Hand colour added to monochromatic collagraph print

Trowbridge Island

collagraph/hand colour

varied edition of 10

Brian Holden
copyright 2012

detail of lighthouse

detail of residence

I thinned down my black ink a little to make it less high contrast. Then printed a run of around 12 images onto Canson Edition paper.
I decided to add some watercolour into one of my monochromatic collagraph studies of a lighthouse and lighthouse keepers residence. This is the result. It does help define some things like rock face not visible in the non-colour version.
Unfortunately I found that the relief elements on the plate were starting to flatten down with each pull under the press roller so I have really only 10 good prints on paper and two artist proofs. Therefore this will be a small edition print.

more collagraphs

Trowbridge Island Lighthouse

collagraph

I am really enjoying experimenting with this type of loose printmaking (collagraph). I think it is the surprise factor is that excites me the most. You build a plate but really don't know what you will get due to various factors that include the textures from the various collaged media, how well the plate is inked and wiped, the amount of pressure exerted on the plate by the press roller.

Here is my first print off a small square matboard plate I constructed on Friday. Decided to print this as a monochromatic as a test to see how the resultant image would translate onto paper.

This is a study I did from a freehand sketch made from a photo taken of Trowbridge Island lighthouse, located at the entrance to Thunder Bay near the Sleeping Giant peninsula. It is also not a big study by any means, in fact I would classify it as a miniature since it is only 10 x10 cm in plate size (4 inches square).

As I wiped the plate I saw areas that I wanted a little more defined as lightest in the print so did some spot wiping and ink removal with q-tips.

The plate was constructed using cut out pieces of scrap ends of printmaking paper, modeling paste, white and yellow carpenters glue plus peeling away a little of the top layer of the mat board.  I worked the modeling paste with the end of a pencil to get those swirly shapes happening in the foliage that defines the area in the middle of the print.

It was sealed with water based varathane (3 coats).

Printed into a scrap end piece of Canson Edition rag. Akua Carbon black intaglio ink (not thinned down).

I may print a few more monochromatic from the plate and apply hand color just to see what that does to the image.

Collagraph experimentations with new ink

Waterlilies

collagraph

This is a recent little collagraph study I made. It measures 10 cm x 10  cm or 4 x 4 inches.

The plate is a substrate base of thin cardboard (the backing from a writing pad.) I glued on cut out pieces of cardboard packaging from a food product to create the flower petals. Also added modeling paste and a little white glue to create the lily pads. I also peeled away a bit of the top layer of the base board in between the raised areas. Surface marks were made using an xacto blade to create fine lines in the flower petals. Three coats of water based varathane were spray over top to seal it.

The plate was then inked up with Akua Intaglio inks (using both finger wiping and brush application). Printed on the Canson Edition paper.
The Akua ink is nice. It applies nicely to the plate using both brush and wiping with scrim. It is very easy to clean up to with water and liquid soap.

This is the plate cleaned off after the first print was made

I am experimenting with a few other designs at the moment including some abstract collagraphs that have a textural element created from the dried out contents of a Brita water filter used as a replacement for carborundum. Will post these next blog entry.

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Children's printmaking - Relief prints and Collagraphs

Grade five students printing blocks using a baby press with my assistance

 student carving eco-karve material block

 students construct collagraph plates and print them using the press

 example of collagraph print and plate by a grade five student

 Just wrapped up several visits into two elementary school classrooms in placements through our Community Arts and Heritage Education project.

One grade five class learned to carve and print a relief block in black ink then add colour in after using watercolour.

The other class, a grade four/five split constructed low relief collage plates using everyday common materials and recycled items destined for the trash bin.

Both grades explored the themes of ancient civilizations. The block prints are exclusively Eygptian influence where the collagraphs explored ancient roman, greek, eygptian and chinese cultures of old.

For the collagraph print project students used Akua Intaglio inks with blending medium which were painted, wiped and rolled onto the plates.

The final works on paper were presented to the public this past week in a display at our local community auditorium. Below are examples of student work and also photos taken of the display.

Relief printmaking workshop at our local art gallery Sunday Jan 22, 2012

On Sunday January 22nd I gave a workshop to 10 enthusiastic artists. As workshop duration was limited to 6 hours there was only time enough for covering the basics. I divided the session into two 3 hour components which were

a) sketching, transferal of design to block surface, rendering with permanent black marker and carving

b) printing using both hand burnishing and running block under the roller of a small printing press.

Participants used a new product Eco-Karve manufactured by Inovart Inc. to carve out their relief images which I acquired from Blick art materials online. They also got to try a few inks out including Graphic Chemical's new formula water-soluble glycol based relief inks, Caligo safe wash modifed oil inks and Speedball water based inks. All of the inks were easily cleaned up using a little liquid dish washing detergent first wiped on to the surface and then they were immersed into a tub of warm water which removed the dissovled ink.  

One word about the Eco-karve. It  is a soft pinkish brown colour material and is very easy to cut. It holds lines really well without too much crumbling. It is 1 cm (3/8 inch) thick, smooth on both sides and also is non-slip in nature. You can get pencil to transfer to it's surface easily just by rubbing your drawing in reverse over top with the back of a metal spoon, thus eliminating the need for transfer paper. However the material will stretch unfortunately under the slightest pressure of a press roller. This made it a bit frustrating to register a second block and therefore it was nearly impossible to get good registration using the press roller method of printing. I would have to say that the use of this material is limited really to using hand burnishing only. For accurate registration I would stick with traditional harder surface lino and wood surfaces.

To our surprise one of the gallery staff had tipped off the local newspaper about the workshop (since it co-incided with my current solo print based series exhibition at the gallery) and a photographer showed up unannounced during the session. The photo scans included in this post are taken from the Jan 23 edition of the Chronicle-Journal (our local printed daily paper) which show some of the activity that happened during the workshop.

Exhibition of prints opening Friday Jan 13, 2012

 Wilderness: Paterson Gallery in the Thunder Bay Art Gallery

 The Thunder Bay Art Gallery, Keewatin Drive, Thunder Bay, Ontario

  

 My series of wilderness prints opened for exhibition to the public last Friday at the Thunder Bay Art Gallery.

34 studies are on display until Sunday March 4, 2012.

For the opening I gave a 40 minute in length artist talk complete with some digital slide accompaniment and a table display of tools, surfaces and books relevant to printmaking techniques from my personal collection.

This is my first solo show in my own community on this scale.

The gallery is also featuring two other exhibitions of original print based works and a display of prints created by first nations visual artists that have been selected from the gallery's permanent collection.

some of the serigraphs from my Wilderness series

 intaglio plate print with hand colouring titled "Canoe Trip"

patrons mingle and view my work on opening night

photo by A. Mackay

Artist talking to a partron

photo by A. MacKay

Giving an artist talk on printmaking and various techniques I use

photo by A. MacKay

Patrons reading my Artist Statement, Biography and the Curators Essay

photo by A. MacKay

Slide component of my talk

photo by A. MacKay

Describing the process of engraving on an acyrlic plate

photo by A. MacKay

showcase of elementary school student relief printmaking

Continuing with my last blog entry which I had posted photos of two mosaic panels of print images thought I would post a few examples of some of the individual prints that were created by students from grades 3, 4 & 5 during my recent placement through the Ontario Arts Council Artist in Education program.
The school involved was North Star Community School in Atikokan Ontario right in the heart of NWO just above the famous Quetico Provincial Park (listed in Rough Guide as one of the Top Ten parks to visit on the planet).
The prints are printed from the surface of scratchfoam plates that were drawn into with ballpoint pen, dissected with scissors, had Graphic Chemical water soluble relief printing inks applied to separated pieces using brayers and were finally reassembled and printed. Students printed the assembled plates both on white paper and onto a pre-printed black square on white paper.
Themes that were explored are Flora/fauna and Nature.

Grade 4

grade four

Grade 5

grade 3

grade 5

grade four

grade five

grade 4

grade four

grade 3

grade 5

grade 3

grade 5

grade 5

grade 5

grade 3

grade 5

grade 4

grade 5

grade five