Printmaking at Porthmeor Printmakers workshop

Last Thursday found me at a workshop held by Michele Wright and Marie Keeling at the Porthmeor Printmakers premises in Back Road West, St Ives.  There was an opportunity to produce a drypoint print before moving on to create collagraph prints - the first example of which can be seen below.

With collagraph, all sorts of materials can be stuck onto board to create texture and imagery.  My board has some sort of fibre thread, bracken fronds, anaglypta and at the top, pieces of an absorbent paper that's often used to wrap flowers, all glued down with PVA adhesive.  The entire surface of the board is then sealed with Shellac and when dry is put through the printing press.  (Now I've slipped up here having not photographed the prints before painting on them at home - my favourite part!)

The first was very inky - there's even a splodge at the bottom.  The bracken has been painted over with watercolour and gouache with pink gouache over the light area around the thread.  Hologram structure gel has been painted over the dark area at the top.

The next probably wasn't inky enough!  Some contrasting 'mud' colour was rolled over the top of the plate before printing and the bracken has been painted with watercolour.  Pink watercolour and hologram structure gel have been mixed together and painted over the lower part of the print.

This last printed rather flat, probably because I didn't put enough ink on and was lax about wiping it off.  A fine brush was used to paint gouache on the fern fronds and around the thread.  Washes of gouache have been laid  across the lower part of the picture.

A simple drypoint print

In the next collagraph sandpaper has been used to create texture, it's also very absorbent, so was good for the rocks and headland.  Anaglypta has been used for the waves and lines were scored into the board to denote ripples.  Black ink was used to make the first print, which has been painted over with gouache and acrylic paints.


SOLD

Blue ink was used for the second print which again was painted over with gouache and acrylic.

Click to enlarge.  Once mounted, the above prints will probably be placed in the browsers at St Ives Society of Artists, Old Mariners Church, St Ives.  Copyright Lesley Ninnes.