I came across a call for entries recently for a British Printmakers Council Exhibition, so I thought I'd have a go. I downloaded the entry form and requirements and then started doodling some designs. Then I read the entry requirements. 'Works should be no larger than 8cm x 10cm.' I read that and thought 'that seems small.' Then I drew it out and realised how small it is. I work bigger than this when I do thumbnail sketches! For printmaking the smallest I usually work is slightly under A5. Anyway, thinking that the simpler the better. I discarded my rather grand ideas for what I was going to do and drew out a design based on the Avocet sketches from a couple of weeks ago. I really struggled with this and couldn't get anything to go right. I needed an edition of a minimum of 10 prints. By the time I had finished I had 5 useable prints, and that was with only four colours! So for what its worth here is the result of my efforts.
Avocets
4 Colour Reduction Linocut. 100m x 80mm.
Back to the drawing board with a bit more care than I took with this.
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5 comments:
Quite a challenge to work so small - sometimes good to work differently?!
It looks good to me.
Hi, Thank you for your comments.
Jennifer.
It was a challenge to work so small. Even when doing scraperboards I usually work to a bigger size. Although the print does look ok I think I oversimplified it.
Keith.
I'm happy with the prints that came out but I lost too many in the process. I had a lot of trouble with the registration. Particularly on the final colour. I think that was partly because there was far too little black left in the end to grip the paper. If I had been using a press it might not have been such a problem. But rubbing the paper with a baren I had a lot of trouble stopping the paper from sliding across the block.
I can well imagine how difficult working that small would have been. I have enough trouble at 200mm x 240mm.
That said, I think the print looks fine. Perfect size for cards yes?
Hi Katka
Yes I think they would make a nice card, It's something I've been thinking of with some of my other prints.
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