MOTIF MAKING_

Motif making- I'm very used to creating textural, scratchy drawings with many a different medium, so motif creating was a different experience. If I'm honest, I didn't like the outcomes I produced. The motifs had to be drawn in a continuous line with a liner pen, so it was a simplistic shape to work from. Now in my eyes, the motifs I had to work with appeared childish and had no depth to them (I realise this was the idea), and when I don't particularly like something or find it unattractive, I bothers me. So guess what I did. I drew another more considered collection of motifs which I was happier with. Of course I kept the others, and the ideas behind them were there and fitted with my theme, I just felt I could work with the newer motifs more successfully.

The motifs were the starting point to a large 50x50 print, and the next step included taking each motif individually and start drawing it in 5 different ways with different mediums. I was more within my comfort zone, creating more abstract versions to build up the print. My motifs, spreading across a page in rows, included using black cut out paper (it was important the motifs remained black and white so they could be easily photocopied), poster paint to give a scratchy finish, inks, charcoal, anything  really that created an unusual mark. Printing with relevant shapes featured heavily in my work as it was a quick and easy way to build up an area.
I had never really thought about the process of creating a print, and although these days a lot are created digitally, it was valuable to experiment creating prints in this was. I feel I work better when I am able to play around with a physical thing, placing motifs and drawing them how I like. Its a wonderful process, and you can see that from these first steps, refining the motifs and creating prints using factors from the last could lead to a professional print.