Printmaking: "Looking Out" Prints

Printmaking: "Looking Out" Prints

  “Looking Out”, drypoint etching and drypoint etching overprinted onto water colour monoprint:

Hull’s Voyage Statue set against the backdrop of The Deep, Kingston Upon Hull.

Introduction

Hull's Voyage statue depicts a human figure stood on a plinth, staring out across the Humber Estuary. From Iceland, a sister statue, made by the same artist, Steinunn Thorarinsdottir, looks across the North Atlantic towards its Hull counterpart, in a small, village called Vik. In days gone by, it was here that many Yorkshire trawlermen were rescued and given food and shelter when their vessels ran aground. The pair of sculptures commemorate centuries of sea-trading and fishing relations between the two regions.

My aim was to capture the concept of the figure leaning forwards and looking towards a distant land, Iceland, across rough and dangerous seas where so many local people travelled, seeking fertile fishing grounds.

Set against the history of this human endeavour is the modern, iconic, man-made structure of the Deep, the huge aquarium which houses over 3000 creatures, including sharks and sawfish.

Process

I made a perspex printing plate by scratching into the surface. I used a ruler for some of the straight lines of the Deep, as its linear appearance is part of its appeal. However, for the figure, I drew in freehand with my printing tool to get free flowing natural lines. Similarly, I drew freely for the plinth as it is made of a natural, granite-type of material, and has textured sides.

Initially, I produced a small series of drypoint etchings, using Charbonnel printing ink in Carbon Black printed onto Fabriano Rosapina cream printing paper.

“Looking Out”, drypoint etching 

I then went on to create a water colour monoprint which I used to overprint with the etching (illustrated at the top of the page). When I made the monoprint I carefully painted around the shape of the figure so that when printed, the figure would stand out like a silhouette against the coloured backdrop. (The monoprint, which was hand printed using a roller, was printed onto Fabriano Unica, white, as it is a less heavy paper for the hand printing process).

Conclusions

The angular structure and pattern of the tiles of the Deep contrast well with the natural, simple, form of the figure, which is emphasised further when colour is added. The print has a strong composition and the high skyline works well.