Silk printing 

silk printing for me was a challenging experience as it was something i had not done before but was keen to learn. It took a few trails and errors until i really understood how it worked and what the mistakes where that i was making. I did not really enjoy the process of this task because it was very time consuming and difficult in general.  

                                       

when doing this task it took more than one person. you could do it yourself but it would of meant not having a clear or neat outcome .Without having a second person holding the screen it would of meant that the paper underneath would move and making the ink smudge . Having a second person to help you became a big advantage and became a big part of the process ,not only was having help from another person great for keeping things steady but made the process faster which meant the they had time to do their silk printing too.

What is silk printing?
silk printing also known as screen printing is a printing technique whereby a mesh is used to transfer ink onto a substrate , except in areas made impermeable to the ink by a blocking stencil .

The process: First i chose a stencil design which i then would use for the prints.After that i placed the stencil under the frame but above the paper . Before using any ink i put tape on the parts where i didn't want the ink to go through , once that was done i then placed a line of ink at one end of the screen and used a squeegee to draw ink across the screen and repeated until i thought ready to lift screen . leaving me with the result .

lino prints 

what is lino printing ?

lino printing is a print making technique .A design is cut into the Lino surface with a sharp knife, V-shaped chisel or gouge, with the raised areas representing a  mirror image of the parts to show printed. The Lino sheet is inked with a roller, and then pressed onto paper or fabric. This can be done by hand or with press. Lino printing in this case is no foreign word but a very well known one that has been locked away in my head for future safe keeping .To tell the truth lino printing has never been my forte but, never the less i'm rather proud of the outcomes. I decided to stick with warmer , more autumnal colours ( reds , yellows and oranges ) one thing i wish i could do again, if i could go back to this day would be to step out of my comfort zone , possibly use a range of colours (even though i used blue) as i think this would of shown more confidence and interest. I would've liked to also add more cuttings onto the lino to show that i understand and know how to add on more shape onto the design . This is something i would not choose to do again if i had a choice but if had no choice in the matter then i would gladly try again, if that meant improving.

Using yellow acrylic paint on the back of the unmarked piece of the lino i placed it onto the paper , giving me a yellow box . After that i used one of my rollers to roll the red ink onto he lino. Once that was done i placed the lino on-top of the yellow square and used a clean roller to roll on top, giving me this orange coloured outcome .

This is not one of my favourites , never the less i have decided to keep it to show my progress. This had the same technique but i have swapped the colours around getting  an opposite effect.

using only red i placed the ink covered lino onto the paper not realising that it had bits of blue on it which created dark splodges (which i think adds to the print) creating this effect.

For both i used red ink and same technique as before .I also used blue ink on one of my prints which did not turn out well and the reason for this was that i didn't use an even amount of ink .

contact printing 

The word contact printing was foreign to me, i had heard of lino printing and silk printing although i had neither done silk printing myself till a few weeks later . This task had an interesting process which i was keen to learn and practice.It took me 2 or 3 good trails till i thought reasonable (the worst criticiser is yourself , one thing i have learnt ) . This task was challenging in its own ways , using ink is always tricky ;it smudges , dries too fast leaving patches of different tones ( manly with black ink). One problem that i had myself and only learnt the hard was always us less! when doing this task i noticed that when using ink you have to be careful of not over flowing the paper with ink but ,at the same time not using the bear-minim , this meant going through papers on papers to find the perfect amount of ink . The technique we used was a strange one and which yet again w completely foreign to me . Using a plan piece of paper i placed onto the table which next to i had placed a white bored which upon it i smothered with ink . Once having everything put in the right place I then was ready to start the process of spreading the ink onto a plain piece of paper  , then placing another piece of paper on top of the now dark black paper and then  drawing with a sharp pencil. For me this was very unnerving; not having control of what the outcome could /would be and not being able to use a rubber (as in this case a rubber would have no use) and rub out mistakes as the pencil has already touched the ink and marked the piece of paper . Although this was a very new way of printing for me mind-puzzling i still enjoyed it , i wouldn't say it was relaxing but more frustrating, i still found it fascinating and in a way mind blowing . Its something i would like to do again in the future . 

                                                           

                                                       

attempt 1

attempt 2

attempt 3

attempt 4

                                                                       Abstract art
i have never been a fan of abstract art , i never understood how it was classed as art . To me it was just paint and colour with no real meaning and if there was a meaning it was made up to be classed as art which in some cases it is . I still do not like abstract art, nor do i really like modern . i admit the colours never sees to amaze me but traditional painting to me have more meaning , history and story . when i was little i would always go to the gallery with my parents and i would be so fascinated with the paintings that i would just sit there and imagine what was happening .I would get so disappointed  as soon as i went to abstract "art" , i couldn't see what it all meant. Now that i have researched and learnt more about this style i would say i'm more open to it and possibly less narrow minded . I now know that its a sense of freedom ,expressionism and can have many more meaning to with emotion and mental health .When doing this style i admit i felt a sens of freedom and relaxations as i watched the paint spread on to the paper .

                                                    media = acrylic paint (black and white)
                                                     charcoal and pencil.

                                                media used for the top picture = red water colour and black ink
                                                media used for bottom picture= pencil and gum tape
                                              last picture , media used= black ink, black ink using a thin stick and                                                      fine liner .

Still life 

I have always had a keen interest for still life paintings but i have always preferred traditional paintings ,so for me this was something new and exciting .Using the objects in-front of me i chose three of them and from each one i chose different media . For me there was no challenge ,this experiment in a way was a relaxing one and i enjoyed finding different techniques for each drawing . I only wish i used range of media and not just stuck with the basic ( my comfort zone ) but that is something i have become more confident with and intend to carry on with. 

Black pen, black fine liner and coloured pencils 

                                              Fine liner and water colour

                                             Pen and wash

                                                         Pen and wash with water colour