Whenever I feel that " I got something to say but I can't really express them by words". I draw.
Printmaking taster weekend ( Day2 )
The 2nd day of the class we tried Etching. I like drawing a lot so really enjoy the lesson. Specially, I like that it need so many progress to produce one print, lots of people hated it as it was not easy job. However by preparing the metal plate by hand, smoothed the corner, washed off the grease then "cooked" the wax to dry so it shins like mid night coal. After that we draw with a fine sharp needle pen ,put on as many detail as possible, Then put the plate into acid liquid. Finally scratch off the wax by using dirty cloth ...... I loved and enjoyed every single moment. My hands were so dirty that the ink mark stayed on it for 2 days, but I do experienced something rigorous and almost religious.
The pleasure that only hand craft man in the old days might experience, no machine no digital adjustment, just pure hand craft art. I could feel the texture of paper and smell of the oil ink, that really make you connect more with your artworks.
Here are my 2 days class result:
" Stove and Kettle" Black and white print from Etching.
" Lamppost by night" multiply color lino cut print from Relief.
Printmaking taster weekend ( Day1 )
Today I went to a two day printmaking taster weekend held by The Art Academy near London bridge. I've always wanted to learn some traditional printmaking skill. Today we tried linoleum relief with color reductive, which turns out lot harder than I expect. By using only one sheet to complete more than one color coating ( we did 3 color coating today), we have to plan out which lines to cut out first and also think about the color overlay result in mind. According to Victoria our instructor , the prints done by reductive way somehow held more value than the multiple relief , because there will be only limited amount of print that can be produced.
When I used to do color coating in stamp making I usually use more than one rubber block so the print can be produced infinity , as long as the rubbers don't wear out. The way that you have to think all 3 layer at the same time is quite confusing as you can not see the final result until you had your last layer cut.
Apart from this challenge, the whole day had been really fun. In the end the 4 final print turns out better than I expected and funny enough, I somehow unconsciously chosen the color of my outfit today (dark brown, khaki and yellow), Victoria said people who come to the course always seems to do that which is really an interesting observation.
Also I had this amazing tea she made for me ,apparently just normal Sainsbury's tea bag but I can taste something different from it ,more like a nice burned, earthy fragrance. She said the secret is the bone china mug I used. Really? I never know the mug could cos such impact on taste of the tea before, will defiantly experiment on this theory later!
Last but not least, she brought us to this print material supply shop near the studio, I bought some basic lino set looking forward to try to make some small print at home later.
Sailor suit
I always loved the sailor suit school uniform even though I never had any chance to own one. I heard nowadays in Japan, school uniform has been more and more changed to academic style now, with suits outfit and ties etc. it was once such an iconic symbol of their school girls. My Japanese colleague once said she was always hated her sailor school uniform, I guess we are just all likely to be fascinated by the thing which we never own.
A doodle of a bunny in sailor uniform. Bit of a digital water colour test.
A quick sketch from yesterday
Quite a while ago I found this technique to create water color effect in Photoshop.So sometimes when I don't have any water color tools with me ( like in the office ) I still can do a bit of water color quick sketch.
Last night Jerry and I were discussing about how to draw anything without reference, I did my best today to draw something just from memory about how that Spanish restaurant looks like. and Yes, there really was a guy sitting on a very very tall platform doing Guitar performance, I didn't made that up although it looks bit odd...