Victoria Hough

I have been inspired by an artist called Victoria Hough. Alongside being a college lecturer she makes personalised canvases using textiles. I have included her in my work as it reminds me of House and Home. Vicky inspired me to print on to wood. And thats how I have had the idea to do an old fashioned wooden sign. I love the textiles part of it but the brief says I must do a print, but I will still use the style of Vicky.

 

Vicky has also done a print. This was a lino print which was in fact about 'House and Home' containing the phrase 'Home Sweet Home' the phrase I was planning to use. 

Another Idea

Another idea I have had for this printing project is using image maker. Firstly when I got the printing brief I didn't originally think of using image maker I was thinking more of lino print, wood cut etc. but when I thought about it, I thought that image maker would be a good idea. Thinking about House and Home I was thinking about doing about my ancestors after I looked at my family tree (house and home -- home -- family -- family tree -- ancestors).  I could print my photo onto a pillow case. I would then work on to it, sewing etc. 

When searching the internet I have come across an artist called Maria Walker. 

This artist has inspired me to use text in my work on my ancestors idea. 

Inspiration - House and Home

I was looking at a website called notonthehighstreet.com and I came across these marble pieces. This has given me the idea to do my prints on more than just paper. I am planning to print on to wood and on to tiles.

Going into more research I have gone into tile prints and came across Welbeck Tiles.

   

Another idea I have become very interested in is old fashioned wooden signs. I think this would be a brilliant thing to print and would like to see the results of printing onto wood. 

To do this I will use a lino print and print onto a piece of plyboard. The reason I have chosen to use this type of wood is because when printed onto, you will still see the markings of the wood and will look like an old fashioned sign. 

Pop Art

In college we were practising using layers on photoshop. I used a simple picture of Luke. 

We firstly adjusted the brightness using levels. And then adjusted the Threshold (which makes it black and white). I then removed the background by cutting it out. On a new layer I cut out the skin surface and filled the colour of my choice. Then selected multiply so all the detail was visible. On a new layer i used the lasso tool and added eye shadow then used multiply again. I repeated the process for the lips and the hat and background etc. Before saving it I flattened the image so that it couldn't be changed. I then saved it as a jpeg so tat i could open the images in more places than just photoshop. 

After I had changed the colour of each image I adjusted the hue and saturation so that the colours would change. I then put all the different coloured images and pieced them together so it looks like an Andy Warhol piece. 

Sorry for making you look like a cross dresser Luke!

House And Home

For my 'tale of two prints' project I have chosen to do House and Home. I thought that this would be an interesting subject to do and I have easy access to my house / home. 

To start of the theme I have just took some simple pictures of my house.

Continuous Line Drawing

Last year when I learned about continuous line drawing i found it dificult to keep my pencil/pen on the page, it didn't feel natural to me to keep my media on the page. But with practise I got used to it and I really came to like the technique. I love how messy the drawing looks but you can still tell what it is a drawing of. Here are a few examples of continuous line drawing I have found on the internet.



I plan on using this technique in my 'a tale of two prints' project, mainly because i havn't done it in a while and also because i just love to use this technique.

The Development of Printmaking

 

Definition - A machine that transfers lettering or images by contact with various forms of inked surface onto paper or similar material fed into it in various ways The device is used for printing many copies of a text on paperThis was invented by a german inventer called Johannes Gutenberg.

The printing press had dramatic effects on European civilization. Its immediate effect was that it spread information quickly and accurately. This helped create a wider literate reading public.

However, its importance lay not just in how it spread information and opinions, but also in what sorts of information and opinions it was spreading. There were two main directions printing took, both of which were probably totally unforeseen by its creators.

First of all, more and more books of a secular nature were printed.  Scientists working on the same problem in different parts of Europe especially benefited, since they could print the results of their work and share it accurately with a large number of other scientists. 

They in turn could take that accurate, not miscopied, information, work with it and advance knowledge and understanding further. Of course, they could accurately share their information with many others and the process would continue. 

The printing press also created its share of trouble as far as some people were concerned. It took book copying out of the hands of the Church and made it much harder for the Church to control or censor what was being written.

Foreshortening

I have been practising some foreshorting ready for when I do life drawing. Foreshorting is when the object you are drawing has a part that is close to you, when you are drawing someone lay down, they may not always going to be lay directly infront of you, they could be lay at an angle. This is where foreshortening comes in.

 

Here i have drawn somebody with their legs up to their chest. As you can see the legs look larger than they would if they were stood up, this is because the legs are closer to me. This is what foreshorteing is.

 

I found this task rather easy as when i was drawing, I just consentrated and drew what I saw and not what I couldn't see but knew was there.

Life Drawing

Today was the first session of life drawing I have done since last year. I don't feel like my drawings are as good as they can be as it has been a long time since i have done it so hopefully as i keep doing life drawing, they will improve and i will get my proportions right.

14.11.2012

A Tale Of Two Prints Project Ideas

For this Project I have to choose two different Themes and create a print of each theme. The themes are..

• Contrast
• Decay
• Time
• Architecture
• Pattern
• Poetry & Literature
• Colour
• House & Home
• Scale
• Current Affairs
• People
• Places

I really like the idea of 'Time'. When I saw this theme, a lot of ideas came to mind - Clocks (grandfather, watch), Numbers, Decade, Second, Minute, Hour, Time Travelling, era's (70s, 80s), The Rabbit in Alice In Wonderland, time bomb.

I also think that House and Home would be a good one to do. I could take this idea anywhere. Firstly i could start of by drawing primary sources from my home. I could also take House and Home to Family, Pets or just the materialistic things inside the house. I could also merge House and Home to Architecture and draw the foundations of the house.

Looking into more detail about house and home I have come up with a few ideas.
- take pictures of the house, (panoramic) also photography style ones (close ups etc.)
- collect things from house , draw on them, paint on them, use them in collage
-collect secondary and primary sources and draw from them
- find out the history of the house
- birds eye view
- continuous line drawing (pencil, sewing)
- family members
- pets

Historic Print

I have been researching for Historic Print makers. A printmaker I have come across is Albert Durer.

 

This print is called Glorification Of The Virgin (The Life Of The Virgin), c. 1502. This is a woodcut. I love the detail in the print, its hard to believe that its been made from carving into a piece of wood. This print is being sold online for £12,592,40.

 

Contemporary Print

For my new project ''A Tale Of Two Prints''. I have been doing some research on some contemporary printmaking artists. I have come across an artist called Tobias Till. He has done an A-Z print of London. A print for each letter in the alphabet. For example, A - Albert Memorial B - Borough Market C - Carnaby Street. I love this idea. Tobias does his prints using the lino print technique. These series of prints are on display at The London Transport Museum.

 

Christmas Card

In college we have been set a task to design a christmas card that will be sent to all of the companies that are in contact with the college. The winner will also receive a £50 book token. As this is a christmas card for the college, we have to meet some criteria's. The first one is that it has to represent warrington as a community. The second is that it has to show progress in students that are at the college.

For this task I decided from the start that I wanted to do a print, this will give me some practise for the project I am currently doing along side this task(''A Tale Of Two Prints'').

I have had the idea to use text in my card. I like the idea of large block writing to fill the whole card. The text on this lino is backwards because, if it was the correct way round... once the lino had been printed it would be the wrong way round. So when cutting out, it must be backwards text. Some of the words used are, family and friends. I feel like this is representing the college as a community. 

Here is the print developing. Now i just have to hope and prey that the letters are the right way round.

To start off the lino printing process you first must pick your colour and add it to your palet.

You must make sure that your ink is spreaded evenly across the palet so that when you use the roller, it will spead evenly over your lino.

Next you just have to roll your ink onto your lino.

Carefully place your lino onto your chosen surface and use a clean roller to make sure that all the ink has been transfered onto your paper.

This is what my finished lino print looked like but i wasn't completely happy. I didn't feel like it look christmassy enough So I decided to add a christmas tree.