Further Developments

Moving on from the linocut I produced for the 20:20 exchange, I decided to try a similar idea but with a more dynamic form and use the plate to try some different colour ways as well.  So far I had built the colour up from light to dark, but with one version here I started with the dark brown and the the subsequent two colours were lighter.

This resulted in the three versions below.

I then wanted to try something with a finer form and explore the background shading approach further. Again I used the opportunity to try some different stages of colour layering, with two, three or four colours per print.

This is one of the aspects of printmaking that I really enjoy, that you can take one plate and develop such varying results as below.

Next I think I look at placing two of the forms within one print.

Hot Bed Press 20:20 Project

Towards the end of the year the studio participated in the 20:20 project organised by Hot Bed Press in Salford.  It is an exchange project where each artist produces a print in an edition of 25.  These are then sent to Hot Bed Press who retain one print for exhibition, and the remainder are redistributed and returned to the artist as a random set of prints from artists around the country.

The name 20:20 comes from the restriction that each print must be made on paper that is 20 x 20 cms in size. It was a slightly daunting project to participate in as I have never made an edition of that size before.  But after a few trial pieces I decided to work on a reduction lino print.

The final result is below, I was fairly happy with this as it presented a few new technical challenges that I had not encountered before but resulted in an image that I was pleased with.  I have since been working on some variations of this work which I will show later.

You can also see the work of all ten artists from Ochre Studios who participated here.

Charlotte's Thought

A Bit of Light Relief

Sometimes after some concerted work in one area it is good to try something else.  A change is as good as a rest they say, so recently I have been doing a bit of relief printing.  A set of small lino cuts.  With these I was looking to explore some different colours, a more subtle palette than from the recent screen prints.  There was no set plan, I just started with some light tones and worked progressively darker.  

Some were in a sort of salmon pink, mixed from crimson, golden yellow and burnt sienna and varying levels of white.  Then a green range mixed from prussian blue, raw umber and white, and finally a steel blue tone, again using the prussian blue and white but with a touch of black and crimson.

In the screen prints I have been mixing the colour primarily through an optical approach by translucent layers.  This work involves mixing the colours directly so is quite a different challenge.  Each of the prints consists of a solid colour background, from a piece of uncut lino, and then a second colour on top from a cut plate.  I have been mixing the prints with pale and dark background, and prints with different tones of the same colour as well as different colours.

This has given me quite a bit to think about colour wise as well as the development of the images themselves.  A set of the prints are now on the wall at the studio.

Recent lino cuts on the studio wall