with 3 weeks to go.......

Only 3weeks till our show and we are off to The Sidney Nolan Trust to participate in a steam roller press event, where we have been expected to make a plate which is at least 6foot long, after careful consideration I have decided to work on lino, a huge expense, but me and fellow student Ian have fund raised at university and have managed to raise enough to pay the bulk of our lino, which is costing around £70 to get a six foot by 3 foot piece.
It has taken me nearly two weeks to make my lino print, I have been working on it in the evenings while at university everyday preparing for the show, the week leading up to this event I have stayed up doing the lino until 1am most nights.
Exhausted.....
However it was all worth it, here are some photographs from the event.

I brought together all my knowledge so far on the course to create this piece and I am extremely happy with the result.

My print got chosen to go in a gallery in Prestieigne called the workhouse gallery.....

Grid prints

Experimenting at the same time as making the violins, I have discovered all sorts of ways of using lino, I began to compose three layered linno prints, where the under layer is the exact same size as the top, I used the dremel to create dotted texture and then made the first layer, with vein like structure running through the demel marks, I then rotated the print in another colour, this then gave me the idea to create blends of colour, and I rotated the print with another blend over the top, create double lines and the dots with two colours. I then imprinted a portrait lino on top, this gave the portrait a depth and an interest with the textures and intertwining layers.
It reminded me of music composition, of the way a piece of music works when there are notes that fit with each other, the way the violin bow and techniques of playing can add depth to a piece of music, they change the dynamic, they make it more interesting, when notes are layered together they can create harmonies, and I feel these small lino prints through the layers create interesting harmonies, the are a form of double stopping in terms of violin playing.
I began a huge task of creating a massive gird, I wanted to see how they would look on mass, taking over a wall, making your eyes buzz with the layers of colour and texture.

Discussions about work

In tutorials with Sean and with David it was made clear to me that I should possibly not show the violins in my exhibition, that perhaps the prints were the print. That maybe I should not give everything away, that I should consider what and why I want to show different aspects of the process and the work.
But the more I thought about this the more I realised the violins were a huge part of the work the concept, and to me it was important to show them.
In one discussion Sean said to me why do you want to show the violins, you wouldn't show the lino of a lino print, and I said actually yes I would. I think the lino is sometimes even more interesting than the print itself, it shows the layers of work, the physicality of the maker, it is the process. The process is vital to what I want to convey, it is the same as the practice for an instrument, it is the way you learn and it can be shown as the work itself.
I experimented with hanging the violins, suspended.

Criticism, and rebelion

As the pressure rises, and it gets closer to the time of the show, I wanted to test out different configurations of my work, before I had even started etching into many of the violins I began hanging them in a space within printmaking, trying out, so as my decision for the show will have been carefully considered, not rushed, I could see what worked and what did not.

Thinking about paper.....

In my trails of printing the violins I found the archival paper worked best, however deiciding this would become a final piece in my exhibition for the end of the MFA programe, I wanted to think hard about what I wanted people to think about the work, how I wanted it perceived and how I might bring all the elements I have experimented with together in the final show.
It struck me that the memories that come to us through the senses, memories that fleet in and out of thought when we hear, play, compose music, are fleeting, fragile, they shift in and out we might hear one cord of a song and a person comes to mind, they fill us with a memory,
This got me questioning the way I print these memories, I want them to show this fragility, not to be bold, very unlike my lino cuts, I want them to almost disapear into thin air, so....
I tried out different papers...and found that Japanese Kozo paper of the thinnest quality from ordered specially from London, worked the best.
The images did exactly what I wanted them to, they floated, they were ephemeral, drifting in and out of existence, you could see through them.

Simultaneous Solar plate!

While engraving my violins in the evenings and printing them in the day, I have been thinking about also making a series of solar plate prints, I decided i would make two one of my violin teacher Elaine, and one of Howard who helped me in obtaining the violins, I feel these are key people within this body of work, and again to me the people are what make the experience, what make experiences valuable, through looking for the violins I met an extremely interesting person, and got to see inside a studio that struck cords with what I wanted to achieve, the visits to Howard's studio and shop inspired me and got me thinking about how I would like to exhibit the works, it became important to the work itself. Therefore I wanted to make the images very perfect, more like music. I wanted to make an edition of both and have them almost like books of music score.

These solar plates became another investigation into the solar plate process, I mixed solar plate with chine-colle, using duet music I play with my violin teacher I composed images using both strips of the music, and begun to experiment with subtle colours, adding small amounts of yellow and greys, and touches of brown, I wanted to almost create the colours reflected in the wood of the violin itself. Using a collage of images and printing them onto acetate I made the solar plate, and through printing over and over I began to get the results I wanted, and made editions of twelve of each plate. I used the image of lucky cats taken on my travels in Southeast Asia, this was a play on the fact that all of the violins I am using are all made in Asia, they are churned out in masses cheaply for schools.

Beginning 30 violins

Having acquired my thirty violins, I became nervous about engraving into them, it was overwelming the amount, the concept, how was I going to print them?
What tools would I use to engrave into them? Will portraits work in the context of the shape, will people understand the notion of memories evoked through sound.....
So I began, using a spitsticker into the back of the violin, this was very difficult to use as it pushed the varnish up and did not really work, I tried a drypoint tool which actually worked better.
I also began trying out different methods of getting the varnish off the backs of the violins, using metholated spirits, also paint stripper, and sanding down.
I then had the task of working out how to print from them, this was another difficult aspect of the process, as obviously it is not a flat surface so using the roller over it is not the same as over a flat lino or woodcut plate, also the application of ink was a trial and error process as it was difficult to make sure that the lines did not fill in, so I used the ink thinner, much less than I would for a lino.
I then had the make decisions about paper, as obviously again the standard somerset paper would not work as it would be far too thick, as I can not put the violin through any press I am hand burnishing them, therefore the paper has to be thin.
I began with newsprint, moving onto archival paper, as the newsprint would discolor eventually.
The hand burnishing added a layer to the concept of printing from this object in particular as I am printing from the sound board, and in the process of burnishing with a spoon I am literally making new sound from the violin itself, tuning the image into the paper itself.

Violins

I decided to go down to San Domenico at the end of Cathedral road and see about perhaps trying to get hold of some violins to etch into, as I walked in I realised this was a shop of high standard violins, and that it seemed very unlikely that I could even suggest such a thing to Howard who works there, I felt it was perhaps an act of de-facing, that to etch into such beautiful objects was perhaps wrong.
I got talking to Howard about how violins were made, the work that goes into making them, and which are the most valuable, particularly those made in Italy, he explained that he goes to auctions, he showed me his workshop and how he does reconstruction/restoration work on violins, he had many boxes of cheaper violins which he used parts from, and that he could do up to make fairly decent violins for young children starting out. When I explained to him this idea I had for using the violins as objects to prints from he said he could go to an auction for me and get me a 'lot' of violins, up to around 30. So I continued to go back and see him and gain further knowledge on how they are made, and got to look around his studio. I took a number of photographs of his studio space, it is interesting to see the parallel between his studio space and my own, the tools for restoration and those for engraving, there are many parallels. He explained to me that these 'lots' that you can buy at auction are old school violins, they are council property, violins that have been disregarded chucked away, left behind by the children that took them up. This interested me, and made me think about the amount of people that you speak to that say 'I used to play an instrument but gave it up when I got older.'.......

www.san-domenico.co.uk/about.htm

Music/print

Recently when engraving into box wood, I started thinking about the object that is engraved, the presence of the  piece of wood itself within the print, the object...this got me thinking about what could be used to engrave into, and how this could relate to the print itself.
I started printing with chopping boards, and then began looking at maple wood. When looking at maple wood I realised the most important object to me was made form maple wood. The violin. This got me thinking about connections between music making and printmaking, I began to see so many parallels, between the layers of music, composition, depth, pauses in a composition, movement, time...
I decided to try and find a source of violins to engrave into.

Experimenting with cut out

Cutting sections of the print away, using negative form to create depth...

Cutting away

Running on the same trail, using the idea of cutting away and pushing the boundary of the rectangle, I began the piece, where I used the lino in the same manner, taking inspiration from Irelands landscape, from cracks, aging, forms within forms, I cut the main image out, however I then tried to push the composition more and I cut away the face from the lino, then used both sections, the negative space creating a new element to the image.

Creating a shift

I decided that perhaps I could make the image graphically more interesting, I could make the eye shift, and distort the image slightly, using the knowledge I have gained in how to apply colour, I could create pieces that made the image dance, that made your eyes dart. These prints perhaps add a new element, an element of cutting away, abstracting and pushing the way one looks at a portrait print.

Being bold

Moving away from the rectangle......

Thinking about form and portraiture

Over the course of the last few months I have identified that the pieces of work that are most successful are those where I have used inner form within the boundary of a portrait, taking inspiration from Ireland the landscape, vein like structures, cracks in thought and time/age, I think the latest lino print I did has been the boldest and most striking. However taking on board the constructive criticism i have been given, it is true that I have limited myself to the boundary of the lino itself. Meaning that the work is always within the rectangle shape, I therefore decided to push this piece of work further and cut out the face, and experimented more with colour.

Amazing wood engraving

Xiang Silou wood engraved print, these are truly remarkable, the skin and wrinkles are almost tangible, the show the fragility of the skin and the beauty of aging. The figures look similar to some of the amazing people I photographed in South East Asia, a man in Hoi An had similar wrinkles and visual evidence of a rich tapestry of life on his face.

Other artists working in woodcut

This woodcut by Dirk Hagner moulds the flesh through line and well thought out shade through the black blocks of ink, I would love to be able to make work like this, to use line in this way, to shape a face through line and light. The grain of the wood showing in the background add to the affect. I think this print is incredible, it stops you in your tracks it is captivating.

Books on technique

I have begun to spend a large amount of time looking at other artists techniques in printmaking and now books like these are extremely inspiring to me, I want to learn as much as possible about how the different tools in printmaking achieve the results I see in other woodcuts, I like the way these manuals give examples of the line the tools make and how it can be used particularly in portrait printing to achieve tone.

Mono/woodcut series

Here I began to experiment with putting down a acetate plate first with colour ink rolled onto it, and then the wood cut on top of it, eventually the more I experimented I began to make the bottom layer a mono print, where I made marks into the colour, exposing some of the white from underneath it. I think the is a huge variation between the prints success according to the colour underneath it, some of them really do not work, however I think the red and yellow work well underneath the rich black ink on top.