Cricketts Inky Art Blot

I used my time at the studio today to add pattern to some of the print backgrounds that I had started earlier. Here are the patterns that I have added to the "blueprint" style background: Other patterns have been added to monoprints and monotypes. These prints will be a one off image as opposed to being part of an edition. Here is an example of a couple that I printed over today: Both have similar elements but will be completely unique. When I have completed the prints and paintings, I might post photos of one or two from start to finish. They all look very unimpressive in a randomly unfinished state, so it might be fun to have the process on one post.

Due to impatience, I was unable to wait until the prints were truly dry enough to overlay with more ink. I only needed to add white to the hour glass at this point, so I threw caution to the wind and printed. I think they survived the ordeal relatively unsmudged. I am particularly pleased with the slight 3D effect. I hoped that it would work, but results are inconsistent. The pace is pretty intense at the moment and I find myself pretty tired each night from printing by hand. I have considered more than once in the last few days, that it is time to think about buying a press. I usually find the labor quite Zen like, but it is a killer when there is a deadline!

Today we had a Wildflower Nada Dada meeting to talk about rooms, rules, publicity and suchlike. There were lots of new and old faces and by the variety alone, I can see WND will be a huge success. Before and after the meeting I did a little painting and printmaking. This morning, I painted a few cog like doodles in white over the canvas to help add pattern and texture. I used white for contrast, but this will be glazed in layers to blend out in a more subtle manner. In the evening after the meeting, I came back and printed. This tiny relief print was dry enough to add an additional 4th layer of color. I masked off a hand carved section of a matrix and printed it in a similar color to the timer. This is the mask and carving. In this photo, I am hand rubbing (with very sparkly nails!) the carved matrix with a small wooden spoon to get all the details. Here is the print so far with the carving added. Hand carving and printing is a slow process. I finally finished at around 12.30 Saturday ...

I had a great printmaking session in the studio today. I just finished cleaning up and see it is 13 hours since I started! Phew, I need a sit down!! Things were going well and inspiration was flowing. At one point I decided the boots I arrived in needed to be printed too. As my phone ran out of battery, I don't have photos of everything I printed today. I do have my boots here: I thought the pattern was suitably subtle! I printed a series of small (tiny!) backgrounds in similar tones to the painted canvas tones. I also worked on some decorative carving in lino for printing. After this I moved on to add a second colour to some rose prints. It was still quite warm in the evening, so I took a quick walk to take a break. I finished up with adding some background patterns in relief, over a few screenprinted monotypes: More to add on these later.

Spot prints on my canvas! I added glycerine to my paint to get this pattern to print. I will probably knock it down with some glazes once I have the subject outlined.

I'm giving the decorative cog carving a workout this morning. It is a little 70s looking, but I can live with that. I was thinking about those Klimt swirls as I carved and gold seemed the right color choice. First print:

I painted a background layer onto the recently gessoed canvases. They are fairly small pieces, but big enough to offer room for experimentation. I may try screen printing or even pressing a relief matrix onto the canvas.