New Blog Address!

I'm going to be blogging over at http://ritamcmahon.tumblr.com/ from now on- cos I just prefer how tumblr works and all that... If you're on tumblr you can follow me :)

Woodcut

For our next print project we are using the process of woodblock printing to tell a story or depict a memory with an image. I decided to choose a memory which is pretty significant in my life, and although it's not a narrative as such, there is a story behind it.

The general gist of my story is from the day my parents told me and my brother and sister that they were splitting up. It was a few years ago, but I have a vivid memory of that day. And basically I remember just having the feeling of a need for escape, so I left the house and went for a walk to clear my head. I ended up sitting on a bench in a green near my house and I called my best friend and I sat there for ages,  until it was dark basically...

 

Initial drawing onto block:

 Two Blocks:

Key Plate Print:

Finished print:

Collagraph

Over easter I started to work on monoprints based on my idea of documenting, insecurities, secrets etc. in order to  get in the mind-frame of collagraph. Really I was just experimenting, but I thought the work turned out quite just experimenting, but I thought the work all looked quite good as a whole and so I started to go with the idea of concentrating on a body of work around my idea rather than on a finished piece.

These are some of the boards I started to make.I used pva-d paper squares to represent the post-it notes, tile adhesive, rafia type twine, carborundum.

I liked the idea of having a number of boards to work with so I could experiment with how they would all work together.

I started to play with the use of colour, with the idea in mind of building up pieces bit by bit...

 I tried to incorperate some bolder text using masking tape, but I'm not sure how successfull it was. I think it might have been a bit to much for the subtlety of the prints.

Here are just some examples of different ways I tried to build up the  prints using a combination of monoprinting and collagraphs...

Screenprint Post-Its & Spines

These are my screenprints step by step as I added each colour. I liked the way they looked even at this stage.

I tried printing onto newsprint and thought the effect was quite nice (though the photo doesn't do it much justice!) :

 

The finished prints:

I liked the way they turned out and found the most effective way to display them was on bigger sheets, it seemed to make them more "important" and became less about the writing on the post-its, therefore enhancing the idea of secrecy etc.

I was also happy with the way my image of the diary spines turned out. The best ones again seemed to be the ones on newsprint. It gave a sort of delicacy to the prints. Though the idea of diaries, documentation etc. may not be 100% clear from them I think they work alongside the other prints and also enforce the idea of thoughts and secrets being locked away.

Silkscreen: take one

To start the process of making a silkscreen I photocopied some of the post-its and got this nice image (almost by accident).



 I then got a sheet of MRPVC and used black acrylic paint to trace over each individual colour in the image:

...to be continued...

I also want to do some work with this image (also to be continued...)

PRINT: Notions of Identity

So our first project as official printmaking students is on the idea of 'identity'. We've been asked to develop a body of work over the next 6 weeks which "explores our sense od identity and place" in whatever format we'd like, but through the processes of both silkscreen and collograph.

I'm starting with silkscreen for the first 3 weeks and I started to look at the idea of insecurities and the way in which we portray ourselves to the world versus how we really feel and think. This lead me to explore the idea of thoughts and the way in which we document these thoughts. For example in a diary or journal...

To begin, I started looking at the basic image of journals and books- places where secrets and our true thoughts (generally about ourselves) are locked up.

I also started to look at other ways we record our thoughts, for example I always find myself writing my thoughts on post-it notes in a stream-of-conciousness type way almost in that it's as if I feel the need to record every thought that occurs to me. These start to build up around my room and when I look back at them, they often don't make much sense...

I think I'm going to start looking at the idea of doing a series of prints around this theme...

Also thinking about and looking at this: http://www.postsecret.com/

Elective 3 : Visual Communications