Exploring Materials: True Grain

Exploring Materials: True Grain

I have continued to explore different techniques in my print making practice.

Many print makers produce screen prints using photographs, and I produced some early prints of the old jetty at South Ferriby using photography last year. However, I wish to develop my screen printing skills by making more use of  drawing. Drawing by hand produces a much more individual outcome and a variety of results can be achieved using different media. I had heard of artists using a product called "True Grain" for hand drawn screen prints and I decided to explore this product.

Screen Printing using "True Grain".

I looked on the internet and found  a product leaflet on "True Grain" which I studied. It appeared that the transparent paper has an "in built" textured surface. The artist can make marks on the surface of the material with black ink, gouache, acrylic paint, pencil etc. and then the work is processed for screen printing in a similar way to a photograph. I bought a large sheet and cut it into four pieces to experiment with.

Outcome

1. Pencil

 

The above screen print was made using pencil alone to produce the drawing. I was surprised how clear  the image came out. However, there were areas on the print where I had made lighter marks which were not so successful in that they had not printed out so clearly.

2. Mixed Media

For my next experiment I used pencil, pen and ink and charcoal. I made a pencil drawing of the factory in the background as I wanted to create a lighter area for the distance. In the foreground I used a mix of drawing in pen and ink and charcoal - mainly employing charcoal for areas in dark shadow. I was worried that the combination of media would not work in case the different areas clashed with each other. However, the print came out quite clear, with not too much "separation" between the different areas. The whole image held together.

Future Use

I have two of the pieces of True Grain left after these experiments. I intend to explore the potential of this material further as I thought that the above prints were successful, mainly due to the fact that I can achieve a high degree of individuality.

I think that I could build up images further by using mixed media and then add layers of colour to the prints. This process would provide me with the opportunity to explore a range of colours as an extra dimension to the screen making technique.