Here's me again with my gelli prints. I just can't stop printing, apparently. There are a couple of serious pieces I need to do but I keep postponing them. I have become a gelprintingplateaholic! (Ok, that almost sounds like supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, I'm very proud of it.)
Note: I had to embed these images from my Flickr photostream because, for some reason, Blogger showed the backgrounds gray and I hated that. As a result, I cannot centre the images. No problem, right?
Note: I had to embed these images from my Flickr photostream because, for some reason, Blogger showed the backgrounds gray and I hated that. As a result, I cannot centre the images. No problem, right?
Japanese Dish
gelli printing and graphite on 250 gsm Stonehenge paper
This single piece took me two days to finish. Fitting the two colour templates together was extremely difficult for me, I had to throw several trial prints away. Eventually, I started asking myself why on earth I suddenly wanted such a perfect print and the only answer I could come up with is that I needed to create at least one smooth, non-blotty, non-bleedy print. I finally managed it.
the perfect print
As you can see here, the forms and lines match perfectly. I had triumphed! But I had also killed the work.
Perfection is not very interesting, is it? No blobs, no play, not a hair out of place. So what could I do to bring my Japanese Dish back to life? I needed two days to figure it out. The final result is the first image. I think that thick, wavy line did the trick. That and a couple of tiny dots on each side. Of course I could always change my mind tomorrow and think it's worthless but I probably won't. It's finished, it's simple and it may well be the last perfect print I'll ever try to pull again.
I titled it 'Japanese Dish' after this fractal that I created a long time ago. It's probably my absolute favourite of all the fractals I did back then. The forms for the print were taken from this fractal, though simplified.
The Exhibition Hall will open on Friday, Saturday and Sunday and I'll be working there from 11:00 - 13:30 and from 17:30 - 20:00 in the evening. I'll probably be able to go online there for a while but, in case I can't, enjoy your Easter holidays!
