Sunday, September 06, 2009

Fish experiments



I like enhancing prints and see how they can transform. The same lines, same structure but each piece appears completely different depending on what I do with it.

So I used the linocut that I made the initial print with last night and started playing with some watercolours. The ink I use for printing is water based, so watercolours work well with it. The first piece if rather dark, in a sombre way, but still gives an impression of fish perhaps at a different time of day - dusk or dawn.

The second and third prints are straight watercolour onto Arches paper. The first is turquoise, the second geranium lake. I was using a block of Arches so it was difficult to get a strong print as pressure wasn't as even and a baren wasn't really required as it would be with ink. However, I like the pastel colours. They could be added to as well but for now I'm letting them stand on their own. I rather like how the watercolour pools and fades, giving a strong impression of water.

The prints are on 12 x 16 paper with the 7 x 5 piece centred. I envisage a border that would use the blank space as part of the image. I have had to scan these images or parts of them as it seems every camera in the house has dead batteries. It will have to wait til tomorrow then I can tinker with framing ideas.

3 comments:

Jo Castillo said...

These are lovely and you evidently had fun doing them. Nice work.

Jennifer Rose said...

it is a neat that it looks like puddles of water with the blue and red prints. do you think another pass with the lino with more watercolour on it would turn it to mud colour?

Jan said...

I like your lino prints a lot. I can remember doing this in high school art (not fish though!) and it was a lot of fun.

The watercolor looks good & I like the pastel colors also. It's sort of a study in contrasts with the solid/sturdy fish and the delicate watercolor. Just has a good feel about it!