Postcards From My Neighbourhood

Throughout March 2018, Aspex Gallery in Portsmouth held a call for submissions for a postcard exhibition. Anyone of any age or ability who lives in Portsmouth (UK) could enter, and were asked to make A5 postcard with an image that visually responds to their neighbourhood. It could be a landmark, their favourite place, or something they either really love or hate about Portsmouth. Since my student residence is in Portsmouth, I decided to enter!

For my entry I had several ideas including Blue reef Aquarium and a door with the beach quite literally on its doorstep. In the end I decided I wanted to illustrate Clarence Pier as it's my favourite spot in Portsmouth. We learnt about its history as well as the general psychology of the beach in our 1st year visual culture lectures, and since then I became fascinated with the vintage seaside. The big blue and yellow arcade building is the most noticeable landmark of the pier with its striking colors, which is why I thought this would make a good design for a postcard.

I took some reference pictures, then made a watercolor wash background on an A5 piece of cardstock. The building was made on a separate sheet of card which I cut out and stuck onto my background to create depth after painting it with acrylic and adding Prismacolor / white gel pen details.I sent it off in an envelope before the deadline, and a few weeks later went to visit my postcard (which has now been gifted to the Portsmouth City Archive) at Aspex Gallery, only to find that it had been framed!

'Substance' Artist's Book Event

On the 18th of March 2018, Aspex gallery in Portsmouth held an artist's book event which featured books, poets and workshops held by established artists and students. From traditional books and zines to contemporary arts that question what a book really is, the event was a massive success.

One of my artist books, 'Underwater Carousel' featured at this exhibition. The underwater carousel is a metaphor of unrequited love; the dolphin, which can symbolise diligence, transformation, and love, constantly follows / chases after the sea horse which can connote stubborness and no hurry for advancement. An idea sparked by the lyrics "she said she won the world at a carnival, but she couldn't ever win me" from the song She Had the World by Panic! at the Disco, this artist's book captures a single frame of the carousel's endless spinning through the use of clay, wood, acrylic paint, and fabric.

Here's some pictures of other exhibitor's work, including that of  Lee Shearman's micro library, university of Portsmouth, Artists Books Online and Transrational Publications!

Book Cover Exhibition!

On the 13th of January 2016, Portsmouth level 4 illustration students held their first exhibition at 'The Fat Fox'. The one night event showcased book jacket cover designs for a range of classic novels such as Dracula, The Raven and Of Mice & Men. These were the final outcomes to the students' second project entitled 'line & colour'. Check out some clips and photos in this Youtube video: 

 The evening was a huge success completed with a raffle and live music! Here are some photos of the bands I took!

There are a few more on my facebook page where I photograph live music music events :D  https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.662010693941307.1073741847.531747256967652&type=3 

A post about the line & colour project will be up on here shortly!

Printmaking: Etching

Etching is a print process where a design is scratched into the surface of a metal plate which is then inked up and printed in a press.

Before this is done you de-grease the metal using detol and chalk, making sure to rinse this off and dry it after. The metal is placed on a hot place to heat the metal and then coated with a type of wax called ground. You can then scratch in your image [in reverse] using an etching needle/scriber. For mine, I did a zombie Barbie as it was relevant to the ideas I was having for our current uni project [which I will post about in the future]. When you're finished you put your plate in an acid bath for about 10 minutes.

After this then wash the plate in water. Whilst you're doing this you could soak the paper you wish to print on in water too since it needs to be damp to absorb the ink, so make sure you use a paper with a decent gsm! Ink up the plate using oil based ink and cut card, making sure to press the ink into the groves that you scratched in, then use scrim and tissue paper to remove excess ink.

The type of press used is a roller press. Take your soaked paper out the water and squeeze out the excess by using a rolling pin over the paper in between several other layers of paper. Then place your plate face up on a sheet of tissue paper on the press, then your prepared paper, another sheet of tissue paper and finally etching press blankets. Turn the wheel or handle to operate the press and then your print is done! Leave it to dry and repeat as many times as you like! Here are some photos of the prints I made during our induction session:

Printmaking: Letterpress

Before modern printing methods were invented, text was printed using a machine called a letterpress. Metal letter alphabets are kept in cases in a chest of draws, and you select which letters you need and arrange them in a frame.

Since this was an induction lesson we were working in partners. We were given the task of selecting our initials from the cases and arrange them into a design. This proved rather difficult since you have to use 'furniture' and wedges / locks to keep the letters in place and we spent a rather long time trying to figure a way of making an interesting arrangement that would stay in the frame! 

Eventually I found a way of keeping the letters in place (which wasn't very effective but it did the job XD). I had the idea of using a gradient when applying the ink so I went ahead with this. For letterpress you use oil based ink since they are on a wooden base and using water to clean them can cause damage over time which is bad since the letters are no longer produced and one tray costs around £500+! Anyway, we clamped paper into the machine then used the handle to roll the drum over our frame and press the ink onto the paper. and that's it! Quite a simple process the there's lots you can play around with such as layering, various fonts and scale. 

Printmaking: Screen Printing

I had done screen printing before at college, but it was so great to have an induction at university because they have a lot more equipment to make the process easier and produce more accurate prints. The screens were even ready to coat and use yourself - at college I had to stretch the mesh over the frame myself!

Fist we coated our screens in light sensitive paint then we were given two layers of the same image on A4 paper since it was just an induction lesson. We placed these images in a huge ultraviolet light box and then the screen face down on top. We closed the lid and then a vacuum removes the air to keep everything in place during the exposure. The light exposes the paint in the light areas of the screen and this forms a stencil.

Using a jet wash we washed the screen to remove any paint in areas we don't need so our prints came out nice and crisp. When it the screen had dried from this step we masked off the edges with parcel tape and if there were any accidental holes in he paint then this can be covered with the tape too.

To mix ink you mix acrylic paint with acrylic printing medium. At uni we have a shelf of pre-mixed inks too so we just picked colours from here to save time.

We clamped our screens into the frames and created a registration print on masking tape so we could align the print into the centre of the paper and line up the two layers perfectly. To create the print you put a line of ink at the top and then use a squeegee at a 45 degree angle to pull the ink towards you over the stencil. 

When everything's finished and you're happy with your prints you use a cleaning solution and a jet wash to remove the emulsion and leave the screen to dry ready for the next person to use.

I really love screen printing - it's a great way of creating multiple versions of the same print in the same colour and position and you can vary aesthetic style a lot. I was happy with my prints. My piece accidentally got slightly mis-aligned when doing the second layer but I think it looks cool because with the colours me and my partner picked out it looks like red and blue 3D imagery.

  

Printmaking: Cyanotype

Cyanotype is a process developed in the 20th century originally used to produce blue prints. It's similar to the photograms I created during my foundation course at college (http://amberatlantis.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/skills-rotation-photography.html) except the result is blue and white.

Since our project is based around identity, we were asked to bring in objects that have significant relevance to ourselves. I bought in a CD case and ear phones because I love music, as well as some ocean animal figures to signify my relation to the ocean. I also produced a shoe print onto a sheet of acetate by painting acrylic onto a pair of boots that have the anarchy symbol moulded into the sole. We put them on paper that had been coated in light sensitive paint and put them under UV lamps / in direct sunlight to expose them.

After the exposure the green / yellow paint turns a dark green. The print is then washed them in a tray of water with a tiny amount of peroxide in, and then rinsed them in pure water. This removes any of the paint in unexposed areas and develop the paint into it's blue colour. We left them to dry and then the process was complete!

I was really happy with my shoe print because it's quite detailed and you can see the lines from where the acetate was - I like how ghostly and x-ray like it appears. The print that I used 3D objects with didn't come out as I expected because I left it in the sun as the UV lamp was unavailable, and this created shadows at an angle, where as if I put it directly under a lamp this wouldn't have happened. I tried to create an ocean scene where the ear phones formed the sea and waves then the dolphin and shark would be characters in the scene, but again the angle of the light makes it hard to tell, but I'll keep that in mind for next time!