6.11.20 - Mark Making with Graphite

 As a way of exploring the texture of my previous work of the embellished clay beetle, I took some thin paper and laid it on the object and rubbed graphite over the surface to see what impressions the different things would create. I think some of them were more successful than others because certain smooth items don't create any interesting or defined marks, while the ones with defined edges or textured surfaces showed up really nicely.  

From all of the impressions, I chose the ones that I liked the most and made repeats onto small squares of paper, and the shapes remind me of handmade stamps that you use with ink - each repeat has it's own unique marks even though they were created using the same device. I really like this inconsistency because the media isn't just used as stage of the process, but actually influences the final outcome beyond the artists control and expresses itself, becoming an intrinsic part of the actual piece. It also reminds me of the mono-printing we did on Thursday because of the monotonous colour pallet and the abundance of incidental marks that make the piece unique and impossible to recreate.

I think they also create a really strong sense of negative vs positive space and I did some drawings relating to this, but overall I prefer the originals because they are more authentic and I think the smaller scale works nicely.


The original black marker drawing vs a digitally inverted version.

I like the inverted one better because it reminds me of an x-ray but in quite a cartoonish way, and I think it would be interesting to make copies using lino or polyprinting to create that negative space and solid background.

Pink water colour version

I think this is less successful because I didn't capture the shapes as well and they seem out of proportion. I would also go stronger with the colour next time to make it more eye-catching.

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