There was quite a time lag between generating some ideas for my final prints and then trying out the ideas in print which was a bad idea as I had lost enthusiasm! I didn’t feel very excited about my initial plans but decided to try out my ideas nonetheless with varying degrees of success.

1. Cityscape:

My initial idea was to make a textured background by masking out the silhouettes of the buildings and then printing the building by painting the shapes onto the printing plate and adding detail by wiping out the windows etc. The final stage was to add detail by back drawing them onto the final print. But in order to get back into printing I decided to ‘have a play’ instead and find inspiration…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I didn’t feel very excited by any of this so left the printing for a bit and went on to another project…..

 

2. Figures

My idea was to make some masked backgrounds with texture before adding the backdrawinf detail of the figures. First, I experimented with masked backgrounds….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and with the back drawing….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

but found the back drawing a frustrating task and began to wish I had chosen a simpler subject to draw. I ruined a lot of quite pleasing backgrounds with the back drawing and began to think again about a new subject!

3. Still life

While experimenting with some of the compositions I had in mind for the Abstract project, I found some pleasing textures made by adding some fluffy yarn which I thought would be great in my still life project to add detailing. I had planned to add the detail with back drawing but thought it would be interesting to try different techniques with each pot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I played about with some more composition ideas in collage…. and then cut some masks and began experimenting with the masked background for my still life…. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 This one was going well but when I tried to remove the mask, I managed to peel away some of the printing paper!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Some experiments with texture and back drawing… I was using acrylic paint with added extender but couldn’t achieve the clear detail I wanted.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I thought I would leave this for now and come back to it later…..

4. Abstract

I tried some new ideas for my abstract, changing the colour scheme and trying out some new textured backgrounds. I wanted to achieve an antiquated look with motifs reminiscent of some ancient parchment. I played about with some different shapes and decided I preferred some simple shapes, with the emphasis on the background.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I enjoyed trying out this peeling look and by adding some gold acrylic paint in my layering found I was getting nearer to my idea…