Feedback and Further Screenprinting

Some of the feedback that came up during the Peer Review session highlighted the fact that my screen prints weren't as busy as my digital prints. I had previously seen my screen prints as quite busy, but certainly compared to the digital prints they are more simple as they don't really have a background other than the plain block colour of the fabric. I previously avoided making a patterned or layered background through screen printing as Sally advised me to avoid repeating my motifs to avoid my work looking too ordered. After some input from Theresa, who thought a patterned background or using a gradient of colour would be a good idea, I realised that Sally had meant more that the final result should not look repeated, symmetrical or too grid-like. 

That afternoon in the print room I started to focus on producing an image through a series of layers, as you would in photoshop; working quickly like this this meant that instead of worrying about trying to compose an entire image, I worked in response to the marks I had already laid down; this allowed more spontaneity to creep in, resulting in freer feeling images. Also, in order to make this many marks I had to work quickly; there was no time to make a set plan.

 

I will go back and print on top of these backgrounds so that the final prints are busy, vibrant and have the same exciting feel as my colour stripe image. Trying out different colours and weights of fabrics should help keep the look of this collection fresh and bright while still belonging to the same theme and mood.

 

To get this light yellow colour to show up properly on the red fabric, I had to mix it using white pigment; it stands out a lot more than the very light circles seen at the bottom which were mixed using binder.


For the piece on the left above, I layered 2 pieces of fabric, one sheer blend and one thick cotton, to  produce the same image in different ways. The white of the thick cotton interacts with the colours to make a bold effect, while the sheerness of the blend allows parts of it to be more subtle. Again, these will serve as backgrounds that I can add to later.