Tuesday April 18

Saying goodbye to drypoints
Ive just had four days off over easter break. Today i went back into school, and attempted another drypoint, this time armed with cotton buds to try and wipe off plate tone and create more contrast. I spent so long on it, using up half of my cotton buds and it still didnt work out as i imagined. It did turn out better than the last ones though. What i find interesting about my drypoint experiments is the contrast between a really direct, tight, patterned image with the fluid, unplanned monotype backgrounds. It is interesting, but im getting bored of it because the images dont please me. Below is the print i did today

I have also been working on another drypoint over the past week. In this one i have made a silhouette image from one of my photos of my friend leaping in the air. In this one i wanted to focus more on the harshness or violence of human movement, as i was in my earlier photopolymers of the same figures. And you still get the feeling the person is still grounded, because its feet go beneath the bottom of the print - it highlights human effort too, striving to achieve something. Im pleased with the results, i printed them on top of some monotypes. The red ink is not very bright on top of the blue, it almost is overpowered again by the blue. Fun experiments, but like i said, drypoint as a process just is not interesting me anymore at the moment. I think it is because none of my images turned out as predicted. But that is the thing about printmaking, its full of suprises. Its time to move on again. I think that next i would like to dry some woodcut images. I would like to use my same drawings of the 'patterned skaters'. I think with a woodcut i can create a more cleaner, crisper image with more defined seperation and contrast between the red and blue. With woodcut i can use markmaking in a very controlled way, but i can also be very expressive too and combine fluid markmaking on the same block, as i have been doing with monotype experiments. Below are two of the drypoints

More Monotypes

I got an email from Chris last week giving information on the type of things that students have been experimenting with at Otago. He mentioned experiments using ink and turps and water, so i thought that is what i would try today! It was so much fun, and i am really pleased with what i produced. The turps mixes with the ink, but the ink seperates with the water, so you end up with an effect that is similar to 'marbling' but a bit more fluid and less defined. What i did was roll out ink on a stone, then mix in some turps, then mix in some water, and press the paper onto the stone, like i have done with previous experiments - also because the press was being used by many students. I think that i like this effect more than the previous experiments, because it looks more like sky, white and blue and i was able to achieve some cloud like effects by dribbling some water on the paper prior to pressing it in the ink/turps/water mixture. I tried pressing one of my previous experiments where i had painted ink on with the spatula, but did not achieve much, because the ink did not soak into the paper inthe same way.

Below are some of the experiments: I really like them, the white areas look like clouds high above the earth, or the sea.

I plan to continue making these monotype 'backgrounds' because i think they are so effective. What i plan to do with them, is draw my imagery into them by hand with coloured pencil, pen etc. Here i am interested in drawing as the most direct form of image making. You have complete control over what you are doing and you can see the result straight away. But as i experienced with drypoint (which i thought would transfer my images the most accurately)...as soon as you transfer your image to a plate, you lose control over what the result will be. And i want my images to be very controlled, contrasted with the fluid, uncontrolled spaces that they will be in. On monday i will be going to Italy with Rosy, so i plan to keep experimenting with making the backgrounds or 'spaces' or 'skies' whatever, so i can draw into them while i am away.

Last week i already experimented with drawing into one. It was just an experiment to see whether coloured pencil, or the chalk pencils worked better (the chalk pencils work better - alot bolder and brighter). I am really pleased with the image. I wanted to start playing with other imagery that i explored in the very beginning, in this case hot air balloons. I am really stoked with this image..all these wee hot airballoons adventuring out into this strange, unknown foreign territory. The pattern on the hot airballoons is the same as that of the clothing on the skateboarders..controlled, tight..but movement is created through the contrast of the red and the blue. They contrast to the space that they are moving in..it looks like they are flying above some crazy out of control land or something. Its funny, cos thats exactly how i have been feeling over here in europe, a stranger in a foreign territory, who feels out of place quite often. But its exciting exploring new things...and Europe is a huge place compared to NZ, lots to be explored! What i like about this image also, is the hot airballoons that are cut off, like they go out of the frame. This gives the feeling of more space...that this is just a glimpse of something alot BIGGER!BIGGER THAN BIG!HUGE! UNLIMITED!

I made two more images similar to this. One of them i added in some parachuters, and the other i just put a single small hot airballoon. I think that one is effective, because it gives a more scarier isolated feeling, similar to that of Richard Misrach.