13. Scholastic #5

Artist Statement

The fifth and final piece in our assigned scholastic prompts, I decided to return to a technique that I enjoyed using in the past—gelatin printing. The materials that used being ink, a gelatin block, watercolor, pen ink, and gold pen ink, I continued the theme of crows with this piece.

The gelatin print that I used to complete this piece actually showing the outline of feathers that I found, I incorporated the crow heads inside the feathers. After this gelatin print was done drying, I then filled in the blank space left by the feathers with watercolor; before drawing the crow heads and gold twine on top. In this final piece, I feel as though I've really established a certain style when drawing crows. Having slowly developed and changed from previous pieces from last year and continuing into this year, I'm happy with my progress.

I did run into some problems when using the watercolor though. Even though my print was dry, totally unaccepted by me, when I began to fill in the blank space things began to blend together. Having no way to get around this problem, I continued to apply the watercolor very carefully; making sure not to get the ink and paint to close to each other.

I'm ok with how this piece turned out. Honestly, I don't feel it's my best piece in this series of prompts. But I don't think it's my worst either. I do wish I would've extended the crows bodies more, as I feel that would've complemented the composition more. But besides that, I'm glad I decided to return to the gelatin medium to complete this piece.