Dry Point
Two Fish - That's It
Dry Point 20cm x 15cm October 2019 Exhibition Text "Two Fish - That's It" was mostly inspired by the idea that, ultimately, life is just a balance of things, in one way or another. This goes along with the philosophy of Yin and Yang. I tried to convey graceful movement and balance with an asymmetrical composition. This is why I chose to use Betta Fish as my subject because I perceive them as very beautiful, graceful creatures. |
Planning
Inspiration
Most of my inspiration came from dr. Seuss and the ideals of Yin and Yang. With dr. Seuss I Gained inspiration from his Line work and blue accents, as you can see in the photo of the page to the right. The page is from dr. Seuss' book “One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish”. I chose to use dr. Seuss' style as an Inspiration point because I've always really liked his line work and drypoint looks a lot like pen on paper, so that's where I made the connection. When it came to the Yin and Yang aspect, I guess I just really liked the point of view that it Encompasses. The idea of Yin and Yang is that forces interact to form a dynamic system in which the whole is greater than the assembled parts and according to this, everything has both has Yang and yang aspects (for instance, shadow cannot exist without light). In the classic symbol you think of when you think of Yin and Yang, the white dot in the middle of the black is supposed to symbolize the good in the Bad, the black dot in the center of the white is supposed to symbol the bad that's in the good, and this together represents life. I decided to use Betta fish instead of the normal koi fish because I really like how they look. As you can see in the pictures to the right they’re very flowy and graceful. Also, you can easily do line work with this subject because the fins already look stringy, for lack of better words.
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Planning Sketches
The first finding sketch I was still thinking of using koi fish. two koi fish swimming around each other one darker one lighter. I would have drawn flowy water around them probably in my final etching plate. On each of them I was going to have a dot of the opposite color on their heads to further represent the Yin and Yang aspect. In the sketch the Koi fish were too big for the size of the etching plate I was using so I also didn't like how the fins move on koi fish. The whiskers were also going to be a hassle to etch because they're so thin and I would want them to look delicate.
In the second planning sketch I then had decided to use Betta fish. I still wanted to use the layout of the fish circling each other for my final. The bottom fish would be Yin (the darker one) and the top one would be Yang. I didn't want to do perfect circles on their heads anymore when signifying the good within bad and the bad within good. I had gone on to the third sketch before doing the lining or the shading on this one because I didn't want to put too much effort into just a planning sketch if it wasn't going to be my final idea. But after I came back to this sketch (since I wanted this to be my final piece) I did the lining on the fins, the scales and also drew the bubbles around the fish. I wasn't sure if I was going to keep the bubbles or not, but decided to keep them to look more whimsical, going along with a ‘dr. Seuss’ underlying theme. This third sketch was just a total flop, but I still finished (at least the outline) because I wanted to see if I would like it or not anyways, but I didn’t. The fish are at weird angles and one was too big compared to the other one, the anatomy also just wasn't correct. I also didn't like how the fins would have gone off the Border, as it wouldn't look fluid. I played around with trying to use dots on the head again for the symbolism part but I also didn't like it on this sketch. |
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Process
Process
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Experimentation
I really needed to get an even, good print because of all the fine lines and the fact that I was trying to get the fish to look realistic, but this proved to be difficult. During the experimentation phase I experimented with different amounts of ink and different times of how long I let the ink sit on the etching plate before putting it through the etching press. Actually trying to get different amounts of ink with about the same time of being left on the etching plate proved to be very difficult. More ink seemed to be better but doing so also forced me to waste more time wiping it off with the newsprint paper. I found that happy medium with about 1.5 tbsp of ink on the etching plate, wiping the ink off right away and putting the whole thing through the etching press right away.
The process of making a print this way is very time-consuming and I could only print about two or three every block. This is because, either other people were printing and I had to wait to use the etching press or I only had about half the block to do it because we were doing other classwork. I only ended up keeping two (The one I used and the one that looks pretty faded on the right). Even the one I used wasn't perfect because There was excess ink on the edges of etching plate so it got on the paper when I ran it through the etching press. I ran out of time to make another otherwise I would have. |
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Critique
Dr. Seuss´ and my styles are naturally very different as his shading is more dramatic and linework is thicker to name a few differences. My piece is also different than Dr. Seuss´ illustrations because we used different mediums. He illustrates his books and I used dry point as my medium. Really the only similarity between our two pieces is the way we made an impression of being underwater or having a background. Both pieces have lots of white space and use the black/white scale frequently with only a few pops of color (for example; the blue and yellow on the first picture of one of Dr. Seuss´ books).
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Reflection
I'm very happy with how my final print turned out. There where a few mishaps during experimentation but I made many experimental prints so consequently, I will know how to do this in the future. I feel like the final print would have looked better if it was a little cleaner, but leaving it a little messy looks great as well, I guess it looks a little more sketchy, which I like the look of. Doing multiple rounds of prints was extremely helpful because it allowed me to improve and finely tweak how I was printing. Such as the fins of the white fish, it was very hard to got the right amount of ink to where I could see the detail but have it also not be too pail, because of the lack of cross hatching on the white compared to the darker one. I also feel as if I could've spent more time etching both parts and made them a little neater, I could have even possibly done more layering. This made me realize I need to think out my work more thoroughly instead of just doing the basic idea I had in mind.
Most of the information for inspiration came from background knowledge of different spirituality's because i've been exposed to all of that since an early age. I can maybe make and use dry point in a future project! In addition, I feel like I should do some more in-depth research for my upcoming projects because I can sometimes get off topic and make it too broad. Doing this will also grow my ever-expanding knowledge of artists, processes, and art movements.
Most of the information for inspiration came from background knowledge of different spirituality's because i've been exposed to all of that since an early age. I can maybe make and use dry point in a future project! In addition, I feel like I should do some more in-depth research for my upcoming projects because I can sometimes get off topic and make it too broad. Doing this will also grow my ever-expanding knowledge of artists, processes, and art movements.
ACT Responses
Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationships between your inspiration and its effect upon your artwork:
I was directly influenced by how beautiful betta fish are, as my Pry Point literally has two betta fish representing Yin and Yang. I was also influenced by Dr. Seuss' style with how he convays the idea of water without having the whoel page blue.
What is the overall approach (pov) the author (from research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The Yin/Yang concept is engulfed with the meaning that all life is balanced. Everything in the universe has opposing forces that keep each other in check (as in; light and dark, life and death, etc.)
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
A conclusion I have come to during my research is that people always need or want direction, even from some idea that some random person came up with hundreds of years ago, that probably doesn't really make total sense now.
What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
My central theme around my research is spirituality, any form of it really because I don't want to come across a type of spirituality that I didn't know of before that really inspires me.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
An inference from my research is that life is either in or out of balance all the time. It sounds simple but I like the idea of an either/or culture.
I was directly influenced by how beautiful betta fish are, as my Pry Point literally has two betta fish representing Yin and Yang. I was also influenced by Dr. Seuss' style with how he convays the idea of water without having the whoel page blue.
What is the overall approach (pov) the author (from research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The Yin/Yang concept is engulfed with the meaning that all life is balanced. Everything in the universe has opposing forces that keep each other in check (as in; light and dark, life and death, etc.)
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
A conclusion I have come to during my research is that people always need or want direction, even from some idea that some random person came up with hundreds of years ago, that probably doesn't really make total sense now.
What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
My central theme around my research is spirituality, any form of it really because I don't want to come across a type of spirituality that I didn't know of before that really inspires me.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
An inference from my research is that life is either in or out of balance all the time. It sounds simple but I like the idea of an either/or culture.
Bibliography
“'The Art of Dr Seuss' - One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish.” Mitchell Fine Art Gallery, https://www.mitchellfineartgallery.com/one-fish-two-fish-red-fish-blue-fish.