Drypoint Prints - Pohutukawa Leaves

These are prints that I created during a workshop with printmaker Alexis Neal. They were my inspiration for the print I created for the International Print Exchange. These leaves are however 235mm tall while the leaf for the IPE is only 10mm tall.

In the workshop we were learning how to combine a variety of techniques including drypoint, chine colle, colour roll-up and collographs. Initially I created another image and experimented with mixing up and layering the techniques until I had a "feel" for what was possible. I have an aversion to using a rectangular plate so I wanted to create something where the shape of the plate was an intrinsic part of the image. Drawing on my love for the pohutukawa trees that line our coast here in Auckland, NZ, (they provide me with constant inspiration in my artwork), I created this image shaping the plexi-plate with scissors and smoothing off the edges with sandpaper to remove any burrs.

The top two images were inked with one colour, a deep red-purple. The image on the left is printed with a chine colle background of bamboo paper which was cut to the shape of the plate. The right-hand image is printed with a colour roll-up of a sepia tone applied once the plate has been inked up in an intaglio manner. I finished off the print by adding some soft hand colouring to the flower and a gentle wash of colour over the stem and leaves.

The bottom two images are inked up "a la poupee" meaning that more than one colour is used in the inking process, applying a richer red ink to the flower. Both images have then had a colour roll-up applied to the plate and the right-hand image has been completed by adding some soft hand colouring to enhance the image.