Paradise in Portugal
Blog post
Wendy | Club Member

Lucy had decided on an `introduction to printmaking’ approach which was absolutely right for most of the group who hadn’t done any, or much printmaking before.  However, this did mean that we really were engaged more with techniques rather than developing our thinking and ideas.  This was the approach that most people wanted and I was perfectly happy to go along this route as it got me making prints again and I think more importantly it got me drawing because I hadn’t got the where-with-all to do it on the computer.  Drawing produces a much more personalised interpretation of a subject than does the computer manipulated photograph and I can see this in my drawings and prints of the puffins (Tetrapak prints) and of the Lino-cut `Gong’ that summoned us to meals.  It’s the thinking and developing of these two ideas that I want to elaborate on here.

Re-imagining the `Oriental Gong’ that summoned us for meals

I explored this idea very early in the week, possibly on our first afternoon and I then finally used the image for our last print activity which was a Lino-cut.  Wandering around the site with my camera I came across the table with the chequer board (Drafts/ Chess) pattern printed on the surface and I used in-camera multiple exposure image to create the overlapping images using my phone and Photosplit to create it.  I followed this up with a drawing of the Oriental Gong where I replaced the plain centre with the crossed square design.  I probably would have done this digitally if I’d been at home, which wouldn’t have given me such an individual image as I managed via drawing.  At the end of the week It seemed the obvious choice to turn the drawing into a lino-print because it had such a strong graphic pattern.  So a mix of photography and observational drawing enabled me to create the final image.

Tetra-pak Puffins

I’ve never done this kind of print before, and following Lucy’s demo I knew that the images had to be big and bold in order to create the contrast of blacks and white that are a feature of this kind of printing, well if you are using black printing ink, which we were.  So I decided that birds might be my subject and puffins seemed an obvious choice.  I had some images of puffins taken in Shetland accessible on my iPad, so initially I chose one of these by making drawings from the photograph. As I was ahead of the game and had my tetra-pak plate ready for printing by the next morning Lucy suggested I create another one, which I did, so I ended up with a Puffin pair.  My intention is to paint in the orange beaks and legs but I haven’t got there yet. So here again a mix of photographic source material and drawing enabled me to create this image.

So where was I most in my comfort zone?

Interestingly, for me, it happened when I had a pencil in my hand and was drawing, but it definitely happened when I had my camera in hand and could lose myself in the moment as I looked through the view finder. So the highlight for me was our Thursday morning bird watching walk around some local countryside, particularly when I was gripped by the beauty of the rim light on the dead vegetation and I managed to lose the group briefly. (Kate came back to look for me.)

So in answering my earlier question

Will I sell my press - I think not at the moment as my experience of printmaking during the holiday rekindled some of the pleasures (and frustrations) I have in relation to printmaking but working photographically is probably going to continue as my main passion.

Wendy North
Friday, December 1, 23