Digital media for Etching

I began playing around with the photographs I had taken of my prints and the photographs I initally took. I super imposed my black and white etching of the pipe on top of the photograph of the mossy wall and rusty pipe. I think that this combination work and brings the etching to life as it was a little flat on its own.




In this version I took a photograph of a grimy red brick wall and super imposed it on top of my print. I changed the opacity settings so it was only barely visible on top of it. I then used the cutout option in the filter gallery which I think gives a more stronger line, similar to a woodcut.



In the last one I took a photograph of one of my prints that didnt work out that well. I had stuck a piece of brown paper over the pipe, but it slipped in the press and it wasnt very absorbant with the ink. I photoshopped in a transparent green over the leaves and and then photoshopped a detailed coloured version of the pipe from a more successful print on top of the brown paper. I really liked this effect of the diffent layers.

                

Etching Experimentation.

I started to experiment with my etchings on Thursday. I began experimenting with different colour roll ups, monoprinting, drypoint, various papers etc.

Etchings. B&W

These are my black and white etchings, I was quite happy with them but I didnt quite achieve the tonal qualities that I had in my drawings so I think next week I will re-etch my plate with a darker tonal quality and hopefully it will work out

Sketchs in preparation for etching

I began sketching ideas from the photographs I took, I settled on a composition I really liked and then had to get the tonal qualities right as I had a lot of detail and crosshatching in my image. I decided on the 3rd sketch, with the varied tonal qualities in the background.  Then I started to draw this onto my plate.

Photography in preparation for etching.

Etching

We started etching this week for the first time. It involves covering a sheet of zinc with wax and drawing your image into the wax, then dipping the plate in acid at different times, so the acid "bites" into the drawing allowing you to print. I found this printing process extremely interesting and enjoyable and you can see the difference in the quality of line between drypoint and etching. Sticking to my original idea of deterioration of structures and how everything eventually breaks down, I began looking at more broken structures around me and on my journeys.

Digital Media Work

 

We were thought the basics of photoshop in the first few classes of digital media. We learned how to layer images, make patterns, change the colour/contrast etc which I found very interesting and helpful and gave me new ideas. This is one of my photographs of an umbrella which I edited on photoshop, I gave the back ground a muted purple/grey colour and emphasised the green ares. I then used luminosity for the umbrella itself to stand out. I then made ghost copies of the skeleton of the umbrella which I layered on top of the background which I think gave it more depth and added to my idea of broken objects and deterioration.

In this picture, I scanned in my lithograph print and I changed the contrast and swapped the background from white to multicoloured geometrical segments to fit around the skeleton of the umbrella. I made the colours different and fade in areass so that it was natural and less artificial.

In this version I decided to see how my image would have worked as a woodcut. I contrasted the black and white of the original image much more and then added in red scratchs over umbrella itself, I gave the background a plain mustard yellow background to compliment the simple colour palette of black white red and yellow.

In this version I learned how to combine two images, so I took my lithograoh print and super imposed it on top of one of my photographs. I then played around with brightness levels and opacity, so that even though the print was on top on the photograph layer you could still see the photograph through the print.

 

 

Completed lithographs.

I used the lithograph ink on the stone and was able to achieve the crosshatching effect that I obtained in my original drawing. I then took a few of these prints and played around with monoprint, especially on the geometrical shapes present. However I regretted the colours I chose.

Prep Drawings for Litho Stone.

These are some of my prep drawings I was working on while playing around with the composition.

Broken Umbrellas.

I began photographing a broken umbrella that I found on the street after a storm. I really liked the eeriness feeling that came from these images. Their structure reminded me of spiders. I began to research similar structures and came across Louise Bourgeois "Spider" sculptures which I thought were amazing.




Louise Bourgeois - "Spider"

Lithography.

For the first  3 weeks of Year 2 in printmaking, I have been learning how to lithograph. I got the the brief "Spaces, Structures and Systems". My first thought was deterioration and broken structures. Since you can only draw on the stone once, I wanted a simple image to represent this idea. I began looking at rotting apples, but after a few days of drawing them I found myself getting bored and it didnt seem to bring my ideas forward, only hold me back. I then began to focus more on broken structures, and I began looking at broken umbrellas. I founded these structures visually appealing to draw and I also liked the negative geometric shapes the skeleton of the umbrella created. I think this helps create my idea of broken structures more then the rotten apples. I'm looking at how as a society, we no longer have control of the "system", and slowly everything around us is breaking. In Limerick city itself, we can see many derelict buildings, broken windows, broken drainpipes, broken structures everywhere around us.