Woodcut & Etching

After the easter break we were given the choice to do either woodcut or etching or woodcut and etching. I chose to do both as I wanted more variety in my prints. I decided to start with woodcut. I moved away from just focusing on my grandmother entirely and began to focus on fading memories of her and how I remembered her when she was healthy and happy. I began searching my house for old photographs, in my attic I luckily stumbled across an old dusty box which contained photographs from about 10 years ago. Many were of her at family parties, laughing and smiling. I began drawing from these and I edited some of my drawings in photoshop. I tried to create the effect that she was gradually fading using different tonal qualities.

I then decided to use one of my drawings ( which I drew in marker ) as my woodcut image. I cut it into the woodblock and cut around it so it was like a stamp. I then cut some fabriano sheets into long strips and began experimenting with my "stamp" and tonal qualities, until I achieved a fading effect that I was happy enough with and portrayed my concept of fading happy memories of my grandmother. I also experimented with transparencies on transparent paper and I though that this achieved an interesting effect that also tied in with my concept.