Introduction
This semester, I enrolled in a Screen Printing course to satisfy my printmaking elective. I wasn’t sure what I should expect initially, but I feel that I’ve found a technique I’m going to carry with me moving forward! We recently started working with photo emulsions, and I’ve really enjoyed testing what I could do with halftone photos. This lead me to the creation of my piece Hyacinth (see below).
As I’ve worked with screen printing, I’ve come to love the grungy effect I can achieve dependent on ink thickness, pressure, and screen quality. In my Painting course, I’ve been prompted with venturing into the more abstract forms of painting. Our most recent assignment has been to create a piece depicting the “essence of painting” through texture, form, movement, color, etc. Hyacinth is a test painting for this assignment. My goal with this piece was to incorporate photo emulsion screen printing into an abstract artwork.
Process
- For the photo emulsion, I used Procreate to turn a photo of a hyacinth into black and white halftones.
- This image was then printed on transparency film and transferred onto a screen using a UV exposure unit.
- Using a palette knife, I scraped gesso onto a stretched canvas to give the piece tactile textures.
- For the background, I used diluted acrylic paint and kept my technique very loose. Additionally, I used an assortment of brushes and scrap fabric to maintain variety in texture.
- Finally, I went in with my photo emulsion!
Commissions Are Open
As of this week, my commissions are open for paintings in this style. Please contact me at cjgalliford@m.marywood.edu for inquiries!