A brave new world...

I don't know how it happened, but somehow it's already May 2017. I told myself that I would blog at least once a month and my previous blog post dates December 2016... THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE. Anyway, what have I been up to? Good question. For those of you who read my blog which are probably very few, I bought an Intrepid large format camera which arrived in the new year. It's taken five months to get round to using it but I got there. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the first decent test image I've taken:

I've had a few problems regarding film development, dropping my wet negatives on the carpet were one of them so excuse the flecks of dust.

For whatever reason, FP4+ film and Rodinal have produced mixed results for me so I've ended up using the standing development technique for the first time. Unfortunately, as I was using the MOD54 there is a gradation in tonality where the image is darker at the bottom than the top. If this was developed in a tray I think this technique would have worked really well, particularly for lazy people who can't be bothered to agitate!

Those of you unfamiliar with processing black and white film, you would normally load the film in a spool/holder in the dark and dip the film in developer, stopper and fixer chemicals for specific amounts of time. Throughout the development phase, you would agitate for 5-10s every minute to ensure that the film processes evenly but with standing development, you just agitate for the first few minutes and leave it for an hour in a water bath (optional). With standing development, it produces the appearance of a sharper image by contrasting the blacks and highlights very similar to an unsharp mask but it can result in haloing. This can work in some images but not for all.

People might wonder why there is a fascination with analogue film when digital photography is more cost effective and produces immediate results which has streamlined the entire industry. To put it in simple terms, a normal full frame DSLR is the equivalent to a 35mm frame which takes an approximate image of 22-32mb. A large format 5x4" film is the equivalent to 200mb; that's 8K. New televisions don't usually reach this resolution! Now, I am often quick to judge when someone preaches about how more mega pixels equals a better image. It's really not. If you have an awesome camera but a poor bit of glass then you may as well be looking through fog.

Next purchase... two more lenses to complete the large format kit for my trip to Normandy this summer. Watch this space!

COUNTDOWN - UK Young Artists National Festival: Derby 2016

UK Young Artists National Festival: Derby 2016 Friday 4 - Sunday 6 November

All events are FREE.

I am delighted to announce that my installation Shell (2015), as well as Obsolete (2016) and Monumental Ruin (2016) has been selected for UK Young Artists National Festival in Derby this November. The festival showcases the work of the UK’s best artists aged between 18-30 working across visual art, applied art, performance, moving image, music, digital art, sculpture and spoken word, and takes place in all of Derby’s brilliant arts spaces and various pop-up and outdoor locations. All events are free, so do come along to the festival to see my work, alongside the work of 80 incredibly talented artists. There’s also a programme of free workshops and professional development talks that you can attend.

Hope to see you there!

Full programme information available at www.ukyoungartists.co.uk

So long, farewell: Sarking 2016, Project Space Plus

Well after a two week show, it's time to put Sarking to bed. We will be dismantling tomorrow so for those of you who missed the show just click on the images below. Next up, preparation for UK Young Artists National Festival: Derby 2016 in November - more posts to follow soon!

Sarking 2016 - Project Space Plus

As one of the AA2A Artists at the University of Lincoln, we were given an opportunity to continue to develop our professional practices within the School of Fine Art from October 2015 to July 2016. This residency provided myself and three other artists - Veronica Proud, Mike Bruce and GÂST the chance to utilise facilities that we would otherwise not have had access to in order to realise our personal projects. For me, I wanted to push towards unknown territories in photography and print which ranged from home zinc etching to gold leaf chine-cole. Unfortunately, this caused a lot of frustration because gold leaf is a nightmare! Despite these obstacles, I learnt a lot about the technical limitations and managed to create a series of work that explored the monumental sublime in brutalist architecture which signified impermanence and the collapse of reality. With this, me and the other artists collaborated to find construction as a common theme in our work which led us to the term Sarking. While this term specifically means the use of wood panels in roof construction, we used this as an all encompassing term for the exhibited work. See description below:

Sarking: The title draws from the notion of an overarching canopy; a sense of an enclosure of around the artworks. This term is also reflected with the exploration of architecture and building materials  as well as clothing as an indicator of inclusivity as well as exclusivity.

The preview night for the Sarking exhibition at Project Space Plus was great as it brought a range of people from the public to view the work. Even though the creation of work is a personal journey, it is interesting to see (and hear) how the work is received by the community whether that's critical or complimentary. Luckily, it was the latter. The exhibition will be running from the 25th July - 5th August 2016 should you find yourself in the local area and you can see the accompanied written material here - Sarking (PDF)

DIY Photoimageable Resist Etching w/ UV Nail Lamp

I wanted to document what I've learnt recently when it comes to doing photo-etching at home as there's a lack of information online when it comes to timings particularly when you don't have a specialised UV exposure unit! Photo-etching isn't for the faint hearted and can be a pain if you don't follow each step to the letter. If you want an introduction to printmaking, Printmaking A Complete Guide to Materials & Process by Bill Fick is an excellent read.

To prepare stencil:

1. Open digital image (JPEG) in Adobe Photoshop. If in colour, Image > Adjustments and select either, Desaturate or Black & White, then fine tune the image. You will need an image of medium-high contrast with good areas of black and white.
2. In photo-etching, you will need to add a fine grain to the plate for the ink to adhere, otherwise it will simply wipe away clean in areas that should be dark. To do this, usually you would add an aquatint or use an aquatint screen but an easier method is by Bitmapping your image. Firstly, Image > Mode > Grayscale, then Image > Mode > Bitmap. It will request a resolution output and generally if your image input is 240-300 dpi, you will need to set it lower ie. 200 dpi range then select Method - I use diffusion dither but it's up to your aesthetic preference! Print bitmapped image as grayscale onto acetate or transparency (ink jet or laser is fine).

**Advanced stencil preparation:

You can prepare a duotone photo-etch (printing with two plates) by preparing the same image with two outcomes. One stencil is lighter with small areas of detail (top layer) and the other darker with large areas of detail (base layer).

Or, for a four colour separation CMYK (printing with four plates) you will need to prepare you stencil by separating the colour channels of your image. Firstly, go to Image > Mode > CMYK Color then, go to the Channels panel (if not shown, check on the Windows tab to see if ticked). Alter Brightness & Contrast, as well as Levels for each colour channel in the Image > Adjustments menu. You will need to ensure that each colour channel has a medium-high contrast. To separate channels into files, select ∨≡ button on Channels panel and select Split Channels. 

Continue to bitmapping.

Plate Preparation:

1. Traditionally, zinc or copper plates are used in intaglio processes. Whilst copper is easier to work with, it's a tad expensive.To prepare a plate you will need to do the following:
   1. File and bevel edges to 45 degrees and soften corners.
   2. Remove protective film and clean plate with white spirit.
   3. Degrease plate. Normally, you would use ammonia and whiting powder some printmakers use soy sauce, concentrated washing up liquid, white vinegar and bicarbonate of soda etc. This is an important step as it helps with the adhesion of emulsion on the plate. Note: DO NOT TOUCH THE PLATE ONCE DEGREASED (clean gloves are recommended).
   4. Another good measure, is to rinse plate with distilled or deionised water as it reduces potential water marks. Remove excess water with clean cloth and finish with a blow dryer.
2. There are two mediums that you can use, photoresist film and photoresist emulsion. They both have their pros and cons, personally I prefer the emulsion but if you want to reuse the plate then I would recommend film.
   1. Film: Cut film slightly larger than the plate. Spray plate with a fine water mist and remove backing sheet on film (you may need tweezers)  then lay on top of degreased plate. You will need to run plate and film in a printing press to adhere film. Afterwards, remove protective layer on film and trim down to fit plate. This needs to be placed in an oven for at least 20 minutes to cure or left overnight.
   2. Emulsion: Using a palette knife, mix some emulsion with 1-2 drops of reducer. Roll on emulsion until there is an even coverage and a semi-matte finish. Place in dryer for 20 minutes and allow to cool.

Expose plate

 To expose a plate, I used a UV nail lamp from eBay. You can figure out your ideal exposure times with a step test as they can change depending on your stencil. For an image like below, it took a 45 second exposure. For a lighter stencil, reduce the time and a darker stencil, lengthen the time. **Note: UV lamp stands 3.5inches away from stencil.

I use an old photo frame for exposure by sandwiching the backing board, plate, stencil (reversed) and glass clipped together.

Developing Plate

Once exposed, develop plate in a solution of bicarbonate of soda (1-2tbsp) and water (1 litre). If development is slow, add a little more bicarbonate of soda. It can take time to develop but continue agitating the tray and gently wipe the surface of the plate with a sponge or brush. *Note: emulsion is fragile

After development, rinse and remove excess water. Place underneath UV lamp for another exposure to harden emulsion.  You're ready to etch.