Tag: printmaking

A tag identifying content relating to the art and science of printmaking and printmakers

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From Analogue to Digital to Analogue

Digital processes and techniques have always been a part of my practice as I move from analogue to digital and back to analogue.

Digital Prints

The transition from analogue to digital sometimes places these techniques well to the forefront, as in the digital images I was making when I started printmaking. These used photo-manipulation, filters and plugins, graphics tablets and digital collage to generate the image. Some examples are shown below.

rear view image of two girls at the seaside in bright candy colours
tango dancers in blue
a cottage lit up by the evening sun, with the moon in the sky behind
sunset croagh patrick digital print

Inky Fingers – Analogue

My first steps into traditional, ‘inky fingers’ printmaking were with collagraph and entirely analogue.

collagraph print of three standing stones inspired by Avebury
Collagraph print capturing a memory of the Dales

Dales Memories was selected for the Bath Society of Arts Open, while Sarsen Stones was in the Oexmann Open at Devizes Museum.

My one and only venture into screen print reintroduced digital elements. Several of the stencils I used to make the screens for this image were created by digital processes.

screen print called Tree of Life
Tree of life, screen print

At different times I also made monoprints, drypoint and collage

Monotype in blue showing abstracted ailing boats
hackpen hill drypoint print in variable edition
Monotype in reds and oranges
Collage of free form, Matisse style shapes over a painted yellow background

Mixing things up – analogue and digital

Around this time I began to have health issues which limited the time I could stand at the press. Screen printing especially was very stressful. Searching for something I could do seated, I eventually stumbled on gel printing.

At an early stage I began using digital processes to create stencils for gel printing, using a Cricut digital cutter. I began by using rough drawings in a process described in this post. Another post looked at ways to generate abstract shapes to be used as stencils.

Another bout of ill health kept me out of the studio entirely so I returned to digital printmaking. I began to explore ways to use my existing monotypes, not as images, but as data to create new digital prints. I described this process in here.

In an extension of the process used to create digital prints, I have now produced some Risograph prints. Even these are not straight reproductions, since process colours (CMYK) are not available for RISO printers. I will cover that process in another post to follow.

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Playing with digital images again

Photographs of the iconic 'Get Carter' car park in Gateshead, before demolition

I came into printmaking via digital images and still use digital tools, for example to make stencils, as I have described in various posts here. When I can’t get into my studio, whether lack of time, or more recently health issues again, I also like to play with my software of choice, Paint Shop Pro, to make digital prints. These may or may not end up n the shop, my main reason for making them is simply to keep my creative eye in practice.

These are two of the latest such prints, both monochromatic, both and made from some old photos of mine of the now demolished ‘Get Carter’ shopping centre in Gateshead. The main image is one of the source files. It was pretty much abandoned when I took them, and I was vaguely aiming for the same grey dystopic feel. The first of these seems to capture that feeling quite well.

Digital print entitled Dystopia, with grainy indistinct buildings in the background and on the left a sigh saying PARKIN without the G, aligned vertically
Dystopia 1

Working on the second digital image, however, it decided to take a different path. Instead of a brutalist buildings, I saw not architecture but some sort of engineering structure, floating in space. This may have come via the TV series, ‘The Expanse’. Then I noticed a round white shape with what looked a bit like an outstretched arm, and out of that came the title, ‘Space Walk’. I’ve added a detail below in case I’m seeing things…

Digital image showing what appears to be a tangle of engineering structures in a harsh light against a dark, star-studded background with a figure in what looks like a white space suit clinging to the structure about halfway down on the left
Space Walk
detail from the previous image showing the apparent figure with helmet and outstretched arm
Space walk – detail

I love the smoky, grainy aspect of both these digital images and think they would work well as photopolymer etchings. That’s certainly something I intend to try.

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Working with stripes

Abstract collage blue block with red strips

I’ve just made a set of digital images built around stripes. Working digitally is my fallback position when I’m prevented from doing anything else, whether by time, health or anything else. I had no great expectations for these. I picked on stripes for the same reason I first picked on the cross, and recently the fuji-like peak silhouette. They were a recognisable starting point.

When I posted them to my Instagram account, I made reference to Sean Scully and Johnnie Cooper, in particular the latter’s ‘Fractured Light: Johnnie Cooper, Collages 1992–1997‘. There are of course many other artists who use the stripe in their work. See here, from the Tate, for example, or here, from a US site.

I’ve been adding some of my recent digital images to the shop. I’m not sure if these will make it though. The outcome was interesting, although not quite what I’d been expecting. That’s not a problem, of course. I like these on screen, but I think they might need some physical texture to really come alive.

They started life as gel prints, which I cut up to make collage. You can see those here. To make the digital images, I used the scans of the collage made for the shop listings. I brought these back into Paint Shop Pro and then edited and recombined them in various ways.

I’m not sure of the next steps if I don’t offer them digitally. One option is going back to collage. The tissue I use to remove excess paint from the gel plate before printing would work well over solid blocks of colour, whether painted or collaged. It’s certainly a path worth exploring.

It also occurs to me that scans of the tissue could also be used in digital prints, taking the cycle round again.

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Upcoming group show.

I'M EXHIBITING AT THE POUND ARTS OPEN 2022

I haven’t been able to get into my studio for a week or so. The time hasn’t been entirely wasted. I have a couple of monotype prints in an open show at Pound Arts in Corsham. A couple of submissions for other shows were unfortunately not successful. That’s not unusual. The selection process for shows always seems a bit of a lottery.

A monotype print with blocks of colour in greens, yellow, magenta and orange
A small angry planet – monotype print
gel print monotype
Waterloo Sunrise

I’ve also been making some digital work. These won’t stay entirely digital, but will probably end up as RISO prints. Silkscreen or cyanotype are also a possibility. They will be the subject of a separate post, since the techniques I used may be of interest.

Check this link for other posts on digital printmaking.

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Painters and printmakers

Prints made by painters seem to have a distinctive quality to them. It seems to me this is a matter of perspective. Painters seem to be focused first on the effect they want, rather than thinking about any specific print technique.

Emily Mason

My first example is new to me. Emily Mason (1927-2019) was an American abstract painter and printmaker. I first came across her work in a video on YouTube by Albert van der Zwart, in his Channel ‘Imperfect paintings‘ (well worth following) Having watched it, though, the memory slipped away until I rewatched Albert’s video, after which I did some more online research. This was when I discovered she was also a printmaker.

From there I was led to a short documentary about her, on Vimeo, showing her at work and talking about what she was trying to achieve. Although talking about her paintings I still found it illuminating. I always find I get more from watching an artist making their own work than telling me how to do mine, however well-intentioned.

Richard Diebenkorn

You can see a good example of the interplay between painter and printmakers at work in this video of Richard Diebenkorn at work in the studios of Crown Point Press in 1986. I very much like his work and really regret missing the major exhibition in London because of illness. His paintings, especially those he made in New Mexico, seem to have strong affinities with those of Mason, although I don’t know if they ever met.

The sound quality isn’t brilliant, but you can see at the beginning he knows broadly what he wants and is trying to duplicate the improvisational quality of his paintings in prints and is more or less reliant on the printmakers to tell him how to get a given effect.

Howard Hodgkin

Howard Hodgkin’s work as a printmaker was instrumental in getting me into printmaking. I visited a printmaking workshop where work was in progress on one of his prints. I touch on this on the About page. From what I understand, his relationship with the printmakers was much more hands-off than Diebenkorn’s. His work is characterised by strong, bold colours.

Gillian Ayres

I saw this print, along with several others, at the Alan Cristea Gallery in Cork Street in London. They, like Hodgkin, were characterised by strong colours, but with more organic shapes. The retrospective exhibition of her work at Cardiff Museum and Art Gallery was stunning.

Albert Irvin

Albert Irvin was the subject of an exhibition of his work at the Royal West of England Academy in 2019. I’ve adapted the approach to screen printing shown in this video to the making of my own gel monotype prints.

Martyn Brewster

I haven’t managed to see Martyn Brewster’s work in the flesh yet. His work was recommended to me by a gallery owner I was talking too. I’ve now got a couple of catalogues from former shows and looked at a lot of work online. I certainly want to see the real thing.

For all these artists, their work making prints complements their painting. Each practice supports the other.

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Latest monotype prints from my studio

I’m posting below the latest small monotype prints from my last studio session. Nos. 2 and 4 have a similar Hubble feel to the others, while 1 and 3 seem to have found their own way.

Are these finished, do you think? I’m not sure. I know from experience with these small works that it is very easy it is to go one step too far and lose it. Because they are so small, there isn’t much room to manoeuvre if marks end up in the wrong place. Of course, that also means there isn’t much lost if a print fails.

Even so, I don’t immediately throw away prints that look like failures. Instead, I add them to a ‘slush pile’ which I review from time to time. This includes anything from monotype prints like these to collagraphs, drypoints or digital prints. It is surprising how impressions can change once the process of making has been forgotten. After a while, you see the image as if for the first time. Sometimes reviewing two disparate images can give that spark you need to work out what to do next.

Monotype print in blue and yellow
Work in progress 1
Monotype gel print with blue background overlain with amorphous shapes in red and yellow
Work in Progress 2
Monotype gel print with a large block of orange yellow at the top and narrow irregular purple band at the bottom. The purple band has three delta shapes in different greens over the top
Work in progress 3
Monotype gel print, broken purple background, largely overlaid by an amorphous semi-transparent block of yellow.
Work in progress 4
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Mixtape No. 1 – an online art exhibition

Poster for Mixtape No. 1 - online art exhibition

I’m currently in an online art exhibition called Mixtape No. 1 with several of my abstract monotypes.

Cultivate presents Mixtape No.1 – an online art exhibition

Have a look, there are an incredibly eclectic mix of images in this virtual show. If you look at them, try to do it on a decent size screen. Your phone won’t do them justice. There are links to all the artist websites or IG pages after the online slide show. I’m working my way through them slowly. The point of this is of course to sell art, so here’s my shameless promotional link! Click on an image to be taken to the shop. (Not all of them are online yet.)

abstract monotype print taking inspiration from Hubble Telscope images
A Furnace of Stars – abstract monotype print
A monotype print with blocks of colour in greens, yellow, magenta and orange
A small angry planet – monotype print
Abstract print in cadmium yellow, red, orange, blue and green
Cadmium Concerto – abstract monotype print
Diving for rubies - under the sea -monotype print with underwater feel
Diving for Rubies – monotype print – 30 cm x 30 cm
monotype gel print
That day the Aliens came – monotype print

Don’t just look at my work. This virtual art show is about generating exposure, building recognition. So, make sure you look at the other work and the artist’s web pages. The range of work included in the show is truly remarkable. There are almost 200 pieces by about 40 artists. Make sure you check out the work of Sean Worrall and Emma Harvey, who have put the whole thing together – and 178 others since 2017!

During the pandemic, many mainstream galleries mounted virtual exhibitions, but this is the only one of which I’m aware that gives space to unrepresented artists, the artists who make work simply because they can.

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Back in the studio – at last!

Mobility problems have kept me out of my home studio for months. I haven’t entirely wasted my time, as previous posts about my writing testify. Even so, I really wanted to be doing more than staring at a computer screen. There is something about making things with your own hands that is always appealing. The way I work means that the piece emerges slowly. There is something almost magical in the way a collection of pigments on paper can suddenly snap into focus as a finished piece of original art. This is what draws me to printmaking.

The first day back was a bit of a disaster, it was almost as if I had forgotten what to do. Day two went much better, and I ended up with new work in the form of several small monotype prints. In case the word ‘print’ concerns you, it shouldn’t in this case. Every monotype is an original work of art. Unfortunately, there is a lot of confusion about prints. I’ve posted already on this, which is worth reading if you find the language used by galleries to sell art confusing

I always start small when coming back after a long gap. It is very easy to become overwhelmed otherwise. Actually, I enjoy working that way. There is a jewel like quality to small original art works., especially when put into generous mounts. They have an added advantage of course of being very affordable, which these days is an important consideration.

I’ve added some of the prints I made to the shop. The rest will be added soon.

Ladders to the sky
Sargasso - abstract monotype print
Sargasso
abstract print inspired by Hubble images
Hubble 7
Hubble 6
Hubble 5
Hubble 4
Hubble 3
mnotype print inspired by images from the Hubble Telescope
Hubble 2
Monotype print inspired by Hubble telescope images
Hubble 1
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Making stencils for gel printing with a digital cutter – part 1

This is the first of a planned series of posts about making stencils for gel printing using a digital cutter. In my case it is a Cricut Maker, but the principles are general.

Area 52 - monotype acrylic on paper - 30 cm x 30 cm (12" x 12). Available mounted or unmounted in the shop.
https://ianbertramartist.live-website.com/product/area-52-science-fiction-themed-print

Making colour separations

These stencils came out of some thoughts I had about making silk screen versions of my gel prints. I was hoping to use colour separations. This is the process by which original full-colour digital files are separated into individual colour components for four-colour process printing. Every element in the file is printed in a combination of four colours: cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. This is known as CMYK in the world of commercial printing and in silk screen printing. This isn’t an original idea, of course. Anyone familiar with Matisse will almost certainly be aware of his stunning cutouts, but may not be aware that they were also published in silk screen versions.

I began with a scan from one of my prints. I created the CMYK colour separations with Paint Shop Pro (from now on PSP). Unfortunately, I no longer have access to screen beds, so this is currently not an option. In practice, I don’t think I’m fit enough any more, to spend several hours pulling ink through the screens. However, having already used scans of pen drawings to make stencils, I decided to experiment with these separations. The print I’m using here is called ‘Area 52’, available from my shop.

The image below is an example of one of the colour separations. This is from the magenta colour channel. In this form, it clearly can’t be used directly to make a stencil suitable for gel printing.

Magenta colour separation from original image file. Not suitable for making stencils in this form.
Magenta colour separation from original image file

Simplifying the file

To create a version that can be cut as a stencil, it needs to be much simplified. I did this using various tools in PSP, which led to this. (More details of the process by which I did this, will be in later posts. If you can’t wait though, get in touch and I’ll try to help.)

Simplified magenta file suitable for making stencils
Simplified Magenta channel

PSP allows me to digitally recombine these simplified images, which led in turn to this image. This is closer to what you would get with screen printing, but is useful to visualise the outcome.

Digitally image from recombination of simplified image. Simulation of effect of using stencils made by digital cutter.
Digital image created from recombined and simplified channels

Be flexible

However, just because a file is called magenta, doesn’t mean that it has to be used that way. PSP allows me to digitally recombine the image files in any order. With four files to combine, there are 24 possible combinations, so this one below is just one. It helps to make a point though. When the stencils are cut and used to make gel prints, you have complete freedom in the colour you use.

Digital image created by shuffling colour separation files when recombining. Simulation of effect of using stencils made by digital cutter.
Image created by recombining channels in different order.

In the real, as opposed to the digital world, there are other variables. Varying the opacity of the paint used, and varying the order in which you use the stencil, will also give different results.

Finally, just as an experiment, here is a combination image using CYMK files from two different images. I’ve included it just to make the point that once you have the stencil you have complete freedom in their use.

Abstract Digital print in bright colours
Electric Avenue – limited edition digital print

In many ways, this last image is analogous to making a collagraph print from multiple plates. I have experimented with this many times in the past.