Today's post shows more experimental prints made by students during the recent IMPRESS '13 International Print Festival. But first, a few thoughts in which to situate the sharing we can choose to aspire to as art bloggers. In the Foreword to the festival catalogue, internationally esteemed British painter /printmaker Hughie O'Donaghue remarks (with admirable humility, I would say, for this guy is a Big Wheel in art):
“The fine art print is constantly changing and developing and it is a medium that is advanced by dialogue and exchange. Unlike painting, which is very much a solitary activity, printmaking often takes place in a social environment where artists gather together to share equipment and facilities and, as a result, inevitably exchange ideas. This dialogue is something I have prized in the various print studios that I have worked in over the years in Italy, Ireland and Great Britain.”
Here is some more work by other accomplished printmakers who participated in the festival and who also became students of eco printing:
An oak leaf: rust and logwood powder over …something yellow (no label…)
Eucalyptus (L) with iron modifier producing black outlines. Source of the blue? Could be juniper berries or bits of Red Cabbage.
Rectangular cuts of metal rusted with vinegar, printed on silk tissue, with Red Cabbage
Brushing on some of the dye modifiers, postprinting. Note the conscientious labelling!
Carrot tops (yellow-green) and logwood with a tad of Red Cabbage (blue), with colour mixing
Red Cabbage and kale
Metal pieces, rusted with vinegar, with dye powders on accordion folded watercolour paper. Much colour mixing, especially in the folds of the paper.
Sage and eucalyptus (L) modified with iron (R). Note the well-filled notebook (L)
Adventurous collection including juniper, Cow Parsley, nettles – modified with iron liquor (L) using a fan brush – giving the effect of raking light.
Sumac (pink), nettles, R.Cabbage et al, i.e., colour mixing taking place.
Turneresque euca with iron. Pigments leaked through from the prints on the back of the paper.
Lovely. Nettles? The green, centre. Rose leaves (L). R. Cabbage and sumac berries (R)
Euca, R. Cabbage and madder powder
Just vinegar and metal pieces on silk tissue to give a rust print
Rusted metal with plants and string resist. The shiny patches that look white are rust
Beautiful wash of colours. By now, can you guess? Colour mixing here is wonderful.
Another view of one shown in the previous post. Sumac and berries- juniper? mistletoe? Acorn cap?
On silk organza ( for chine colle) – ??? plants with string resist.
Crocus blue, mint yellow green, sumac pink
A repeat from last post – I remembered that this was a rose petal and not a rose leaf modified by iron to give dark shades
Here are some prints drying on the rack. Great to work in a real print studio!
While we were in the studio eco printing, Andy Lovell http://www.andylovell.com of the Gloucestershire Printmakers Collective and a participant in the festival was screenprinting up a storm on an adjacent bench. Here is one of his wonderful screen prints:
Not sure of the title. Would like to call it “Mine” . It calls to my mind the landscape of the Cotswolds, anyway.
..as does this landscape by Constable (seen in the Tate Britain)
…and this, my own photo of the Cotswolds looking over to Wales. Talk about “green pastures”…sigh….
More about the artists in the festival next time – including Damien Hirst! Subject of many debates, as is only proper for art…
And bearing in mind Damien's “dot” paintings – here, to finish, is how my grandson, Dylan, appropriates dots as an art medium:
Why stop at Red Dots?
And why stop at the hand as canvas? And why not include stars?
Best
Wendy
Posted with Blogsy
THREADBORNE 
Super interesting post and prints. I will be re-reading it again…and making notes.
I love these prints so much. It’s amazing how vibrant the colours are even while still being within an “earthy” kind of range. The black outlining was a really interesting idea, too. It could have a lot of interesting applications in a design. I really want to try eco-printing. And I love how it is always a child’s most natural inclination to see themselves as the canvas. Brilliant!
Yes, the first canvas is indeed the body. I love that idea, too, Interesting that artists then moved to painting/printing on textiles (linen et al) – a second skin…my grandson also identified plants by their colours as a one year old..only later did I realize that when I told him this red portulaca was a “flower” he perceived it first as “red” – thereafter naming anything red as “flower” .Monet eventually got back to that perception when he looked on things he saw in nature as dabs of colour. Hence Damien and his Dots- or formalised “dabs” of colour,
Wend
loved the prints ,such amazing results.
Not so worried about Damien,think Dylan’s the man.
Thank you, Faye! Credit goes to my students who were willing to experiment and work with their results…a predetermined plan is not what moves us further forward with this technique. Some students indeed had hoped beforehand more exact results but in the end were intrigued by the “alchemy” of it all.