19 March 2018


 Skills 3 Print: Screen Printing – 4 Colour CMYK week 3

The brief for this week was to add another element to our four colour print. I decided to add something handwritten so decided to make monotype prints which would give a thicker line with interesting textures where the paper picked up ink. A few of the prints picked up too much ink so I added scribbled drawing to them.

Monotype prints of handwritten text:

As Monotype writing shows in reverse, I flipped images to see what they would look like the correct way round and chose the one I wanted to use. Some of the others could be used in other work, either as screen-prints or photocopy transfers,  and the resized according to what was needed.

Monotype prints reversed digitally:

 

Screen-prints with text added:

Grunge text 8 small cropped

I was pleased to be adding another element to my prints as some layers of the print were partially missing along the bottom edge. For the layer of text I mixed cyan and yellow for a spot colour that would match the colour and tones I had already used in the print. We had a brief pop-up exhibition and group crit for our finished prints.

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Pop-up exhibition: Two of my prints displayed with another student’s work

Single colour screen-prints based on collage:

As the text I was using for my prints was not very large, I exposed another two images on the screen. Initially I printed a multiple on one sheet of paper, but had a problem with ink being picked up by the acetate (which I was using for registering the prints) and it smudged onto the border of the paper on he left hand side.

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I made an edition of prints based on another of my collages using a large halftone dot  and printing in a single colour. I also overprinted one of my CMYK prints with this image.

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Experimental print

 

Single colour prints based on monotype:

IMG_0873 cropped small_edited

 

Reprinting CMYK project without text:

I made a few more CMYK prints ensuring that I did not miss any of the edges. One of the prints shows the cyan layer and another the cyan and magenta. The rest are cyan, magenta and yellow (without the black). Two are overprinted with a different image in black.

 


Mimmo Rotella

Regarding the fragmentation and erosion of images, I have been looking at the décollages of Mimmo Rotella, which are comprised of layers of torn posters. I particularly associate these with my image transfers in which areas of the photocopied paper transfer has become detached from the fabric support. Instead of being torn, ripped, or cut, the paper has been removed through abrasion where it was not firmly attached.

http://poulwebb.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/mimmo-rotella-decollages-part-1.html

1963 Marilyn

Mimmo Rotella, Marilyn, 1963

I have been thinking about how the materials and processes used add meaning to an artwork and I will be considering this further. In this case the physical damage evokes the transitory and impermanent.

12 March 2018

 Skills 3 Print: Screen Printing – 4 Colour CMYK – week 2

Grunge Collage Print 4 small

Documentation of work – 8 prints:

I made a series of eight screen-prints (A4 image) using CMYK separations. Unfortunately I had a technical problem with the prints as the squeegee I used was too narrow. It wasn’t obvious when I first started printing that part of the image was missing on the lower edge. However I noticed after printing the magenta so I used a larger squeegee for the yellow. When I printed the black I thought it overpowered the other colours so I only used it on two of the prints. I also need to improve my registration.

I made an experimental print by rotating the paper for each layer and printing some colours twice. I also made a print only using cyan and yellow, which I thought was very interesting as it was still recognisable although 2 colour separations were missing. This ties in with my theme of fragmentation, erosion and partial traces. The cyan is missing on the top edge due to the problem with the squeegee so I made a few more of these prints later in the week.

Documentation of work – experimental prints:

I made a further series of prints using the yellow and cyan separations experimenting with the colour of the ink and using both white and off-white paper. I used fluorescent yellow on several of the images and fluorescent orange with the cyan. It was difficult to register the fluorescent yellow when printing as it was difficult to see on the acetate.

The fluorescent colours did not reproduce well when photographed and the colour looks more dull in these images than on the originals.

Documentation of work – experimental prints:

I printed the yellow separation using red ink on a variety of surfaces, including pages from a magazine, calico fabric and canvas.

 


Photography:

I decided to see how my new camera would cope with taking close-ups with the kit lens (Canon 200D 18-55mm lens 4 – 5.6). This photograph was taken handheld using the lens stabilisation. I lit the plant with a halogen desk lamp which created an orange cast needing white balance correction. I have been experimenting with Google Nik software filters and wanted to draw the eye to the centre of the image so I added a vignette blur. As I did not like the orange colour cast I changed the hues and saturation in Photoshop. This has resulted in a less realistic nature photograph and is more of an art photograph.

Nik Software

I just discovered the Nik software suite was acquired from Google by Dx0 last year https://nikcollection.dxo.com/ and the current version is still free.

5 March 2018

Skills 3 Print: Screen Printing – 4 Colour CMYK – week 1

Preparation:

I chose a photograph of one of my ‘eroded’ collages on fabric as the basis for my screen print and altered the colour slightly in Photoshop, moving the yellows towards a citrus green.

Grunge collage green resized

Photocopy of collage partially eroded when transferred to fabric

I made the 4 colour CMYK separation in Photoshop then added an elliptical halftone with a fairly large dot size to each greyscale image. These were digitally printed on translucent film and photographically exposed onto the screen ready for printing.

These colour separations provide another way of breaking down an image and could be printed selectively in spot colour instead of doing a full CMYK print.

Fragmentation & Layers: Image Transfer

With my photocopy transfers I want the image to become eroded and fragmented so I do not glue it carefully or wait for the adhesive to thoroughly dry. I have little or no control over which parts of the image get removed when I rub off the paper backing, which incorporates the element of chance. I am interested in the interplay between chance and conscious decision-making in my work.

This image was more fragmented than usual and I sanded it to further erode the surface.

Grunge collage blue resized

Image Transfer Layer  1

Grunge collage double resized

Image Transfer Layer 2

The first image became very fragmented during the transfer and I further eroded it by sanding. I have been thinking about layering images so I tried it out, overlapping the second image. This also became very fragmented, allowing parts of the previous image to show through both the eroded areas and areas which were white or very pale (these would have been plain paper that was removed during the transfer process).

It will be good to experiment building up more layers, maybe with the addition of painting, drawing or writing. I plan to try transferring images onto different surfaces including metal and wood and this has given me the idea of first creating a distressed surface with sanded layers of patchily applied paint onto wood.