Screen Printing

Eureka!! Today, with the lovley Laura’s help, I managed to produce 2 screen prints. Hurrah! I printed on silk and a thicker blue material that would be suitable for upholstery. When I printed digitally I was not that exited with the reult but I was really pleased with these. The solid colours fom screen printing are clearer and bolder than with digital print. There are some mistakes that I made which are addressed at the bottom of the text.

Silk Almost Aligned


I attempted to print on silk. Gloopyness, stiff ink when dried, lines on black image not clear and for some reason the blue ink stopped before the end on the wing. Overall not the best outcome.

Slightly Misaligned on Upholstery

I liked this one slightly misaligned, almost the shadow image of the butterfly. I have noticed a lot of these slightly misaligned images on the high street.


Perfectly Aligned Image on Upholstery



















This one was my favorite image with the black lined up with the blue underneath. I was aiming to replicate an illustration effect. I was pleased the way this one turned out.

Problems
I identified four problem areas that should be “easily” amended.
Misalignment: After applying the first black layer I could not see how to align the next black to blue. Solution- Multiple 2nd layer images OR wash screen after printing (which would be very time consuming) OR have ability on hand to wipe screen enough to see image underneath.
Position of Cloth: I put the cloth too close to edge of table and it prevented me from being able to apply second layer without re- sticking the fabric down. Solution- Duhhh I should have put the fabric more towards the center of the table.
Silk Gloopyness: I did not put a fabric underneath the silk causing the paint to pool and get gloopy. Solution- Thinner ink and/or put down cloth underneath.
Stay Calm: I got too excited to see my image and started throwing ink on table, cloth, trousers, Laura….

Visual Research

Research Results -Video by Tim Hope
I asked people to review this video. I was fishing for words they used to describe the surreal nature of this video, if they paid more attention to the visual or auditory or a mix, general opinion and their opinion of era the video was set in.

So far I have had 11 responses- pretty disappointing return considering I emailed approximately 70.

Words/ style
Dreamy/dream scape 3, montage, collage, fantasy 4, eccentric, dream like, childhood, animated, fairytale 2, somber, wistful, ethereal

Era
50's, pre C19th, 1800 industrial, wartime, 20-40's

General
hope 2, rebirth, regret, growth 2, industrial background, reflective, wind is disturbing, pollution, sad, melancholy, tense

Colour Scheme
dark, earthy, organic, vintage, black and white muted with splash colour, monochrome with highlights

Did not report visual vs auditory because I did not ask people clearly and would have to infer their response. Words did not help with description that I was looking for and fear I may have to invent word for a slight step away from reality. I feel like the word fantasy is a big step which could include unicorns whereas my work is just taking a real picture and altering it slightly.

Study for Provodores

Octopus

My thoughts for doing this sketch (above)was to just start painting and to develop a usable image for a business. The watercolour was the product of a real (dead) octopus that Provodores gave me and some live videos on the Internet. I was intending to capture movement of a swimming octopus within the picture and still have realistic close up details.
Octopus can be a delicious dish and is a delicacy in some countries. It is readily found in Cornish seas and is surprisingly discarded or used as bait. Provodores are trying to start up a Pulpo (Spanish for octopus) festival to draw attention to Cornish natural resources.

One idea for a project is to look at "wallpaper" with octopus, jellyfish, crabs and lobsters put into Cornish (maybe further afield) fish restaurants and look at the subconscious affects of diners ordering. Theorising that having a large design in a prominent area could increase sales with subconscious suggestion or even decrease sales by beautifying and personalising the product. I use wallpaper in inverted commas because I am questioning the permanent nature of my designs with their dramatic nature. I am mulling over the idea of wall hangings.

Words that Sum up a Life

Gravestones Asheville, NC

These simple titles sum up these people's lives and the child or children that they left behind, perhaps more than a longer description of virtues.

Graveyard Asheville, NC

Graveyard Cat
Asheville, NC

Graveyard

Words that sum up life
Asheville, NC

I have spent a lot of time hanging around graveyards. I am intersted in reading the gravestones to find symbols and words that have summed up a life.

This is an image of a sheep. Generally these are grave additions for children dating from c19th and before.

Philosophy

Add on to "How do I know what I want..."
Philosophy
-community
-self sustainability
-human rights
-not environmentally detrimental
-keep it local

Sorting Out My Head

How do I know what I want to do....
I have split up my motivations into several categories and my goal would be to find a final project to satisfy them all.

How do I imagine my ideal working environment
-self employed
-work from home (but up for some project work up to a week)
-time for myself
-time for my family
-creative

Values A good design (for my product) is
-beautiful
-meaningful
-deep
-challenging to common practice
-reproducible
-not disposable
-evolving
-creative
-betterment of mankind
-practical

Interests
-art and architecture
-subconscious
-psychology and design
-psychology and visual
-C19th illustrations and etchings
-Victorian exotic
-antiques
-rejuvenation
-spirituality
-death momentous
-symbolic meanings
-HALLOWEEN

Influences
-John Derian
-Tim Hope
-Timorous Beasties
-Tim Burton
-Michel Gondry
-Quay Brothers
-Heatherwick
-Gris Grimley

Style
-muted colours
-dark
-botanical and insects
-pen and ink with watercolour
-meaningful
-magical/surreal/hyper real/whimsical/dreamlike
-moody