I decided to explore further what materials may be more suitable than metal for the natural elements of landscape. I felt that prints made from both steel and aluminium plates could have a hard edge to the finished results. For instance, it is quite difficult to produce a natural curve on metal as sometimes the tool makes an inadvertent "spike" in the metal as it moves around corners. I became more aware of this as I etched the daffodil print, where I was making flowerheads on quite a small scale. I had used Perspex before for dry point etching and decided to specifically try it out for some more delicate, floral scenes which I had seen at the South Ferriby site. The area surrounding the cement works, locks and river bank are surprisingly full of flora and fauna. I give some examples of the experimentations I did below.
Hips and Haws
As you walk along the former tow path alongside the river's edge, there were many examples of rose hips and haws(hawthorn berries) twining around any structure they could find, or just supporting themselves and appearing in arches from the undergrowth. It was interesting to compare the different shapes. The rose hip berries were more elongated, while the haws were rounder. I decided to make prints of both types of berries to capture the essence of the wildness of the river bank, and to compare and contrast the two types of berries and foliage.
I bought two pieces of multi-purpose Perspex to explore their qualities.
I found that the dry point needle moved readily through the Perspex and it was easy to move the tool around the curved shapes of the berries and leaves, even though they were on a relatively small scale.
Hips
Haws
Cherry Blossom and Factory Scene
As Spring developed, the scene changed and blossom started to appear along the bankside. It was a refreshing sight, and I thought that to make a print of the delicate blossom flowers set against the starkness of the factory in the background would be a good chance to explore the different qualities of the Perspex for soft and hard landscape.
The blossom also sat alongside other features of the walk along the river's edge, and I decided to include some posts, fencing and gates to add narrative.
I chose a large piece of Perspex for this work. As above, I found that the dry point needle was very handy for the small, intricate lines needed to capture the delicate blossoms flowers which I observed However, I found that I could also use the tool quite well on the plastic for the larger, more formal lines required for the fencing and factory outlines. Close straight lines and some cross hatching enabled me to capture some tonal elements, and I used tissue paper and cotton buds to remove more printing ink where I wanted to add highlights.
Outcome.
The prints of the hips and haws are very well defined. Because I was concentrating on defined sections of branches and on fairly small pieces of Perspex, I was able to concentrate on really working on the different shapes of the berries and foliage, working into the plate and being able to emphasise their form and structure.
The larger print of the blossom scene has a number of different elements. The blossom flowers themselves suited the use of the Perspex. I was able to use the dry point needle in an effective way to capture the flimsy heads of the flower heads. At the same time the material allowed me to portray the harder industrial setting of the factory in the skyline, and also the hard edges of the features alongside the path, such as posts and fencing.
Blossom Scene
Future Use
I consider that my exploration of the qualities of the Perspex for both hard and soft landscape elements worked very well. My experiments proved that the Perspex plates were flexible enough for curvy , delicate lines that had movement, and also for long, straight lines, tonal areas and hard edges. The prints, have a light, airy feel about them as I was able to clean the Perspex very well after inking up, which meant that I could obtain a good finish which allowed the white printing paper to be exposed (unlike the steel -very dark image, and the aluminium - quite a dark image). The Perspex provided a defined "burr" to the lines which is very attractive (more so than the steel and aluminium). The only disadvantage I found was that the Perspex plate wore down after about five prints, so a long run of prints is not possible as the quality deteriorates, the more times that the plate goes through the printing press. My conclusion is that the Perspex is a very versatile medium and can used for a number of different purposes.
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