Screenprint is fun

No really it is! Terrifying to begin with, there are so many steps to remember, but then you do it once and you're left wondering what you worrying about!

I moved on from cups and started using my passports and ID cards etc to talk about identity.
Here is my almost finished image :

And this is a close up of the green on the top half. I f-ing love this green!

Just a little aside: I can't believe that I am actually allowed to get a degree in this stuff. I know it's only the beginning and I shouldn't be getting too excited just yet and I know there will be hard work too but I just can't believe that I am allowed to go into college everyday and do all of this.

First week of print

So it's the end of my first week of being in print.

'Notions of Identity'

WHO AM I?!

'Are you a mug of tay and two cuts of brown bread or are you a cup of tea and two chocolate biscuits?'

My primary school principal asked me that when I joined Holycross primary school in 1994, after I moved there from London.
Meaning - are you Irish or English? Rascist? Yes obviously but also an amusing way to put the question.

Am I Irish? Or am I English?

I don't know. But I'm going to explore the idea of both.

Oh yeah - and I'll be using screenprint!

The End...

Well the end of electives anyways!
What can I say about painting? I didn't do my best this week and I know thats going to reflect in my marks that I get. But unfortunatly there wasn't much I could do about that as my home life was falling apart around me. Hopefully it will all be sorted this week and I'll be ready to jump into working again next week.
It would be quite ironic if my low marks in Painting brought down my grade so much that I didn't get into Print, seeing as Painting is my second choice thats where I would end up! Heres hoping that doesn't happen.

Heres a photo of my Freud, I found it very difficult but looking at it now I'm quite proud of it. Its a bad copy but an ok painting!

As usual Blogger has decided to upload it sideways but her hair is meant to be at the top of the picture.

I particularly like the way her nose turned out.

And I also realised that I hadn't put up photos of my last few prints that I did so here is one from the 'Clutter' project.

Again it's sideways so just tilt your head to the right!

And this is another one.

Oh for goodness sake! I'm just going to leave them the wrong way round from now on and maybe they will upload properly!!!
The idea, for me, behind this project was to look at the clutter we leave behind us when we're gone. I went to an abandoned house (the door was standing open, I didn't break in!!) and took some photos of the possessions that were still there. It was obvious that an older gentleman had been living alone in the house before it was abandoned and it made me really sad and upset to see his 'things' decaying with no-one to take care of them. It was as if the man himself was there decaying infront of me.
The photos that I ended up using were of a plug socket and of a plastic Holy Mary water font. The wallpaper was torn behind them and the concrete wall showing through. I made about 20ish prints from these two images and I really like them. I know we aren't meant to use the word 'like' when talking about work/art etc but these are the kinds of things that would appeal to me if I saw them on the wall in a gallery or exhibition.

So to sum up the electives - Ceramics was lovely fun, Print was inspiring and energetic, and Painting was enjoyable but terrifying.

Painting and other news

I have no images yet to put up from painting but I'll try remember to take some tomorrow when we're finished for the day.
So far we have been just using the primary colours to do 'blind drawing' with paint, then doing 'negative space' drawings and also (trying) to paint with plastic credit cards! My credit card one came out... well...we aren't meant to analyze them.....
So in other news.... I entered three pieces into the drawing awards exhibition and one of them was accepted. I'm really excited to see the rest of the exhibition now, so that will be on Tuesday.
Could really have done with a drink tonight after the highs and lows of the week so far but maybe hot chocolate in bed and an early night are for the best.

Inky hands

I finally got all the ink off my hands last night, just in time to go back into the print room to ink them up all over again!

So today I moved my prints, that I did last week, on another bit.
But sure I wasn't able to post the pics I took of my prints last week was I? So I'll put up some of those first.


Ok so this first one is very yellow. But I love it, the way the two tones blend into each other has that feeling I was trying to capture. But its also a bit bland and blah. I'm going to leave it the way it is for now though because I don't want to 'ruin' it by putting something over it that I might not be happy with.

This bluey one has got two shades of blue blending down into white, and it now has a water tower printed over it I think. And another shade of blue...I can't remember now!

 This one has decided to be sideways.... the blue goes at the top though so just tilt your head to the right and it should look ok.... This one was a bit of an accident. I didnt realise the lighter blue background was still so wet when I tried to do another darker blue over the top of it, so when I peeled the acetate off it pulled some of the blue with it. But sometimes there are 'happy accidents' and I think this might be one.

 This is one of my favourite prints that I've made so far. It looks a bit like rain, I think. I'm not sure yet if it feels finished. I don't want to put a big watertower across it but it might need something. I'll have another look at it tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow, I can't wait to have another whole day in the printroom. I love it and I never want to leave! And if they make me leave then I will be forced to haunt them!

That week went by a bit quicker than I'd like it to have!!!

Can I have it again please? I can't believe it's Friday tomorrow already :( Then theres only Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and then it's Friday again and my two-week print block will be over!


I haven't been taking my camera down to the print room because well if you've ever been in a printroom then you'll know that it is one of the messiest places in the whole college! But I did take a few snaps at the end of the day today so I will show you some of those in a sec but I just realised I haven't even updated you on what I've been taking as inspiration!

Ok, so do you know that moment when your favourite song starts and you're just waiting for the beat to kick in? Or when you leave college/work after a long day, you walk out of the building, look up at the sky and are content? Do you know the moments I mean?
Well that's the space I'm working on, the breathing-space, head-space, blankness that comes from being purely content, just for a moment.

Well the sky at dusky-twilight makes me feel that way so these are some pics that I took of the sky to illustrate that feeling.
Or rather here aren't some pics! It won't even open the uploader right now so I will just have to try again over the weekend :(

Damn and blast you blogger! Just when I was starting to enjoy blogging you decide to stop working!!!!

Bye bye ceramics, Helloooooooo print!

Friday was the last day of my ceramics two week block and while I'm very sad to see the last of ceramics I am seriously excited for two weeks of print. I did a bit of research/planning etc on Friday and I hope I have some good starting points for next week :)
Not much else I can say about it til then!
Heres one of the photos I might use for inspiration.