Inspiration
Art nouveau, specifically Alphonse Mucha, was an inspiration for this piece. I chose Alphonse Mucha’s works as a motivator for my dry point because I believed that it could convey a contrast between its elegance and my disheartening theme. Mucha’s way of illustrating movement through the configuration and hair of his figures captivated me because of the result of gracefulness. His use of flowers appeared to be an enhancement to the overall charm which I thought fit perfectly with my ideal portrayal of flowers. In order to show a connection to his style I thought to embody his fluid hair and his floral concept. Since Mucha’s pieces were often advertisements meant to glorify their subject through enlightenment so I noted that my piece would fuse further by being seen as a promotion for my theme.
planning
At first I was inspired my Francis Bacon’s Screamming Pope series. The drawing included three emotions that would be felt by people who surrounded the alcoholic: sorrow, frustration and annoyance. I wanted to include the seemingly scratched out top of the painting and the famous scream of the pope through the frustrated figure. However I did not like the amount of negative space in the sketch nor did I think it fully communicated my theme or that it showed an overlap with my block print.
francis Bacon’s screaming pope was still in mind when making the next sketch. In the process of the sketch rather than continuing with realistic characteristics I developed droopy figures while showing a similarity in the lined hair with the block print. But once again I was not satisfied with the image since I was unsure with the of negative space because it appeared to fill up the majority of the area but it was somewhat settling due to how the negative space on the bottom seemed to balance the negative space on top.
Before settling on a final sketch I thought of ways to contrast with the sorrowful mood I wanted to establish, preferably something with less harshness. With the thougtht, Art Nouveau immediately came to mind. While researching Alphonse Mucha I realized that flowers were a component of his work and they universally signify multiple positive themes. In connection to Mucha I wanted to incorporate flowers but in terms of dying hope.
process
After finalizing the sketch I taped it to the back of the plastic slate. I began by etching out the outline of the hair but at times I would lose control of the scratch tool which would result in my lines becoming less smooth than what I wanted. Afterwards I scratched out the outline of the small part of the face that was visible and the eyes. Then I lined the hands and added on the details on the face and hands. I decided on doing the dying flowers at the end because I was fearful of scratching further than intended due to the small space between the lines and compact edges and curves.
Finalizing the piece, I collected the necessary materials that consisted of a pallet-knife, oil-based ink, paper, water, watercolor paper gloves and a printing press. I set down paper to work on top of and to keep my space clean. Then I soaked watercolor paper in water for 3 minutes while using that time to cover the plastic slate ink ink using the pallet knife and wearing gloves so i wouldn't risk smudging ink on the watercolor paper when taking it out. When the slate was evenly coated I went back to the watercolor paper and began pressing on it with a towel and afterwards letting out to dry. Coming back to the slate I ripped small pieces of paper and used them to wipe off the ink and leaving the ink that sinked into the scratched out parts of the piece. When it appeared to me that the ink was completely wiped off I took the slate and the water color paper to the printing press. I placed the watercolor paper on top of the slate and let it through the printing press. When the result came out I set it to the side and let the ink dry.