The Overall Process

Overall, I enjoyed doing Contemporary Printmaking as a subject. Not only did it encourage me to learn new printing methods that Ive never tried before, it allowed me to extend my experience with Lino Printing, which I have done multiple times before. We started off with Frottage and Potato Prints, which was a good introduction to the subject as it was very simple and fun. Also bringing the nostalgia from childhood artworks. Then we moved on to Mono Printing, which introduced the class to the inking process. After that, we started Etching, which was quite difficult but gave a great result. The carving itself took time which gave us more patience for the future prints. This introduced us to the longer process of printing. Where we did both a final and test print. Which lead us to Lino Printing, which we spent the most time on. Lino was my favourite as I had previously tried it out so I felt more comfortable to experiment more with my carving.

Meeting Targets:

Through-out the semester, we as a class set certain goals to finish different artworks every couple of weeks. By setting these targets, we were able to stay organised during class. Creating a smoother process. Setting out the guidelines allows us to be as organised as we can so we can then produce prints to our best standards. I also organised my planning through Pinterest by creating boards of different inspiration photos for my prints. I found this great to have incase I had a block in my creativity. Overall, I would say that I was organised with my process and was able to complete a wide variety of prints.

What Inspired Me?

Honestly, I didn’t have any main inspiration for my prints. I went with how I was feeling at the time and what I wanted to make. Which for me, worked really well. However, I did often use Pinterest for inspirational prints and artworks. Which I sometimes traced and sometimes made my own around the inspiration.

What was Successful?

• The amount of ink I used in all of my prints
• My final prints for both my Etching and Lino
• My tester Lino print of lemons (one of my favourite prints)
• My carving
• My ability to produce efficiently.

What wasn’t successful? How was it resolved?

• Some of my potato prints did quite work: I made more so I had enough.
• Some of my monoprints we left out too long and the ink dried: I made sure that I knew what I was drawing before I put down the ink for the next ones
• The first few prints of my final etch weren’t fully cleaned so had smudges: I took the time to thoroughly clean my etches.
• My shell tester lino print had to be adapted as I slipped: I put lines in the shell to add more texture which worked out.

What did I learn?

Its pretty easy to say that I learnt how to do different types of printmaking. Which of course was true and I am happy that I got to try all these different types. However I also learnt about how many steps a process must have to achieve something great. I also learn ‘t patience and the importance of being clean. But most of all, I learnt a respect for printmakers and their art. Of how difficult it can be, especially as you get more technical. I do believe that I will now look at printmaking in a whole different way. And I appreciate that.

My Work: