FMP Week 18

This week we went over the digital exhibition platform. This seems straightforward, but I think the general consensus was that we are all focusing on getting the project turned in and don’t have the mental bandwidth for this. Maybe something to come back to when we have finished!

It can be lonely being the only one with a camera on!

I also had a good tutorial with Dan, and showed him some of the work I’ve been doing. This was really encouraging and I feel better about my progress so far. I have been letting the sheer scope of what I have left to do overwhelm me, so it was good to readjust and acknowledge that I am making progress.

This week also marks my 19th wedding anniversary. While not my actual tipping point (I have the better part of a year until then) it is a symbolic one, 19 years in America, and 19 years in Cornwall.

We had a beautiful lunch at the Idle Rocks in St Mawes and explored the Roseland a bit sans children.

Project Development

Relief prints!

I’ve done a lot of lino cutting this week. I’m hoping to work the original prints into the book. If I have to I can always scan or photograph them, but I’d prefer to put actual prints in. Paper and registration will be tricky, but I think I can do it.

This one turned out okay, but I wanted to refine it a bit. I redid the design in Procreate and cut it again. I also ordered some more cutting tools that are more precise.

Still messy… but a bit clearer

The second version was much clearer, and I also cut another piece to try a two colour print.

This turned out really well, I think I want to do three more linocuts in a similar way and have a block of four in the book. The different texture of the paper will really stand out as well.

I’ve also been given access to the DALL-E beta, following on from my experiments with Disco Diffusion a few weeks ago. I applied for the beta and was happy to be accepted. I played around with it a bit, but got some interesting results when I fed it my original design for the lino cut

This could be a really interesting avenue to generate ideas via AI during the beginning stages of a project. Nothing from any of the generations is perfect, but there are definitely prompts to help me refine or take in different directions. I think the bottom right in particular will be worth developing!