Belfast Print Workshop

Last Autumn I was delighted to hear I had been accepted as the UK and Ireland artist-in-residence to Belfast Print Workshop in 2014. As the workshop has a great facility for screenprinting and I had not had much opportunity to work in that medium I decided to focus on that for the three weeks. By the time I came to make the work my focus had shifted slightly and I began by making etchings and then working the screenprinted images from the etched proofs.

I used aluminium plates and etched them with a copper sulphate and salt solution. The aluminium gives a rougher line than that achieved with copper which appeals to me. The tonal areas are also a lot rougher than those achieved with aquatint but you can still make quite delicate work. I particularly like the etched line and chose to use this as the basis for the screenprints. Once proofed the etchings were scanned and details from each were blown up to A3 size to be exposed on the screen. Additional texture and colour was achieved by painting with toner wash on a true grain film. When exposed at different intensities of light the same wash gave different results which were then printed over each other for depth of colour and texture. The etched line was then printed over this. The prints were all editioned on different coloured papers to reflect those used by the Plunket sisters in their book and I hope to display the screenprints in a similar way to how Katharine laid out their paintings in ‘Wild Flowers from Nature’.

The exhibition runs from 6th March until 30th March, 2014. www.bpw.org.uk

The final exhibition can be viewed here: Wild Flowers from Nature 
and the various prints on the gallery page: Gallery