Carbon paper printing
Photo transfer using transfer solution
Experiments and printing with different papers and surfaces
Having alighted on the decision that real photos of real visits are central to the ideas I have on memory integration, I've been looking more closely at some from recent years.
They are photos of visiting places that I often feel pulled towards, as well as places that I always feel I have to muster strength to be in.
The Hall Walk in Fowey Cornwall. A place that holds huge spiritual history. One of my favourite authors, Daphne du Maurier lived and worked here for much of her life. I've been many times over the years but this first trip with my daughter is particularly memorable.
Then more recent visits to Barton. Always better to go on a sunny day.
Drawing the photos on tracing paper.
Then a series of experiments, printing the drawings with carbon paper, layering different photos, placing tracing paper over the top of the watercolour paper.
Combining mono print image with the same drawing on the tracing paper. Repeating the image is something I'd like to work with more. I want to see if I can get the line a little finer though. It seems a bit thick. It would be good to use some other tool to trace over with rather than pencil as the graphite inevitably blunts as you work with it.
The residual marks made on the carbon have quite an interesting quality to them.
These experiemnts call me to question what role colour has to play in them? What's missing when colour isn't used? What's more impactful about having simple lines on white?
Jan 25th:
Trying out Mod Podge for the first time. I've never used this before but had just a simple search on how to transfer photos onto paper to create a more translucent image (rather than just working on a printed photo directly).
24 hours later and paper torn off with mixed results! I was over zealous peeling the paper I think and in the end added a damp cloth to it, to pull away the paper more gently. This worked much better (top right) and I need to let it all dry out completely before seeing what I can do with it.
Wanting to experiment with different papers and enhance the translucent quality of what I'm painting (somehow the watercolour on its own sometimes feels too sturdy).
I got some wax paper, some Chinese rice paper and some other paper that felt almost fabric like but wasn't marked.
Trying again photo transferring onto these new papers: wax, rice and some form of fabric like paper.
Mono print and painting on different papers:
Using the geological map from the Barton area, I used trace mono print to add lines from the map onto the different papers. Wanting to make the link a bit more delicate (I felt it was a bit thick in my earlier try outs) I used a black biro pen instead of pencil and the lines came out much more subtle. There's scope obviously for combining line weight though and this could be something else to explore with the layering.
Using the small samples of print onto the wax, rice and other translucent paper, I places them over the fragments paintings I have collected. I like how the later softens the watercolour paper.
Could a large sheet of translucent paper work well, placed over a fragmented arrangement of paintings? Would this large sheet have lines on it or be bare? I think some lines, but I'm not sure how much Is right. I don't want it all to look too busy or populated.
I really like how this suggests the idea of repeated movement or visits - exactly what I want to convey. Again, thinking about quantity and arrangement to best serve this.
Feb 1st:
Attempt 2 of photo transfers
The other week I'd tried the photo transfer solution on some different papers to see if it worked better on a more fragile surface than watercolour paper.
The results turned out mostly better (at least, I'd got a bit better at peeling off the paper) and this time my daughter had a go as she loves art activities that feel like something is 'revealed like magic'.
Feb 2nd
This is how the transfers turned out on this batch. Once they dried they looks a bit faded. Betty mentioned another material to use in the tutorial yesterday so I will try that too.
I did a trace mono type print of a different photo over the top of this. I think it would work to do this, but I'm not quite sure if the varying scale works here. My daughter as a baby looks a bit giant! But I want to work with this idea of time passing, and of visits over lapping. Repeating visits over the last encounter. This was a question posed to me in my unit 2 feedback:
"It might be interesting to consider thinking about geological terminology as ways of working with - and into - material experimentation, for example ‘overprint’, and ‘trace’. Do repeat visits print over the first encounter?After how many visits does the truth of the event become buried, or do truths emerge slowly with passing time?"
Arranging a photo transfer with other fragments. I'm beginning to see how colour schemes and collection can aid the narrative here - as well as where exactly those colours fall. The passing of time and perhaps reducing weight of painful memories shown from greys to yellows.
Feb 12th 2024:
One of the things Betty mentioned in my tutorial, was to try printing some figures solo on the paper. I'd been concerned things might start looking too busy. If each fragment is over populated it could be overwhelming. My experiments with arranging and compositing them are helping with this (I'm working on making multiple small collections of fragments, with space between them for them to breathe).
Another way to hopefully mitigate them looking too busy is to allow the figures to exist more sparsely (in terms of materials on the paper). So I tried a few to see what it looked like:
I used the underside of an older experiment in yellow, so some of the colour had bled over the edges. I used the marks left by this paint to mark out some 'walking lines'. I think this worked well with the shadow cast by the figures particularly, allowing the two areas to entwine. I'm not sure the bright white works well though. Unsure at this point.
Another one, this time on a paper that had an existing wash. As I'm working with these colours I'm reminded again of the seasons and how this mirrors the way I'm thinking about memory. Darker, colder memories that integrate with the brighter, lighter ones.
Seeing how they integrate in more collected fragments. Different tones, details and surface - but trying to create a thematic unity. Perhaps some left almost blank are quite effective, reflective of the memory blanks and dissociation I've experienced over the years.
March:
The photos transfer technique is proving quite elusive and once dry, the transfers are not coming up as strong as I'd like.
I realised I was probably applying the transfer medium onto the wrong bit of paper (onto the printed photo rather than the surface I wanted it to end up one) so I had another go.
Tearing the edges of the printed photos first.
When applied to the protective/translucent paper I've been using it actually worked pretty well - without being transferred at all. You can just see the photo through the paper. It made me think why exactly the transferring is important. Maybe it's not - but I'm keen to explore this idea of repeats, imprints, residual marks, cyclical activity etc and I think the transfer captures this well.
Using an old fragments as a background. I drew a simple line over the top of the wash which mirrors a particular journey my dad made for many years visiting my mum in psychiatric hospital. How does a new journey impact the old?
Gathering a range of papers for experimenting with the photos.
I was probably over zealous in removing the paper again so have scuffed it a bit, but the areas of the transfer have worked better this time. I need to decide what I add or change to these next. I quite like the scratchy lines as if something is scarring the image.
March 27th:
The photos transfer techniques are giving me some trouble (something I'm not doing right clearly) so I got some temporary adhesive and fixed some of the lens paper onto A4 paper.
I went to a printer I know locally and he ran this paper through, printing a photo onto it. I then peeled the lens paper and cartridge paper apart, revealing a really nice transparent print! Well, minus the slight tear...
I've arranged with the printer to make up some more lens/cartridge paper mixes and then get some more photos printed. I probably won't use all of them for the exhibition, but it's really good to know there's a solution to getting the photos onto the type of paper I want.
May:
Lens paper is proving almost impossible to source!
I've decided I'll have to wait until more comes into stock online and at my local art shop. Instead, I temp transferred some of the rice paper and then some high quality tissue paper onto A4 printer. I went back to the local printer and ran off some more prints.
The tissue paper made some lovely lines as it was stuck down. They reminded me of some of the drawings I've done recently of neural pathways.
A lovely quality to the printed photo on tissue. The first photo we have of Iona at Barton when she was a toddler and just starting to stride out. It's very fragile on this paper, which is perfect. I feel like this is a good solution to the photos transfer option. Drawing is still central but I can get lots more of these made up and keep playing with how they can be combined with other techniques. I can think about how to use them in the exhibition but also beyond that as I move towards open studios and another showing in the Autumn.
A heaver finish on the rice paper. This paper works beautifully with watercolour paint through, so I can try and soften it with that. The aim for these is to have them as a sort of 'base layer' - from which I may work over the top, use in a bound form in some way (I've been collecting lots of torn up paintings into bound sketchbooks things) or work over in another way.