The Turn of the Year.. and yes, more Moons.

Today must be one of my very favourite days, because I know that tomorrow, albeit falteringly, it will start to get lighter. Hope, spring, warmth and sun cannot be far away.
Meanwhile my first, fascinating, full-on, MA project is drawing to a close. Not so much about finishing things this one, more about cranking up the thinking processes. And for another two weeks I will remain deeply in thrall to the lovely Moon, lost in the wonder of its science, myths, facts, fallacies, hopes and dreams.  There will be a last little sliver of a waning moon tonight before a new moon for Christmas.
I have learnt enormous amounts of stuff; about book forms, monoprinting and the moon. I have made some strange images, played with many maquettes, knitted a Clanger, read some extraordinary fiction and finally worked on a set of monoprints which, in a way, relate the story of my research. I am now just assembling them into a rather haphazard book. The learning curves have been steep but the skills will be useful.
So here,  for the winter solstice, are a few of the monoprints. Out of over 60 plus I  have to whittle it down to 29 ish.  I will post the full set when I have made those tricky final decisions and also will explain a little about how and why I got there.  
I had only made a few monoprints before but loved the quality of the line see here

                                 
Ten of the monoprints, some with relief printed additions: image size 4 x 6 inches

Somehow they seem appropriate for Christmas.
I will, yes really, be back to the blogs with a bit more regularity in the New Year and I might just get one more post in before Christmas but, if not, a very Happy Christmas to all my faithful blog readers…

More Silk Road Horse Mono prints

I did a redraw from my sketch and worked on some more prints. Working from a sketch again and again is like Chinese whispers and the image will change as you go. It’s so much better than going back to your original, unless you are looking for accuracy. Let the image and your marks develop in their own way.

 

I think you need to do lots and lots of experiments and be prepared to throw away lots of paper. I have many rejects. Some are too dark, some too light, some get blotches in the wrong places etc etc, but the possibilities are endless.



This image was printed twice, once wiping out some areas and then drawing on the plate again and running it through the press. It spreads the line in places which sometimes is wonderful and sometimes not.


Printing inks on Japanese Paper A4

This image (I forgot to reverse the drawing :)…) was worked on both in line with a pen and roller on the plate, which is how the blobs of ink got there. All of the prints so far are with waterbased inks.
Things are all very experimental and endlessly surprising.
I really like them.

Silk Road Horse 2: Mono prints

Using the sketches of the stucco horse from the Museum I made some simple monoprints.
Each of the prints below are a result of slightly different inking, slightly different drawing pressure and single or double printing.

 







It’s the first time I have tried this technique and I am delighted by the sensitivity of the mark. There is a lithographic feeling about them, which to me is very beautiful.
I have become really interested in the implied connection between the horse and the figure, so I’ll be working on that some more this week.