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[idratherbefishingg]

Linoleum Printing Essay

Before the use of linoleum as a printing method, the oldest form of relief print is woodcut. Woodcut printing was used to produce images, text or patterns and was used widely throughout East Asia. It originated in China as a method of printing on textiles, but the method grew and was expanded to include printing on materials such as paper too. Ukiyo-e is the most well-known Japanese woodblock print and was made very famous by the artist Hokusai with his woodblock print The Great Wave Off Kanagawa. While this was a popular and effective printing method, its popularity decreased over the later years due to its price compared to the inexpensive linoleum. (Wikipedia Contributors, 2019)

Linoleum came about around the 1800s, starting off as a new type of flooring. This material was made from linseed oil and would then be heated and pressed into a mesh to hold it all together (Curious Seagull, 2017). It was invented by a man named Frederick Walton, who first patented the material in 1860 (Boarding All Rows, n.d.). Although lino was originally designed for flooring, even before it appeared in the artists view, it was also used to create patterns for wallpaper. Now during this time period, the most common forms of relief printing were wood and metal, which were used all over the world.

The transition from linoleum flooring to lino printmaking isn’t very clear due to a lack of research and documentation, although there are chunks of information here and there which can be used in order to attempt to piece it together. It is said that from the 1900s, linoleum had started to be used for wallpaper patterns in Germany and from there had gained traction, going on to be widely popular within the German expressionist and Russian constructivist movements. From then on, people recognised lino as a cheaper alternative for relief printmaking and much easier to carve due to its consistent texture compared to grainy and imperfect wood. It was brought into schools as a cheaper method to demonstrate carving and easier for the students to use and buy. (Curious Seagull, 2017)

The materials necessary for linoleum printing include; linoleum, a carving blade, a marker, a sketch, water-based relief ink, a roller and some tracing paper. To begin the process, you would create a sketch or choose an image that you would like to create a print from. Depending on preference, you would either draw straight onto the lino or could trace a drawing and transfer it onto the lino instead, the latter allowing for a clearer vision of a finished product. From there you would use a marker to indicate either the areas which you want to cut out or the areas you want to keep. Then taking the carving blade of the desired size, cutting and removing the areas which are to remain un-inked. Once completed, take the roller and roll out some ink, ensuring it is not too thick, and roll onto the linocut until fully covered in ink. The paper is placed on top of the inked lino and the roller is used to create pressure, which allows the ink to be transferred to the paper, then once satisfied the lino is peeled off to reveal the print.

The three lino print artists whose artwork I will look into are; Ethel Spowers, Valenti Angelo, and Tom Hazelmyer. Starting with Ethel Spowers and her piece Wet Afternoon. Ethel was born in Melbourne on 11thJuly 1890 into a fairly wealthy and cultured family. The wealth of her family allowed Spowers to be able to train as an artist in both Melbourne and Paris, notably with André Lhote (a famous French artist). Spowers was first known for illustrating fairy tales, however her style had changed in 1928/29 when she studied linoleum printing with Claude Flight. Her lino prints are renowned for being bold but simplistic and for her interesting use of colour (Wikipedia, 2020). Her piece “Wet Afternoon” gives a sense of peace and calmness through the use of muted colours in a rainy scene. The sense of movement in this piece is prominent through the ongoing lines of rain and the numerous umbrellas in the piece, creating the feeling of a bustling street and people trying to fend off the pouring rain. It feels like a very real piece of work, as if you could easily place yourself in the print, amongst the many umbrellas. The people in the print are anonymous – you cannot tell their age or their gender or even if they have hair, but dispite the unfamiliarity of these people, they still feel very much alive and are an important part of the feeling of this piece. I rather like the composition of Wet Afternoon because of Spowers use of colour and positioning. The starch white of the umbrellas in the background help to focus the viewers eyes on the foreground instead, seeing more of the colour and detail before then roaming your eyes back. The way that the rain falls almost makes it so you must look diagonally at this piece, creating a unity in the piece as the rainfall covers the whole print. Overall, the emotions this piece creates are very calming to me and that is why I chose this print from Ethel Spowers.

The second artist I’m looking at is Valenti Angelo, he was an Italian-born U.S. illustrative artist, illustrating about 250 books. For printmaking, his favourite medium was linoleum. I’m going to analyse his print Cat (Nydam, 2014). This piece represents a very dark side to lino, not in a sinister way but an actual darkness. Angelo’s use of the carving tool to create the small delicate lines allows for a soft appearance despite the high contrast, giving an overall soft feeling. The deep black used all over the piece makes way for very defined and distinct shapes and form, creating a gentle night-time scene. Despite the fine, intricate lines this piece still contains a very strong and hard-hitting image. The repetitive, small carvings of the cat’s body help to create a round motion, giving the cat more of a realistic feeling, almost as if the cat could jump out of the print. The contrast between white and black and the delicate versus the strong shapes creates a vivid scene that anyone could envision themselves in, creating almost a homely vibe to this piece. I feel like Angelo tried to create a very comforting yet almost daunting piece, the cat’s stare being very intense but the flowing of the curtains and the lines on the table being calm. Overall, I think Angelo’s use of negative space, specifically in the shadows on tables, and the subtle carved lines really bring together the intensity of this piece, despite how gentle the carving seems to be.

The last artist I want to analyse is Tom Hazelmyer and his piece Gay Witch Abortion Bash. Tom is best known as a musician and founder and owner of the independent label Amphetamine Reptile Records. He is also the lead singer and songwriter for the band Halo of Flies. Despite being big in the music industry, he’s also very deep into printmaking. He started his interest into printmaking because of his daughter, she had a project to do with lino printing and he decided to help. It was from there that he developed a love for it. His piece Gay Witch Abortion Bash is an album cover he designed, it’s a very striking piece because of the bold lines and colours used (White, R. 2015). The texture of the print creates a roughness that goes hand in hand with the provocative subject matter of this piece, helping to bring together the whole feel of it. The piece frames itself using the writing above and below, the writing uses up negative space smartly to draw the viewers eyes around the piece and create a border without it being an obvious choice. The contrast between the white outline of the rat and the smaller brown and red lines creates an almost 3-Dimensional quality to the piece. The lack of difference of tone throughout most of the piece allows the white outlines to act as a focal point, making sure your eyes are drawn specifically to the rat’s face. As red is the most striking use of colour in the piece, it almost screams at you to look at it, similarly the music this album cover was created for is classified as noise rock, creating a link between the album cover and the music. The gritty look of the print relates closely to how people perceive wild rats, as things such as dirty pests, disease carries, etc. Overall, the emotions this piece creates within me is a quite a strong excited feeling, the visually impactful focal point of this piece is almost shocking to the viewer, inciting raw emotion.

Bibliography

Curious Seagull. (2017). A Short History of Lino Printing…. [online] Wordpress. [Viewed 14th March 2021] Available at: https://curiousseagull.wordpress.com/2017/06/20/a-short-history-of-lino-printing/

Linocut Artist | Boarding All Rows. (n.d.). Linocut Artists and History. [online] Boardingallrows. [Viewed 14th March 2021] Available at: https://www.boardingallrows.com/history-of-lino-printing-and-famous-linocut-artists.

Nydam, A. (2014), Block Prints by Angelo. Black and White – Words and Pictures. [online]. (4/2/2014). [Viewed 14th March 2021]. Available at: https://nydamprintsblackandwhite.blogspot.com/2014/02/block-prints-by-angelo.html

White, R. (2015). Interview - HAZE XXL. [online] MPLSART.COM.[Viewed 14th March 2021] Available at: https://www.mplsart.com/written/2015/07/interview-haze-xxl-

Wikipedia Contributors (2019). Woodblock printing. [online] Wikipedia. [Viewed 14th March 2021] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodblock_printing.

Wikipedia. (2020). Ethel Spowers. [online] Wikipedia.[Viewed 14th March 2021] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethel_Spowers.

[frasermcnamee]

Saint Jerome (2017), Alasdair Gray, photo relief print

'Saint Jerome' (2017), by Alasdair Gray, is a photo relief re-print based on a 1955 woodblock cut he made previously. My initial thoughts on the print were that I got a very cultural sort of religious feel from it, mainly due to the figure that can be seen with flowing facial hair, seemingly nude, who looks like a scribe of some sort contained within a very chaotic scene of different animals and plants, and some type of ruin. However, on closer inspection I began to realise that, in my opinion, the piece is actually a commentary on the environment and our climate, and how humanity has affected this. A lot of the imagery within the piece symbolises life and death, and relates to the themes of impermanence or the impending mortality of existence itself, ie. The skull that can be seen beside the man, making us think of these themes, as nothing is permanent. The skull could symbolise a warning of what could become of us if we aren't careful?

There are many easily overlooked aspects to be observed within the piece, which is something I believe the artist did deliberately as he wanted to create a thought-provoking piece that at first glance didn't appear as much to get viewers minds going, to then take their own interpretation of the work. Several creatures can be seen in the piece, some birds can be seen on branches of a dead tree at the top of the piece, while a man and a lion can be seen at the bottom. They've been done in such a style that it looks as though the artist has taken reference from old tapestries and styles from medieval times, but put his own spin on it through exaggerating aspects of the creatures and their surroundings. The eyes of the creatures themselves all seem to look directly at the viewer, and even the birds whose heads aren't facing us still appear to be looking directly at us, as was typical of medieval works too. This is clever as it creates a feeling of being observed by the piece itself and creates a relationship between viewer and the actual piece, which is important as it draws attention to the details. The eyes of St Jerome are also contained within a triangular composition; on level with the brickwork behind him, the draped fabric that can be seen stretching through the piece, and the branches of the dead tree, all combine in this composition to create an area of focus in the centre of the piece. This is an interesting choice by the artist as the aspects which come together to create this triangular composition are all ones which also individually lead our eye around the piece, which is important for the viewer to be able to take in all the information. Another stylistic choice is that the creatures all appear to be done in a mythological style, relating to the medieval reference, and the birds actually look similar to what phoenix's are depict to be like, which nods to the idea of rebirth and perseverance. This is important as this could be the artist commenting on how we as humans have caused so much detrimental effects on our planet, yet still nature perseveres and can thrive regardless of the challenges faced by human civilization. I believe that the composition of the creatures in the piece is also important, as the phoenix-like creatures are placed above an old ruin, which could symbolise nature taking back control and thriving even through the waste that humanity produces. The man in the piece, assumed to be the prints namesake, St Jerome, is seen to be sat by a majestic lion, which is very attention grabbing, and I feel as though the artist is commenting here on how we as humans can live coinciding with such creatures in a way that isn't harmful, to them or our planet which we share with them. This also relates to a time in St Jerome's life as it is said that he befriended a lion and removed a thorn from it's paw at some point. The way in which the man's back is turned on the old ruin supports this as his back is turned on the harmful industrious side of humanity, instead choosing to be at one with nature as he appears very relaxed due to his pose and facial expression. The man is also nude from what we can observe, so this too could relate to the idea of St Jerome choosing a simpler, more eco-friendly lifestyle and just being balanced with nature. This could be Gray trying to depict a part of St Jerome's life as it is said that St Jerome went for a period of time to live in the desert, at one with nature. The candle which can be seen above the man could represent this epiphany of learning to coincide with nature at this time in his life, as candles are synonymous with enlightenment and illumination.

It is important to mention, I feel the piece has strong similarities in the styling and overall message as Pablo Picasso's 'Guernica', which is another monochromatic piece that comments on humanities destructive tendencies and the suffering we can cause if we aren't careful, both pieces representative of warnings of what could become of us. The use of a monochromatic palette is very important in both pieces, as it conveys the tone of loneliness, pain and suffering caused by destruction, and also allows for the viewer to focus more on the important messages the artist is trying to put forward through their imagery and symbols within the pieces. Both are very bold pieces because of this palette choice, and help to make them stand out. As well as this, 'Guernica' and 'St Jerome' both have made use of matte black, which helps to not distract the viewer from the subjects within the pieces. Both pieces also are done in a more abstract, angular approach, which aids in the visual understanding of what we are actually looking at as all aspects of the pieces are defined. The figures in both have been exaggerated and distorted to put focus on them. There are aspects of jagged line and contrasting more free-flowing wavy lines in both pieces, and this contrast is important as it adds to the idea of Humanity vs Nature, and how humanity/human structures and nature coincide. A part of Gray's piece which relates to this coinciding with each other is the dead looking tree and its branches intertwined with the old ruin at the centre of the piece.

'Guernica' (1937), Pablo Picasso, oil painting on canvas

Overall, I really enjoy this piece of work as it has a lot of depth and hidden meaning, and I really enjoy those little details within the piece. From the tiny details on the rug or tiling St Jerome can be seen sitting atop, to the brickwork and the way in which the lines have been angled to create depth and draw attention, I really enjoyed analysing these aspects of the piece. There was a lot going on, and a lot more I feel I could have written about, however I feel as though I captured a lot of the piece and its meaning within this analysis. This is a piece in which I feel everyone who views it will take a different opinion on the messages and what it is that Alasdair Gray is trying to convey, however I feel this is what Gray wanted as he wanted to create a thought-provoking piece.

[jadereallylovesdogs]

Small Analysis

[natasha--margaret]

cogc

task: write a paragraph on “Saint Jerome” (2017) by Alasdair Gray

From first glance, this piece is clearly very historical and has a lot of symbolism.

The first thing my eyes are drawn to is the figure of Saint Jerome writing down on a piece of paper/scroll. After researching who Saint Jerome is, this stance of him writing makes sense as he is most known for translating the bible into latin, and he has a long list of writings.

The lion that Jerome is sitting on was interesting to me. I assumed that the strength a lion has was to represent Jeromes strength and power as a writer, as this symbolism made sense and was a good representation of all the hard writings he has done. Looking further into it, I noticed that Jerome is usually always depicted having a lion beside him or around him. After some research I also found out that Jerome once actually befriended a lion.

The background was the part of the piece that stuck out to me. The background is a building burning, with trees and drapes lying around and burning. This seemed odd to me as the building burning looks like a church, and i didn’t get why a burning church would be used as symbolism for a translator of the bible. My first thought was that this was to represent all the bad parts and morally wrong parts of the bible, or possibly the fall of the church/christianity being the mainly only worshipped religion. I looked further into it and after comparing with other images of Jerome, I decided that this building was most likely supposed to represent Jeromes study as it looks very similar to this. This may be to symbolise the collapse and unneeded use of his study after his death or the fact that his latin work is no longer used or needed as latin is a dead language.

There are a few other minor points I noticed. At the bottom of the piece there is the artists name and also the date “1955”, this date is the year the original woodcut of this piece was created.

There is a skull at the bottom of the piece and after researching i can’t find much about this other than it being one of his attributes - my thinking is that the skull is to link in with the bible as death is a big part of the bible and skulls were also widely used as attributes at this time.

The last thing that stuck out to me were the 3 birds across the top half of the piece. These look like dragons sort of or some sort of mystical bird but when researching about Jerome I found that only owls were one of his attributes so my guess is that these birds are to represent owls. When looking into him, I realised that the number 3 is widely connected to him. His feast day and death day is the 30th of September. He was born 347. He died at around 73. He was baptised 366. He began translating for the bible in 382. There are so many other things about him to do with the number 3, so my guess is that the symbolism of 3 birds is to connect with this numbers symbolism with Jerome possibly.

Overall I think that this piece by Alasdair Gray has a lot of depth. When researching about Saint Jerome, you realise that there is a lot of depth/detail and symbolism/history that Gray has included and also slightly hidden throughout the piece, not only about Jerome but also about the original woodcut piece. The piece is done very well with lots of detail within it such as the bricks or the floor or the hair strands. This piece is well thought out and executed well.

Research:

1- he.wikipedia.org/wiki/הירונימוס (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerome)

2- shop.glasgowprintstudio.co.yk/artists/38-alasdair-gray/works/28875-alasdair-gray-saint-jerome-2017/

3- stjeromeonline.org/history-of-at-jerome.html

4- blogs.bl.uk/digitisedmanuscripts/2019/07/st-jerome-and-the-lion.html

[idratherbefishingg]

The 5 images I have chosen are some of my favourite pieces of printmaking I’ve seen. These pieces are from two different printmaking artists, who specialize mainly in lino, their names are Lucie Spartacus and Kitty (HoneyThief Prints). I really like the style of both of theirs, the very bold dark spaces and the very intricate detailing, these areas really capture me as an artist.

I feel the type of printmaking that really inspires me is very bold statement lino pieces, I’m a sucker for lino prints and seeing pieces that really delve into the world of shading and highlighting using lino fascinates me. I don’t really think I have a favourite genre because all genres of artwork can be interesting but if I were to choose its probably either rather abstract landscapes or not so realistic portraits, as these tend to catch my eye the quickest. And of course, as for style, I myself am a Lino Printer, I’ve been doing lino printing for about 4/5 years now and it is by far still my absolute favourite printing medium. The range that lino has is incredible, you can go from big, bold, messy pieces to very small, intricate, quieter pieces just with the change of a blade really. Being able to see people really take on very different styles using a piece on lino I think is what really inspires me.

Currently the people inspiring me are artists I follow on Instagram, such as Honey thief Prints, Lucie Spartacus, Affanita and Bailey illustration. All these artists are pursuing an art career amid some of the worst times and they don’t let it take them down. They are so very talented and confident, whether it be in the subject they design about or how they present their art to the world. I love all their styles so equally as each one is so original and unique. As well as these artists I’m also inspired a lot by my art friends, my close friend Julia McTiernan does animation in the same college, we had been in printmaking NQ together last year and had helped each other loads. Every time she posts something new, whether it be a quick little warm up sketch or a full-blown piece, it always puts a smile on my face and gives me the inspiration to pick up my pencil again. (Her Instagram is Faeruthin.) Another one of my close friends, Flick Moore, is a self-taught illustrator who focuses mainly on character design. I’ve been friends with her for years and I’ve had the pleasure of watching her art grow, she works at her own pace and truly loves what she does. Seeing the love for her own art really inspires me. (Her Instagram is fl1ck.h34d).

[frasermcnamee]

Final for album cover project(front and back)

For my final album cover pieces which we have been working towards I wanted to reuse techniques which I have picked up throughout the process of getting to the finals in the pieces I created previously, and also incorporate inspiration from different styles I tried using throughout this process too. I believe that recycling past techniques and styles fits well with the history and story of the orchestras past, and reflects this well. Techniques I decided to recycle for use in the front and back cover of my album include collaging, painting, digital editing in Canva and in Ibis Paint X, sketching using Adobe Draw, and applying effects in Ibis Paint X, while also playing with the visual elements such as contrast, brightness, hue, and saturation.

The idea behind the final product was that the front would show the front of a head and the back cover would resemble the back of someone's head, using torn pieces of other peoples faces from magazines and newspapers which I collaged to create this. I then sketched a continuous line on top of the piece after transferring it to digital, which I loved the effect of. I transferred what I had created to Canva, and overlapped some sections and bits of pieces of work I liked previously, in order to recycle them, similar to how the orchestra recycles thrown away trash to create instruments, for example the winged instrument players, 'The Recycled Orchestra' text(which I also distorted the shape of to create more visual impact and to lead the eye around the piece), and the hand-drawn faces on the back cover which were also edited before use in the piece.

After this I wanted to play around with some effects and filters on Ibis Paint X; increasing the noise which I used previously, using the glitch effects which I also used previously, and then played around with the different visual adjustments.

I then took the pieces created and put them on Canva in order to have the front and back in one file in order to submit them together as a front and back cover format, sized 12x12.

Overall I am extremely happy with and proud of the front and back cover pieces as I feel they're very effective as album cover work, they are very eye-catching and colourful, and have very interesting details which I enjoy looking at. I also enjoy the recycled techniques and styles I can see clearly which reference the work leading up to these pieces. I would like to explore using more digital software and editing in future for my own work, and for college work, as I really enjoyed this project as a taster to digital art. I especially enjoyed working with the apps Ibis Paint X and Canva, and plan to improve my skills further using more apps and methods of digital work.

Front cover -

Back cover -

[dhndyear1]

Creative Software Used

Photoshop:

On every experiment i have created and produced, its been from Photoshop. I start off with my original images which i put into threshold then crop and adjust them so they’re ready to use. Once i have done that with as many as i need, i then use the appropriate colour palette to express and convey my thoughts on the brief. I’ll adjust the images and use the Photoshop blending tool to mix the images into eachother to work. For the logo, i have downloaded a bunch of fronts from multiple websites and i’ll adapt the best one into the piece. For Abstract shapes and colours, i have downloaded some brushes to further add to my piece hoping to give it some of my own touches. If needed, to make the piece feel fresh yet fitting, ill add a texture over the final image to help it blend into the briefs requirements

[idratherbefishingg]

Out of all of my experiments I like these ones the most and I took inspiration from them for my final piece. From the collage, it was the grainy effect that I really wanted to incorporate into my final piece, whether it was through a lino print itself or if I added it digitally. I felt that for the album cover, having that sort of effect made it have a similar feel as the album cover created by Andy Warhol for The Velvet Underground which I really liked and found inspiring. I also find that the texture adds a lot of interest, especially using it for several elements of the final piece so it all worked well together. I also took of inspiration from the vibrant colours which I had used in the Adobe Draw experiment. I wanted my little character to be a focal point in the piece, so using a very vibrant green with the bright red “toothbrush guitar” truly brought him to life and made him stand out. The bold black lines used to outline him made him stand out from rest of the piece despite him being quite small. Lastly, I enjoyed the logo experiment which is evident given that I actually ended up using one of these experiments in my final piece! I took one of my lino logo experiments, and made it purely black and white and digitally cut out the letters so I could use them as the text in my final piece. I love how it added to my piece since it’s quite original. I also felt that the lino-printed block letters linked really well with the lino-printed lamp which I also used in my final piece, creating unity throughout the album cover, both front and back. The use of lino printing gave the finished piece a grainy/messy effect that I wanted. I loved this effect as the texture hints towards the ‘messy’ nature of The Recycled Orchestra, and klinked it all together perfectly. 

The software I used to create my final piece was Photoshop. I chose this mainly because I have experience with the program and because I knew I could execute the digital parts of my concept with it. For example, making my lino look more broken up and textured using a brush tool. For these reasons, I chose Photoshop. My familiarity with it made it an easy and fun to use program, plus Photoshop offers a lot of range and different editing techniques which would be useful for my album cover.