Wood block letterpress

Following on from my metal type letterpress workshop, I then decided to carry on with the more creative wood block as well, seeing as I knew all the basics. I liked the technique a lot more as you could be more spontaneous and less precise when setting up the type. This worked better for the phrase I wanted to print. 

I wanted to experiment with the phrase 'perfectly normal'. I have always thought this phrase was odd - having someone be perfectly normal sounds very boring. The unique subtleties of people are what make them interesting. In my eyes everyone with their own quirks are classed as perfect so I wanted to make a print expressing this idea. People have become so obsessed with becoming perfect that psychologists have diagnosed Perfectionism as a disorder, stating “Perfection, of course, is an abstraction, an impossibility in reality” https://www.psychologytoday.com/basics/perfectionism

This concept is something I am currently researching into for my project. Using the mermaid as a visual metaphor for perfection. Even though there is a contradiction in the way they are meant to be beautiful and flawless in a lot of stories, luring men to them - as seen in the mermaid of Zennor folklore I mentioned in a previous post, but they are not what our society accepts as perfect because they are different from the majority. 

I designed the composition with the idea in mind that you don't have to be exactly in line with what everyone else is doing to be seen as perfect. I wanted all the letters to be different, placed outside standard lining and spacing, using different inking techniques on all of them so they don't co-ordinate, to show this idea. 

I used blue and green colours again, like in my etchings, to tie in with my theme of mermaids. Ocean colours seem to work well with the mermaid imagery, I think it helps the audience associate with the subject matter more. I tried several prints with just blue, experimenting with the amount of ink and composition. I then added some green on my final print to tie it all together. 

I used several techniques to ink the blocks up such as the standard roller, but then working into that inked surface with white spirit to distort the smoothness. I also used a paint brush to make brush marks in the ink and to also flick ink/white spirit onto the blocks. I wanted the variety of techniques to convey the variety of perfection we can have in society. 

This also gave me the opportunity to learn new techniques and a new skill that has benefited my work. By continuing this type of practice based research, I am gaining new knowledge every time I make a new piece. I recently interviewed the artist Peter Driver who uses a lot of text in his woodcut prints. He agreed with me, stating "I think I’ll keep learning until I die.  Every time I make a new piece I learn something new."

Every skill I pick up seems to spark new ideas for my project, seeing how I could potentially use it to benefit my practice. This type of research works well for me. I have come to realise forcing myself to try and read a lot of academic papers and theory books just does'nt work as well for me. 

Overall I am happy with the outcome of these prints even though the were just experiments. I prefer the prints where I used more ink as they are bolder and portray my message clearer to the audience. I could perhaps use the faded ones as a background. I think the brush mark letters work very well as they create a distressed/distorted look which helps towards my idea of not having to look in line to be normal.