Monday, December 06, 2010

Fish stress



My printing table is littered with capelin carcasses in my quest for the perfect print of this little fish. 

I want to print a school of capelin and of course you know the dangers that is fraught with, don't you?  The precision of inking, the correct weight paper, the right printmaking ink, just the right amount of molding paper around the little body, not getting any additional ink residue outside the print area... and that's juse one.  How many fish in a school???  And what are the chances of getting ALL of them as acceptable prints on the same sheet of paper?

The image here isn't of capelin, but their close cousin, smelt.  I've printed these using white and gold inks and added detail later.  Holding my breath, I wet mounted this Moriko Kozo paper on plain mulberry paper for backing.  I was afraid the dark blue might run when wet, but all was well and the colour held.  This is one of the more expensive sheets of Japanese paper, but worth it in terms of versatility, texture and look. 

Now back to the capelin...

10 comments:

Billie Crain said...

The gold on the blue mulberry paper give these lowly smelt a real WOW factor! Really impressive.

Christiane Kingsley said...

Take a deep breath, Jeanette, and tell yourself that you are really good and will get ALL of these capelins printed perfectly!
The smelts shown here are so interesting - they truly look done in 3-D!

Making A Mark said...

These look terrific Jeanette!

Jeanette Jobson said...

This particular paper is gorgeous Billie, I just love it. The golds seemed a natural choice to work against it.

Its a matter of methodical work for the smaller fish Christiane. Its labour intensive but I have a number of capelin so I'll get there. Its just a bit stressful at times! :)

Thanks Katherine, I just need a title for them now.

RH Carpenter said...

Beautiful flashes of gold against the dark blue = perfect! Breathe...

olivia said...

They look to swim on the surface of the water! Are they wearing gold Jeanette ?

laura said...

I love the way you've arranged them on the page, with the slight extra space above the bottom one: very subtle. And, as a watercolorist who has trouble getting rich darks, I really love the deep dark background.

Hedera said...

This works beautifully Jeanette - richness and depth!

Tracy Hall said...

Just beautiful Jeanette, they really shine out. Gorgeous!

JANE MINTER said...

these smelt are superb jeanette ...good luck with the capelin !