Low Residency Day 4: Printmaking Workshop & Artist Talk by Nathan Telemaqu

I was seriously excited about getting back in the printmaking studio and I had the most amazing day. Paul is just fantastic and seemed to be zapping about all over the place teaching 15 people 20 different things all at once. Once I'd reminded myself of the basics and how the studio works I really enjoyed being able to be a little helpful to the others with little pointers and reminders. It made me feel like I was talking a little pressure off Paul which then made me feel less guilty about monopolising him to learn about white/soap ground and using tusche as an etching ground.

I was fascinated by the possibilities of white ground. you mix up soap flakes (or grated soap), whiting (chalk) and linseed oil with various amounts of water and then paint it over an aquatinted plate. The plate is etched for about 15/20 minutes and the ground will be gradually eaten away in the acid at different speeds depending on its thickness.

Where I had applied the ground very thickly the plate didn't etch at all and so printed as white. The blackest parts were the plain aquatint. The bubbles and textures in the print are wonderful and I can see this replicating tree bark very easily!

Next I tried using two different types of lithographic tusche. This was diluted with deionised water and painted onto the plate. Paul said to use it sparingly and not to mix it too thickly, it needs to be surprisingly dilute. The plate needs to be degreased but not aquatinted and the tusche needs to be left to dry. We really should have put this on earlier and left it drying all morning. I ended up dabbing it a little with the corner of a paper towel and then heating it on the hot plate to dry it which didn't produce the desired effect, but the edges had already dried naturally so I could see what would happen. It was brilliant - very subtle be really lovely!

The more expensive Trilobite tusche worked much better than the cheaper Korms one (typical!). I need to have a think but I suspect that a tin of this would likely last over a decade so would be worth the expense.

I came away from the day feeling really energised and excited! I need to order some large sheets of sink so that I can make some plates at home for my tree trunk project!

After the workshop we were treated to a talk by Nathan Telemaqu. He's a geographer, lecturer and photographer. I was fascinated by the intersections in his work between the theoretical 'geography' and the practical expression and exploration of it through photography. He does so much community based work which I find both incredibly inspiring and intimidating. I always find people who can do these amazing community based projects really inspiring but I feel intimidated by it as I don't seem able to do anything like that. I really rather want to but I don't really know where to stat and then I worry that if I did it wouldn't be any good. I think I need to be better and more confident first. I was really inspired by the research he's doing in preparation for a trip to the Carribean and his explorations of flora & fauna at Kew Gardens as a starting point alongside a move into film. I fond the research that artists do behind their work really, really interesting (often more interesting than the final work) and I think this was a huge part of what I wanted to get out the the MA, to learn how to go about that research. I found the materials collection talk, then followed by Nathan's practice really inspiring.