University Campus Suffolk

Within this blog I have commented quite a lot on how my technique has successfully reflected my ideas about the vulnerability and flaws of memory. My thoughts have been largely on this relationship as opposed to thinking a great deal about how the original image has been changed.

It is only now as I look at my most recent anaglypta prints that I realise how I have inadvertently recreated my family photographs as rather ghostly images. There is one particular print which I think embodies this idea well.

It is an odd sensation staring at this print and having my gaze met by my 5 year old self. I find that this feeling only arises from the anaglypta print and not the print on normal paper, or the original photograph for that matter. Perhaps I feel more nostalgic about this memory in this particular format as it emphasizes more the fact of it being in the past. I would like to give this idea more thought and do some contextual research surrounding it.

These ghostly images created in the anaglypta prints I find reminiscent of the works of Christian Boltanski and his rephotographed images.

Much like I have been doing with my prints, Boltanski’s process affects the clarity of the detail in the image. In their current state, my images have become cracked and slightly obscured whilst Boltanski’s images are pushed much further to the point where the individual within is pretty much unidentifiable.

I do not want to completely lose the image of myself in any of my prints as I want to still acknowledge how different times in my life have contributed to my identity now. In this sense, as cheesy as it sounds, every detail of my identity shown in these images lives through me today.

When reflecting on the outcomes of my 22 series, I mentioned my plan to print on the anaglypta wallpaper which I have so far utilised in various ways in my project.

I had no idea how the wallpaper would react to being soaked in water let alone how it would pick up the ink and therefore the image itself.

After completing the 22 etchings for each year of my life, I decided to reuse a few of my etching plates to test out this idea.

The images shown within this post demonstrate the success of this experiment, so much so that I have re-printed my entire series upon this paper. As mentioned previously, I was worried about my prints being too illustrative and wanted to either edit them or recreate them in a different way which distanced the work from this undesired illustrative element.

I soaked the wallpaper in the same way I would a piece of somerset paper. It was, however, more difficult to determine the right moment for printing as the consistency of the anaglypta meant it did not dry in the same way. It seemed that the water did not soak as much into the paper and instead sat on top. This may be due to some sort of coating added to the wallpaper. Just a few moments in the sun appeared to dry up this surface water and my printer’s instinct told me it was ready to go.

The outcomes are, I think, incredibly interesting. I was perhaps expecting that only the raised texture would pick up the image but in fact what happened was much more intriguing.

It appeared that the ink had reached the surface of the paper as well as the textured parts, although, the ink had not become absorbed at the base of the texture. This meant that thin white cracks appeared across the image, intensifying as the print dried.

This is exemplified in the images attached to this post, particularly in the close-up image. Despite my choice to use the anaglypta paper, I like the fact that this effect was created through the interaction of these specific materials. Not knowing how they were going to turn out and then that moment when you peel the paper off the etching plate…it’s all so exciting!

Not only do my prints appear more interesting and achieve a greater depth, they also reflect my subject matter in regards to my memories of times past. It is as though my recollections are cracked, fragmented and that I no longer have a clear memory of these times in my life. I believe this process has achieved a stronger significance to my concept than that of the drip technique utilised in my painting experiments.

As I become increasingly immersed within my ‘Every photo we took at the beach’ series, I can not help but recall the photographs of Martin Parr.

Whilst his images of a seaside resort past its prime are quite different to my family photographs, I thought it would be interesting to compare the two next to each other. Parr has claimed, after backlash about his photographs, that he just pictured what he saw. What I like about this is the fact of capturing everyday life and the inbetween moments which I have reflected on previously.

I hope what I can also capture in my own series is this reality of family life and not just posed, happy faces.

Throughout this project I have tried to become more focused on process instead of heavily on concept which I normally do.

With this in mind I have documented some of my processes including etching and painting drips!

By doing this I feel I am beginning to understand my work a great deal better, thinking about how best to achieve a concept through the process. I find some of the unintentional marks which I have made when making my work are quite exciting and I am definitely starting to acknowledge and appreciate this element in my project.

When using the drip technique in my painting I attached plain pieces of paper underneath to catch the drips and make backdrops on which to create drawings/prints etc. I have quite a few now so I think I would like to experiment with some more monoprinting on these and see what effect this creates.

Looking back over my past blog posts I realise I have not discussed in much detail how my 22 etching series was getting on.

I have now completed all 22 prints, although some will definitely need re-printing. Some of the images I used also don’t work as well as I’d hoped within the print format and so I need to revisit the photos from this particular time in my life and select another image to create an etching print from.

I believe I am getting into my stride regarding how I approach my etchings and my mark-making techniques. There are a few prints which are quite heavy with marks and the image is more difficult to read. I think I prefer the prints which are slightly more simple and thought out in terms of how they are executed.

Pictured in this post are all 22 etchings on my studio wall, as well as a few close examples of a few of my favourite prints.

It has been a couple of weeks now since I had my last crit and I have been so busy etching away that I have not yet had time to reflect on it. I definitely think that in the last 2 weeks I have been thinking in greater depth about the best ways to further my work, both the print and paint aspects.

At the very beginning of my use of anaglypta wallpaper in my work I had always thought about printing onto it. It is only now that I have felt it is the right time to do this. In previous posts I have reflected on my worries about my etchings being too illustrative and did not know how to solve this problem. Printing onto anaglypta seems to make perfect sense in this situation to take my prints more into the realms of fine art.

In terms of my painting, I am unsure about the strength of the drip technique and relevance to my subject matter. A part of me feels that the painting just on its own is not working for me and that this is the time to start to bring the print and paint elements together.

I need to start thinking about the combination of paint, print and the anaglypta paper which I want to remain a strong presence in my work. I want to experiment with applying paint to the anaglypta in a variety of ways and then printing on top of it. Perhaps I shall start by creating little pieces to try a few things out and then see where it takes me.

Now that the majority of my ‘22′ (2014) series is completed, I have decided that my next big series shall be named ‘Every photo we took at the beach’ inspired by the seaside cabinet at the Museum of Childhood as well as my trips to the beach as a child. I have already begun etching plates with these images and am still compiling a file with all these types of images in. At the moment I believe I am at around 50. Needless to say this next series will be over double that of ‘22.’