by little test prints
It’s been quite some time since I’ve shown any of my printmaking projects. I still haven’t uploaded the series I finished in the fall and in January…. soon, I hope. So readers might be interested in these little test pieces that I did a while ago.
Wanting to try out a special technique called chine-collé, as well as have a little fun, I chose a small collagraph plate I had from earlier tests and some sections from older inkjet proofs to print onto. I tore small pieces of very thin inkjet printed papers, applied special glue on these and placed them on the inked collagraph plate just before it was run through the press.
I learned that the inkjet colours of these particular chine-colléd papers were not waterfast but they were still fun little pieces to do while learning a few new things. Later I experimented with prints from another printer with waterproof inks that worked better though I didn’t like the images as much.
These are shown here about life size.
March 22, 2010 in Being an Artist, Digital printmaking, Printmaking by Marja-Leena
These are beautiful and fragile pieces of art! I like the colours and delicate layers you have managed to create!
These are so haunting, in color and depth, because they hint to a three-dimensional world that is either about to vanish or come into full focus. Wonderful work!
I see eyes and faces in these teasing abstractions, and curious textures which make me want to see more.
These are lovely! Even if they’re just experiments, I really like the depth of color, image, texture you’ve achieved.
Lovely, fragile, ephemeral. I suppose the fugitive nature of the inks is part of the appeal, but still I wish there were some way to preserve them.
The bee pictures are so full of spring.
Beautiful, Marja-Leena. I always get a sense of time and also timelessness in your print work.
Thank you, each and everyone, for your most generous responses!
Love it, especially the first one.
Icarus!
Turtles. I see turtles in the past and the present. The colours only add to the perception of curious turtles slowly moving through a watery adventure. The fern-like shadows and stony shapes bring us into their world.
Thanks also to you, Cathy, Hattie and rouchswalwe! Icarus and turtles, oh my!
Great to see some new prints, I like the last with the silvery gravel texture.
The bees are enviably gorgeous too.
I’m not very aware of the process and the art of print making, but I like what I see here.
Lucy and Anil, thank you!
I think you’re a genius.
If I read you correctly I take it that some of these projects are experimental, aimed at finding what happens when you apply A to B, etc. The difficulty must be in remembering these effects for future use, certainly in my case. Or is there some mnemonic or trick? Or have I completely misunderstood things and in fact each project is complete and the way it was arrived at can be forgotten? And re-discovered I suppose.
Susan, not at all! The chine-collé technique is used a lot by many printmakers, including in our shop. I’m the relative newbie.
BB, these three little pieces are an experiment to test “what happens when you apply A to B”, as you say. I keep notes plus I have fellow printmakers who are familiar with the process to offer tips. It’s really not that mysterious, just takes a little practice. These are like “sketches”, if it’s easier to think of them that way. They were not the intended to be the final product, though of course they can stand alone as can sketches. I show these because they are interesting looking pieces on their own own, and I might even reuse them in some other way in the future.