Wednesday, October 10, 2007

technicolor undergrowth


I'm still working with the images of the jasmine vines, making many varied color studies, embossings and solar plate variations. The more test plates that are made, the more convinced I am to make a patch work quilt style print with all the myriad of plates on one sheet of paper.

These two images were printed with four plates, inked in four colors, placed side by side on the press and run through twice. It sounds more complicated than it is, printmaking is an interesting medium with endless variations on a theme. It is always my goal in printing to explore colors and textures while mining one subject for all it's worth.

How it translates into my painting you ask? Firstly, the instant gratification of making a brush mark on the panel is ever so much more satisfying after a frustrating day at the press. You see, the printing process can deliver many, many duds before the treasure is discovered in the just right combination.

Secondly, being able to focus on color once the plate is made is astounding. Having the subject and composition resolved allows pure focus on the use of color. With paintings, there is always the adjustments to color and composition throughout the process. There is some of that in printing, but most of the plate adjustments occur early in the process and then it's just printing for printing sake.

At the end of the day, you are looking at a stack of prints, same image, different techniques of applying ink and innumerable color variations. Fantastic!

Look for these soon on my SHOP at Etsy.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

hi Nicole - thank you for your comment- just quickly to answer your question -
i think i just used regular old watercolor. it should stay on the acetate if you let layer by layer to dry, if that makes any sense. actually, come to think of it, i might also have used a paintable acetate so that it accepted the watercolor better ?(sorry for my bad memory).
oh look - here's some concrete info from one of my favorite artists -
http://www.flickr.com/photos/trailerafire/
151365673/

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