finished!

So here it is, the last and final design. Changed some things in the layout, added a fish. Tried some new backgrounds. In the end this grey colored paper made the screenprint colors look more vivid than the cardboard background. So i decided to go for that.

Postcard for De Scheene Kunstroute

How I did it

Here's the process of my screen print with Gocco. As you can see, the problem I dealed with was the size of the screens. They were much smaller than the paper size. My registry, therefore, could not be done with the paper but with guides for the screens. One guide for each. Per ink there were two screens. The birds, their heads and the fish. The only piece that needed just one screen was the one of the yellow shadow. Right now I'm waiting for the pieces to dry in order to apply the last ink.

my print

... and the results!

Voilà; my three screen prints for the Of Fishes and Birds. The top one is the one that is to be in the book.

getting there

Monday I worked at the graphic workshop conducting one more experiment: hand drawn elements at different backgrounds. For this I created a world in which fishes and birds blend easily. This brings me back to my first thought: what happens if a bird and a fish fall in love? Well, in this world they can!

some different backgrounds:


The one I like best:


some details:






So I'll go with this idea, but I'm not yet satisfied with the whole layout, I'll make some changes and print the final one on Tuesday!

Drawing nearer still

This evening I have a small preview to share with you of a colour proof being made for my piece in our project. It is called From this bed, with the wings of a bird, I flew to the sea as I slept last night.

In this collage, you might just be able to make out a theatre set by the painter Paul Nash. The set was created for a one-act play, The Truth About the Russian Dancers, written especially for the ballerina Tamara Karsavina by J.M Barrie. The play was first performed in 1920 at the London Colosseum. At the Savoy some six years later, the play was revived, and now it forms the backdrop to my dreams.

A more detailed look at this work I will show for you soon. Thus far, it is yet to be printed.

(In these photos you can see digital proof made to serve as colour guide. Next step, the plates need to be made and a proof off the lithographic offset proofing press. And then we can print. Hooray! Until then, we wait.)

almost there

Today I printed the final layers on my screen prints. Everything run smoothly; only thing unforeseen was that I didn't like the planned colour combination on the pair of fishes. But after a little thinking and mixing I got it right!

To keep the suspense I'll wait with posting photos of the finished screen prints...

Drawing nearer

Obsidian this size is hard to come across. (Gracia Haby, postcard collage 2008)

Tonight as I work on my piece for our book, I am thinking of the animal as protagonist, the animal as symbol, for it is "the way animals are represented, in paintings, zoos, and film, (that) will always tell us more about how we look at animals than about the animals themselves."

Animals represent us, our courage and lack thereof, our fears justified and our vulnerabilities. As things of the earth, they represent our morality. We are all flesh and the clock it ticks for all.

I am so looking forward to sharing my piece with you soon. This week, I hope to print.

(Quote from Fierce Friends: Artists and Animals, 1750–1900 by Louise Lippincott and Andres Blühm)

KKV and step one

This is where I screen print; KKV. It was originally a factory for sugar refining (there also used to be a brewery in the vicinity), but since the middle of the 70's it is housing KKV (the artists' collective workshops) on the two top floors. KKV consists of workshops for bronze casting, metal, carpentry, ceramics, glass, enamel, textile, tuft (handmade carpets) and printmaking workshops.

On Wednesday and yesterday I started making my three screen prints for our project. I'm basing my prints on black crayon sketches with cut-out additions. First step was to print the drawings.
...to be continued...

Winged

All present felt as though something exciting was about to happen. (Gracia Haby, postcard collage 2010)

EVERYONE SANG

Everyone suddenly burst out singing;
And I was filled with such delight
As prisoned birds must find in freedom
Winging wildly across the white
Orchards and dark-green fields; on; on; and out of sight.

Everyone's voice was suddenly lifted,
And beauty came like the setting sun.
My heart was shaken with tears, and horror
Drifted away ... O but every one
Was a bird; and the song was wordless; the singing will never be done.

(Siegfried Sassoon, 1886–1967)

(For those of you who've not seen my collage works in person, here is but a taste. This is a small film made in my Over the Shoulder series. Looking only for you is 28 pages in length and features collage and pencil across the pages of Der Rhein and was exhibited late last year. It now resides in the State Library of Victoria's collection. Soon I hope to share with you my piece especially for our book.)

all over the place

I have been thinking about how birds and fishes are often the chosen pets for young kids who quickly outgrow and tire of them. I was feeling sad for them because they knew what it felt like to be loved and then lost it. I was thinking of Alexandra asking me if I could be tender to a fish and Of Gracia and fish frowns and bird smiles. I was wondering if I could draw a fish that people could feel empathy for.

time to screen print

first layer of colour printed

After opening my separate exhibition on Saturday I felt I could put that last concentrated effort on the fishes and birds. I changed my mind for the last time on Monday and took the final decision on what to print. The fishes/birds will be interacting with humans! (yes, I changed my mind)

Today I started my work at the screen printing workshop at KKV (artist run collective workshops) and will now make three screen prints for our project; one for the book and two to exhibit on the side. I should have everything ready by Tuesday and will post photos here to show you how I progress.

'Bert's Dream'

My darling cat Bert died last autumn, 13 years old, without ever tasting the pleasure of catching any prey.
In my photograph for our project I gave her a catch posthumously.
(The text on the bird's sash: 'Killed by Bert 25-4-2010')

first part of the soon to be mobile

This is the first part of the mobile I intend to make for our exhibition. It's still in process. I'm now making the birds, but it's quite hard to make proper ones!

I love CMY(K)

Today I worked at the graphic workshop. Trying two experiments: to convert a handcut collage into a silk screen image and to see if i can combine cut elements with hand drawn lines. The image on the upper left is the original collage, the image on the upper right a conversion of this collage into a Cyaan, Magenta, Yellow silk screen. The fishes are also in CMY and combine handcut elements with drawn elements. Once again converted into a silkscreen. I'm still in a testing stage, not yet sure what the outcome will be.

Just to give you an idea how the bird looks in close-up:

Screens making process with Gocco

As many of you have been wondering about Gocco, I have decided to make pictures of the process of making the screens. I now have them all printed. I'll be buying paper and will be working with the first prints soon. The most impressive part (I didn't take pictures of it) is when the screen is flashed with the bulbs. And what is left is all the bulbs you won't be able to use again...

Phone

This is my third and last design for the new series of prints (for today ;-). I think I'll go with this one.

'Anyone can be a fisherman in May.'

Fit for a king, or so it would seem. (Gracia Haby, postcard collage 2010)

Then the fish came alive, with his death in him, and rose high out of the water showing all his great length and width and all his power and his beauty. He seemed to hang in the air above the old man in the skiff. Then he fell into the water with a crash that sent spray over the old man and all over the skiff.

The Old Man and the Sea Ernest Hemingway

(Louise Jennison has drawn a Papa Westray Great Auk from the collection of the Natural History Museum, London.)

Of birds I am thinking

They had returned. (Gracia Haby, postcard collage 2010)

If only I were hiding under the cliffs,
In secret among the rocks,
and that Zeus might transform me into a flying bird.

Euripides

(Shh. I'm not here. I am reading.)

dead birds

I've been making some cut outs when looking for ideas for our Fishes and Birds project. I've now decided that I will not involve any human beings into my prints (that was my first instinct as my art is all about being human) and that I will be kind of minimal in my expression! I've actually decided exactly what I will make for one of the prints, but I will keep it a secret for now...

I've recently also made a coffin art work with dead swans - for the Happy Journey Collective - "a collective project showcasing an ongoing selection of coffin artworks by the finest illustrators and artists from around the globe". The creative minds behind the project are illustrators Thereza Rowe, Lesley Barnes and Abi Daker. Here you can see my coffin design.