that tip too; so obvious when I think about it, but so startling to discover!
DeleteIf I may, I would say, poppies on white, they look great!
ReplyDeleteFrom Elaine Bond (Périgord,France) A new follower and admirer of your work....
I also love your etching rubbings--- fragile yet complex... and I love your poppies on red too.
ReplyDeleteThanks Donna I am truly enamoured with those rubbings, fragile yet complex as you say. I think I could spend a whole lot more time just making rubbings not prints...Glad you like the red! Go well.
DeleteOh do them all Fiona! You've unleashed the printmaking gene - the one that says 'go on, try this or try that' - so go with it and enjoy the ride.
ReplyDeleteI think you've nailed it Lesley! I am currently doing them all and then more! Laugh. It is intriguing, exhilarating and exasperating in equal parts I find...maybe more practice is needed.
DeleteLove it on the red. I would never have thought to take a rubbing of the lino cut - what fabulous results in their own right.
ReplyDeleteThanks Gina, I think I'll have a few red ones and a few plain - clearly unable to decide! And s rubbings are fabulous aren't they - a whole new world has emerged for me there...Go well.
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