Ask Ali: Printmaking in my work

My career has never been a straight line approach, I have always done things earlier than the norm, or sometimes, far later. Therefore when I had a change of circumstances at 34 years old, I decided to go to Arts University Bournemouth to study for my Foundation degree and then my BA in Fine Art. Being a mature student was a very different experience for me, in many ways, but one of the things that I got to encounter was printmaking and it changed my artistic practice overnight. I had a whole world of new techniques and materials open up before me and although I don’t get anywhere near enough time to explore it at the moment you will see it crop up in my work in many ways that you might not realise.

Here is a good example of a technique that I often use in my work, this painting is due to be released in the next few weeks as part of my 50 at 50 project and one of the things I try to achieve in my work is that it has two readings. The first from a distance where you see the amalgamation of applications to form the whole subject, and then the second where you ask yourself how that texture or colour has been applied.

Mark making is one of the formal elements of art that I discuss a lot in my classes, I think it is fundamental to both the expression of your subject but also it forms the expression of who you are as an artist, your own unique handwriting on the surface. This is why I love to include printmaking elements in my paintings and when you start to recognise them you will see them pop up all over the place.

What constitutes printmaking as a mark? I am using printmaking in its very broadest term as I don’t wish to detract from those blocks or plates that take days to prepare and great skill to execute, this is at a basic level where I look for tools or textures to interfere with my applications, a way of tripping myself up to create a texture that I have a lot less control over than when I have a brush in my hand.

So, what did I use here? Some of you will know if you have followed any of my tutorials before and I’ll let you make a few guesses before I reveal it at the bottom of this blog, my advice is to spend some time looking for very ordinary objects around your house and then dreaming up ways that they could be used to apply paint. It is loads of fun and lots of trial and error, the perfect exercise if you find yourself in a creative slump like we have been talking about recently in other blog posts.

I hope that gives you a bit of an insight into one of my favourite techniques and how you might use it in your work, Ali

So, what did you think I used?
It was………… Lego!