Mixed Media Printmaking Blog

Reverse engineer a relief print

relief prints / Linda Germain / September 13, 2018

Do you look at art and wonder how it was made?

I do.

It is easier to try to figure out the creation steps when I am familiar with the technique. So I can do it for printmaking processes much easier than say painting or sculpture.

It is fun to wonder about prints and pieces that truly inspire me to new action.

But with some types of mixed media printmaking there is an element of chance or serendipity.

Many types of printmaking involve planning layers in reverse and tight registration with crisp clean results. That is not my style.

I like to try it and see what happens. There is an element of trial and error. I often work on several prints at once, so I have a place for all the different kinds of marks.

I generally go from caution to chaos and around to completion eventually. With this type of experimental approach it is nearly impossible to reverse engineer a print. Often marks are one of a kind and part of an earlier impression.

For example:

This soft plate relief print has these steps:

print the orange plate
Print the yellow square plate
Add the plain blue rectangle
and the 2 steps that make the print
over print the yellow with a bit of orange
over print the blue with a masking stencil and white ink

The confusing thing about printmaking can be that it is an indirect method of art making and you often do not get to your end product with a direct line.

So if you can:

take what you know
be open to serendipity
learn from mistakes

then you will be a happy mixed media printmaker.

If you would like to explore soft plate relief printing, then join us in the next session.

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Value change often overlooked

foam plate printmaking / Linda Germain / September 5, 2018

Gray scale values can be boring to study if you love color and texture and details.

But it is probably the most important element of design to understand and use in your art making.

With mixed media printmaking and lots of colors and layers, it is easy to end up with one middle value and not much contrast.

I always chant to myself:

Save some very light whites or
Add a dark black to make it pop

Another tool that I use is that I squint at the piece to see if I can see those extreme lights or darks. Or do I see only a middle range of values. Squinting is a quick way to simplify and see the extremes.

Try squinting a the pieces above or at some of your work and see what you notice about light to dark value changes.

Oh another fun way to increase you value seeing skills it to squint at masterpieces that you admire. Ask, do these masterpieces have a range of value from very light to very dark?

If you would like to explore printmaking – check out the current online printmaking classes.

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Relief printing class – starting soon

foam plate printmaking / Linda Germain / September 4, 2018

I am excited about the soft plate relief printing class that starts soon.

I have started gathering all my inks, plates, papers and tools to play with printmaking. I often have to remind myself to keep it simple. It is so easy to want to put all that inspires me into one set of prints. But that usually ends up with an ugly mess.

Even with the print above, I had to rein myself in and keep it simple by:

Limit the colors
Repeat the circle motif
And slightly modify the circle image to create just enough variety

I took a chance with the gold and I think it works. It adds a bit of variety and darker values.

If you would like to explore this low tech method of printing then check out the details on the printmaking workshop page and join us.

Relief printing class – starting soon Read More »

Think backwards – printmaking skill

monotype print / Linda Germain / August 31, 2018

Often the image you are creating in a printing process is backwards than what you might expect.

As you can see above the foam printing plate on the left is a reverse image of the actual print on the right. This ability to reverse images takes time to learn and get use to.

If designs are abstract or symmetrical, sometimes it does not matter if the image get reversed. It is important to reverse words and images that are familiar to you like portraits.

self-portrait

My style of printmaking is exploratory and experimental. But I do think that I have printed so much that I now know that things get reversed and I compensate for that element of the printing process. Often the reversal is not a big deal for me either.

I like to work freely, without too much restriction or planning. I think that is how I discover new approaches and combinations of techniques. Collage and cropping are good ways to “finish” prints into framable pieces of art.

Another “backwards” way I work is to cut paper to the size of frames that I already have. Or to work on paper that fits into standard size frames. That way it is super easy to pop the print into an affordable frame and admire my work.