This week I had every intention of catching up on my blog and spending a lot of time in college but I had a minor print-related breakdown early on and gave up on that idea straight away. I was in the print room Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday finishing off some previous prints, getting some monoprints done and having a go at flocking and foiling.
It may seem like an odd complaint but printmaking actually requires a whole lot of manual labour. Inking, rolling, pressing, and especially the cleaning - oil based inks are stubborn bastards. I was in there from about 9-5 each day and then had to come home and go to work - at risk of sounding like a moaning whimp, it was pretty grueling! By Wednesday afternoon I was up to my eyeballs in prints, paper, fabrics and scraps and I decided to take a step back before I threw everything in the bin in a fit of rage (although due to the refuse strike that probably wasn't a massive threat, it'd still be there now).
Having a break from my work has given me a chance to evaluate it subjectively. I've got a better idea of what I need to do and what I want to achieve. As far as traditional printmaking goes I think I've just about saturated the areas that I personally want to cover. Woodblock typography is still on the cards and I've got some foil/flock paper left so I may dabble a bit more but other than that I think I'm done. Once I've completely finished with print I'm going to compile a selection of the techniques into a book called 'My Print Journal' - nothing special, the clue's in the name really - but, like I said, I won't have to worry about that until I've got the practical stuff out of the way.
REDIRECTION
To be honest I'm not entirely sure what direction to go in now. I don't want to rush in and start any practical work without a sound justification for it. I know I need to learn InDesign but because I didn't go to the workshop as it clashed with Business I've really hit a wall with that one. I need to either talk to the technicians or find a very kind InDesign-literate friend..
I need to get some sort of closure for traditional print making; decide upon my response to it and evaluate the place it has in my future as a practitioner - what skills will I need in 10/15 years??
READ BOOKS - since I'm indifferent towards anymore practical work then I'll need to research before I move on. I won't have anything physical to show for it but I'll better my understanding of contexts and applications.
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