Printing in studio at home

An afternoon in the studio at home was a bit of a challenge.  I am very aware of not having a good stable, firm plate to work on.  It has all been rather inconsistent with 'making do' and utilising what material I have to use for use for plates.  Acetate was suggested as an alternative and I found it produced some  fairly reasonable results.  However, I was not happy working with this material, being flimsy and light in weight, liable to move when applying ink.  In addition the oil slides and is less firm on this surface.  Rooting around in the studio I found some sticky back plastic which I cut to size, making a plate 20cm x 60cm.  Working in landscape format this plate was reasonably stable but the surface did not provide adequate resistance when applying the ink.  Having now experimented with various plates my favoured material is a firm sheet metal.  The ink can be manipulated and pushed around more and it remains secure and stable to work on.  I have requested a metal plate from the Print Studio at Sion Hill so hopefully the lovely technician Jane will have found one for me when I go in to print on Wednesday. Today's images can be seen below.  Again, I struggled with choice of imagery to work but made the decision to stay with trees and branches.  The first image was produced taking two prints and worked from a brush and ink sketch of abstracted oak trees with the branch then being printed on top.  The single branch was strong and effective and the background shapes echoed the shapes of trees.  It was an unusual composition with lots of space to the right of the tree trunk. By transferring the image to a vertical format another narrative was suggested as a path/journey leading to a tree.  This resonated with some text written by Henry David Thoreau (1817 - 1862).

"I frequently tramped eight or ten miles through the deepest snow to keep an appointment with a beech tree, or a yellow birch, or an old acquaintance among the pines".

The image below was referenced from a brush and ink sketch which I had previously developed in print.  This was a second attempt which I felt was less successful. The ink reacted differently on the plate, there were fewer tonal values and the composition a little weak with trees appearing in a row.  I am also having great difficulty in keeping the paper clean and tidy which is very frustrating.  The paper I used was also different to that I had printed on previously with one side having a very prominent lined texture.  At first glance I perceived this as rather distracting but now feel it is not such a failure and can be seen to add interest and cohesion within the composition. There is significant use of repetition throughout the work.  I made two prints, one on the textured side and one on the smooth side.

Below is the image with top section cropped.  I feel it is stronger than the original where the complete trees are represented, but has lost some of the more expressive mark making. 

Reflecting on my previous blog entry showing a geographic field design a new concept has presented itself.  I thought this could be extended by creating a shaped mount of a field.  This would be placed over the plate before lifting a print, thus producing an image contained within the shape of the field and referencing elements of the geographical landscape of oak trees situated on pastures and farmland. The shape could be designed to include the Ogham symbol for the oak tree indicating where each tree grows. 

Experimented with various papers which I had purchased from Print to re work brush and ink sketches.  The mark making appeared quite different, more controlled and the paper buckled.  One good result on creased rice paper using square ended pen and ink - I love the way the ink responds to rice paper.  I will explore this media further alongside brush and ink work on good quality 300gsm watercolour paper.