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Pre-Course Playing

My new “Studio Thinking Chair”
So far so good

I painted over one of a series of pre-prepped wax crayon layers in a sketchbook using cheap childs’ paint sticks. I then took another waxed and painted page from a different sketchbook and cut interesting curved shapes from it which I then stuck down on the page.

Second sketchbook

The purpose of this was to try out different colour juxtapositions as well as layers of different coloured wax and paint to see the effects I could achieve by scratching into the surface.

So far, these are just small scale experiments. I hope to use what I’ve learned about good mixed media methods and different colour combinations on something a little larger in scale later on.

The following images are prepped pages in my sketchbook for further experiment later on.

Project Between Courses

So that I avoid stalling in my personal art practice, I came up with an idea to create some prints of fish – mackerel – to be specific. I wanted to try out my brand new device, a Jack Press, as I call it.

Jack Press

I started with a spot of scribbling:

Mackerel sketch

Then I copied these sketches onto two pieces of lino:

I cut these out and stuck them, together with the water effects, onto a piece of board:

I checked the central point against the frame intended to use for the finished print
Flipped image

It had been my intention to create a reductive print. However, I thought the lower fish looked more like a porpoise than a mackerel, so decided it needed changing.

Making certain I would have sufficient lino left over for a second plate, I trimmed off a slab of lino from a large piece, giving myself enough to recreate the long nosed mackerel.

Used as a template with shortened nose
Initial print

I then transferred this print onto the second lino print plate, lining it up on a registration jig I made for the purpose.

Transferred image

Now it’s a case of waiting for the transferred image to dry so that I can cut into the second lino plate.

I thought about each stage carefully before making a start on any cutting etc, as I did not wish to mess up at any stage. This was especially true at the point of deciding to scrap the “porpoise” fish and redo it. If I had carried on regardless of being unhappy with the draftsmanship this exercise would have been one of experimentation alone, and would have been unlikely to result in a satisfactory outcome. As it stands, it has potential ,I feel.