Black and White or Colour – what do you work in?
I have recently been very fortunate to explore printing in black and white with Marcus Rees-Roberts and in colour with Ruth Barrett-Danes. Ruth has been helping me with adding colour and texture to my prints, demonstrating how she inks up, uses viscosity inking and adds extra texture to her prints. Here are my initial attempts copying her demonstrations.
Ruth has also given me lots of tips when creating the collagraph plate itself. So here are my “flying solo” attempts using environmount board, dry point techniques, tape and wood glue and viscosity inking.
More experiments needed but well on my way to improve my use of colour and texture.
In contrast I was also lucky to attend a course on monoprints and woodcuts by Marcus Rees-Roberts, working in black and white. Starting with monoprints we were able to achieve an impressive range of texture, depth and detail. Here are some close ups.
The first monoprint I produced suffered from that feeling I am sure we all get sometimes on a course – I don’t know where to start. I thought this one was headed for the bin, but there was more detail lurking in the background – and some pen and ink next day helped to bring the hidden creatures to the fore.
In the afternoon, we produced wood cuts, and following Ruth’s lead I overprinted a monoprint with my woodcut which gave more depth and texture to the image.
So black and white or colour? Both of course – but more experimentation needed.
David
