University Campus Suffolk

After conducting my experiment with projecting my etching plates, I started to think about other ways that I can use the plates in other areas of my project.

I have been largely preoccupied with my seaside etchings most recently and have I feel neglected the painting element of my project. To remedy this and continue experimenting, I have decided that it would be interesting to project an etching plate onto a canvas and create a painting from it.

I do not wish, however, to merely recreate the etching image on a larger scale but also to incorporate the anaglypta paper within a mixed media background.

The images within this post illustrate my current progress with this idea. I have so far created layers upon the canvas with anaglypta wallpaper and clear/white tissue paper. Both materials coexist in a textural manner upon the canvas, creating a background which, once painted on, I hope will demonstrate the same level of distortion and depth as can be found within my anaglypta etching prints.

Since completing my 22 series on both normal and anaglypta paper, I have rearranged how my prints were positioned on the wall of my studio space. By matching each pair of prints and placing them right next to each other, I feel I was better able to acknowledge the success of each print in comparison to the other.

It is clear when looking at my prints in this way that the anaglypta paper has played a large part in distorting the original image. I believe this effect works better with some images than others. There are pairings where both prints are as strong as each other, although in some cases it is the anaglypta element which creates a stronger outcome.

I believe overall that the anaglypta prints have greater depth and make for more interesting viewing. Not only do these pieces embody a material which relates back to my childhood, it is also unique to me as an artist in how I have used this material.

I think it is important for me now to properly display these anaglypta prints in photo frames in order to make a direct reference to photography. In a way this questions the format and purpose of photography itself.

Using prints which are distorted and not completely true to the event they illustrate, I think, reflects or even heightens the theory that what photographs tell us about real life is often inaccurate in the first place. It is interesting at this point to consider how my anaglypta prints relate more to how I remember my past than the original photograph from which my print is sourced.

After years of studying art I have come to the conclusion that my processes are often not quick ones! I definitely envy those that are able to produce high quality work in shorter amounts of time.

I suppose this can be thought about in a more positive way in how I have more time to consider what I am doing and why.

As I have been creating many etching plates from which to print from throughout my project, it seems a shame they cannot play a more central role in my overall outcomes. It was in conversation with a tutor when I realised this is exactly what I should do.

Just holding my plates up to the light creates an interesting and very different effect to that of my etching prints. In particular, it is the plates I have already printed which seem to have an added depth given the ink residue left after the printing process.

With this in mind I came up with the idea to use an overhead projector to project my etching plates onto a wall in the white space. The images shown within this post are examples of the effect this created.

To keep this idea in line with other parts of my project, I decided to attach anaglypta wallpaper onto the wall and then project the etching plate to see how the image would change. Unfortunately it was only if you were very close up to the wall that you could see the effect created by the anaglypta paper. This is a shame as it would’ve been nice to keep this thread within my work. I could experiment with painting on the anaglypta to see if this changed the outcome. I think the relationship between the wallpaper and projection would be really interesting although I would not want any colour to impede the original projection in any way.

When I began my etchings using my family photos, I was adamant that the format must remain 6×4 in relation to the size of the original photographs. Whilst I am happy that this is a common thread in my etching prints themselves, I must say it was really refreshing to see the image on a much larger scale when using the projector. I think at this size the viewer is better able to appreciate every single mark made on the etching plate. It is also interesting to acknowledge the contrast between more refined marks where I have stayed as true as possible to the photograph and the marks where the image becomes more abstract.

As already mentioned, the presence of the ink residue is heightened greatly through this projection process. This creates a completely different outcome to that of a print which is largely just black and white. This difference in colouration is unfortunately not something which is present with every etching plate, this is perhaps why I am drawn to certain plates where this is evident.

It was completely circumstantial that there was a plinth stood in front of the wall which I happened to be projecting onto. Instead of moving it out of the way I actually started to play around with extra items to see how the image could become almost three dimensional. I think this particular approach worked better with some etching plates than others but the overall effect I still did find engaging. I was mainly trying to move the plinth so that it was the figure which was brought forward out of the projection.

I think my next step would be to experiment not only with inked plates but also fresh etchings which have not yet been printed. These would be images from my seaside series which is still in progress. I would also like to play around with more plinths, perhaps covering the image up completely on the projector so that only the figure is visible upon the plinth as well.

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.