OUGD502 - Summer 2015 - North Yorkshire Open Studios

I went to an open studios event in North Yorkshire which meant that I could wander around other artist's and maker's studios to view their work and in some places see how they make it. I felt like this was a very inspiring trip as I got to see all sorts of different mediums of art as well as talking with the artists themselves. 

The first studio I visited was in somebodies home. It was a beautiful barn conversion and they had numerous artists displaying their work there in different areas of the house. 

Etched and sculptural pieces were on display.

I was particularly taken with the naive styled prints in one of the bedrooms. The pops of colour on white paper really drew you into the prints, most of which were either lino cut or screenprinted. 

Next was a rag-rugging studio which was also really inspiring to show how you can take some old woollen jumpers and turn them into such interesting and textural pieces of art. 

I visited many other studios but didn't get many more pictures. I felt that this experience has enlightened me on the world of self employed artists. This is definitely something that I am interested in as I would love to illustrate and do print making as much as I would love to work in a design studio. They are both equal passions of mine. Also talking face to face to other artists helps me get that foot in the door for any exhibitions or fairs that they might be in.

OUGD502 - Screenprinting at Home

I decided after the end of first year that I really wanted to pursue traditional printing further, specifically screen printing. I did do some personal prints towards the end of the year but after going home and not having access to the print studios anymore I decided to do something about it.

I took a course from Modes of Expression in how to screen print by using stencils (meaning that I wouldn't have to use any photo sensitive emulsion or expose the screens) this significantly shortens the time that it takes to set a screen up as well as cheapening the process. All I had to do was cut my design out of acetate, being careful not to remove all the elements (This means adding some connecting lines if you want white space in the middle of the object you're printing). For more graphic designs this is a really easy process to follow. Below are the two colour prints that I created during the workshop.

I printed onto paper as well as printing onto a tote bag. I was really pleased with how the resulting prints came out, the only difference that I could tell was that it spread the ink a bit thicker so that it takes a little longer to dry and has more of a raised texture.

So after coming home from the workshop I ordered a screen, some acetate to create the stencils with as well as acrylics and printing medium. I did make a couple of prints to start with and I was really impressed with the result. I'm thinking now of setting up either an etsy or a folksy shop in order to sell some of these prints and get a bit of a name for myself in the printing world.