The Visitor’s Friend (working title) – first proof
She accompanied me to the print studio today. She said she wanted a portrait with her best friend. I said: ‘Fine, where is he?’ She said: ‘Why, he is standing behind me!’…
The Visitor’s Friend
June 11th, 2010 | Add your Feedback (0)
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‘Father Bear’ revisited or how to produce high quality, but affordable, archival prints
June 4th, 2010 | Add your Feedback (0)
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‘Father Bear’ (first digital test print)
I just printed the first little test of ‘Father Bear’ and – for now – I am very pleased with the outcome ^_^… just have to decide on the paper. So here comes the story…
Since month (and month) I consider to produce some high quality, but affordable, archival prints from the ‘Awoke Series’. As with traditional printmaking I prefer to have control over the process, choosing different papers and playing around with colours. So I finally decided to invest some money and print myself, using a ‘professional’ printer.
The printer
Three things are really – really – important when you plan to print yourself:
- Using high quality, pigment based, light fast inks (rather than dye based)
- Being able to print on a variety of archival, high quality fine art papers.
- There is no such thing as too many different inks, the classical CMYK is not good enough.
In the end I decided to get the Canon Pro9500 Mark II, but the printer only gets you so far.
‘Father Bear’ (Aqylic on wood)
Digital Re-Production
How do you actually ‘reproduce’ an acrylic painting on paper? Usually you literally ‘reproduce’ the artwork, by either scanning or photographing the artwork in this case a painting. This somehow did not work for me, whatever I tried looked ‘artificial’.
So I let it be for a couple of month … and some more month… Yesterday night it came to my mind that actually I do not have to literally ‘reproduce’ a painting. I could produce a digital file from scratch for printing on paper.
I decided to start with ‘Father Bear’. I scanned the original sketch (ink, water colour and pencil on paper) and a selection of wood veneers.
‘Father Bear’ sketch (ink, water colour and pencil on paper)
I kept the lines and started to ‘colour in’ the drawing using a variety of Photoshop brushes and layer settings. Based on the different grains I decided on a walnut veneer, edited the colours and brightness to match the stain I used on the plywood, deciding to not go as dark as in the painting.
‘Father Bear’ digital version.
I still have to decide on the paper, I consider the ‘Hahnemühle German Etching (Ink Jet)‘, just because I use Hahnemühle papers for traditional print making and those papers are awesome…
The costs for printing will be between $10 and $15 NZ for an A4 print with a bit of white border. This is more expensive than going to a professional printer, but at least I can be sure of the quality of print, paper and ink… (trusting the promises of the manufactures ^_^…)
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Disclaimer: As always… the prodcut links are no ‘advertising’. I do not get reembursed in any way. I just share resources, because it might be of interest to other people.
How to: Multi Colour Drypoint Etching – One Plate, One Go
May 14th, 2010 | Add your Feedback (2)
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This is a follow up post on my tutorial about Drypoint etchings (…›‘How To: Drypoint on Perspex (Plexi-glass)’ ). This post describes how to apply different ink layers onto one plate to print various colours in one go. I use this technique in the ‘Afternoon Tea’ and ‘Miyu’ series. The plate is inked using Charbonel oil based etching inks, the plate is pulled using a professional etching press on Hahnemühle etching paper and now … the interesting bit ^_^ …
Miyu Shhh… No. 6
First colour layer
The plate is prepared like discribed in ‘#1 Transferring the artwork onto the plate’ keeping in mind that various colours will be used. For the Miyu prints all the lines should be black, so I cover the plate with black ink first, making sure that the ink reaches down into the incised lines. I carefully wipe the surface ink from the plate using gauze.
Monday Printstudio – More Drypoint Etchings
May 10th, 2010 | Add your Feedback (0)
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I had a quite successful day in the print studio today – after some not too successful experiments the last couple of weeks ^_^…!
I am still working on the balance between lines, colours and background tones. Other than the ‘Afternoon Tea’ prints the ‘Miyu’ prints are simplified, the colours very subtle and the background almost white.
I will remember to take my camera next Monday and take some shots, documenting how the colours are applied to the plate and carefully wiped. Both the ‘Afternoon Tea’ and the ‘Miyu’ Series are printed in one go, with up three colours applied to the plate before printing.
‘Bear’ First Prototype
March 11th, 2010 | Add your Feedback (0)
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This was on my list for ages! On Monday I finally made the first prototype of the third character of the ‘der Hase, das Viech und der Bär’ …I know, all of this still needs translation ^_^, I am working on it!
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Nightshift with Water Colours
February 19th, 2010 | Add your Feedback (0)
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I finally managed to get back to some more work on the ‘awoke’ series. I plan a series of water colour paintings. For now I work on getting the colour pallet right (trying out tea and coffee ^_^) and experiment with the ink outlines… It is very different from the acrylics on wood.
Rather than using traditional water colour paper I use 100% rag heavy weight German etching paper. I like the smooth surface and the sheer thickness. I still have this heavyweight acid free recycling paper (like brown paper), I need to test the lightfastness though… and I consider getting some veneer…
I like the techniques, very intuitive, fast and without any hassle. All you need is paper and a small set of colours. There is not much room for mistakes though.
The sketch on the right is actually from January 2009. Its a bit frightening, how few things I actually managed to get done last year…
TaDa! Mail Me Art Submission Ready to Go!
January 20th, 2010 | Add your Feedback (3)
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I will miss you!
MailMeArt Submission 2010
January 15th, 2010 | Add your Feedback (0)
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Yesterday night I finally started my MailMeArt submission. I still have to cut it to size, varnish, add stamps and air mail sticker and then it is ready to be sent to the UK.
Remember, The deadline for sending mail art 31st January 2010 (service date stamp – postmark).
Miette is taking a nap to prepare herself for the long journey around the world. She is dreaming of being save with Father Bear. She feels protected warm and cosy.
Sunbear Print on Woodboard
June 15th, 2009 | Add your Feedback (0)
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My apologies for the lack of posts! As promised the Sunbear finally joins the Red Panda!
We visited the Sunbear in the Wellington Zoo on the same day as the Red Panda, but it took a while for me to sketch the very first version…
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Getting Inspired, Going to the Zoo
March 16th, 2009 | Add your Feedback (0)
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One of the questions I often get asked is “where do you get your ideas or what inspires you?”. Usually my answer is “Every thing and everywhere ^_^ …”. I thought it might be a good idea to start the blog with an example.
