#thelettera

I printed this on an A2 sheet of paper, using acrylic paint for the base, and ink for the other two colours. It took me over an hour to print the while peach tone, and around thirty minutes to print the top layer. I feel like this picture doesn’t do the print itself justice, but I didn’t feel as if I could put the print on a scanner in the university that would accommodate its size without leaving marks from the still wet ink. I really like the final outcome, I feel like it uses colours that work well together and is calm and suitable for a care home or clinic setting.

I pulled the image into a photo manipulation software and made it into a wallpaper strip but layering the print several times. I tried to make the joins seamless but it was quite difficult since the image itself isn’t as good as could be. 

I then photoshopped the print into care home living room (Image sourced from google) to give the impression that it is in situ. I tried to find a room that already used purple as an accent, and feel as if I was successful in using it as a mock-up for if the wallpaper was to actually be used, as it almost looks like it would match the curtains. 

I started by drawing out my design onto my Lino. I was going to make it so that it would line up both side to side and top to bottom, but when I started printing I found it wouldn't work like that (and discovered later on that it wouldn't have worked anyway as the pattern never lined up) so just went with side to side. 

Block once fully carved and some prints completed. 

inking up the first block with purple. I liked this colour but decided later it was too dark to use for final design. It also came out quite grey/blue toned, which worked for being on a cream or white background, wouldn’t work for a coloured one without being too distracting.

Print being patchy adds to the decay element I wanted. Prints also line up pretty seamlessly, which I was pleased with. 

Smaller Lino cut with multiple small neurons floating about. Chose not to try and tile this one, as I thought the complexity of the piece would make its harder to distinguish if it was all facing the same way or different ways anyway.

Colour trials began with single strips of red, green and blue ink, with colours I thought would work with the base colour on top. I liked the contrast of the red ones, especially the turquoise one and the blue one, and I also liked the green on the blue, but I felt that they were too bright and loud for the purpose of a wallpaper, especially in the environment I was thinking of putting it in. 

I then also tried with a  purple and blue background, again seeing what works together. I also wanted to see how the little Lino would work, and found it was actually really nice, even when layered on itself. 

On this sheet, I experimented with layering of the two stamps together. I found that using the same colour didn’t actually work, as it looked too busy and overall didn’t look that great. 

I was struggling to get these prints dry, as although it was water-based inks, I was getting to the point that they were a week or so on, and still just as tacky as when I’d printed. I was talking to classmates and one suggested using salt to help try to draw the water out and dry it quicker, and while it worked, I have struggled in removing the salt from the work. It gives an interesting texture, but I don’t think I’ll do this with any other of my prints, as it is not something I want, and also dulls the colours slightly. 

I decided after trying quite dark colours I would move to lighter colours. I loved this blue, and paired it with a lighter purple and a baby pink. I liked how the purple was almost hidden, since the colours are harmonising, and the fact the pink lightened the whole print, however still felt it was too dark.

I then moved to using a light pink/purple base, a peachy colour for the smaller prints and purple for the top print. I chose to use acrylic paint for the base of this one and the final, as I knew it would dry quicker than the inks (it took around an hour for the acrylic to fully dry, the ink one is still tacky a week on) and I would have more control and option for mixing the colours, since I only had the primary colours in the inks. 

I liked the way this turned out, the colours working well together, even if the purple is a bit dark for the other two colours. I think I’ll try to lighten the colours ever so slightly for the final print, making it more pale than this.

Colour Manipulation. 

As stated previously, my research highlighted that some people with Alzheimer’s may struggle to recall memories, but instead can recall feelings or emotions related to the memory instead. I scanned in the painting, and then used coloured filters to change the emotion of the piece.

I used the following colours

red- anger

blue- sadness

purple- confusion

yellow- joy