If you’ve just arrived at this ‘Process, part III’ post but would like to start at the beginning you can find ‘Process, part I (drawing)’ here and ‘Process, part II (screenprinting)’ here…

watercolour ‘testing’ strips

After printing was complete I hand-coloured additional details on some of the specimens – a wonderful opportunity to get my gouache and watercolour paints out and play some more with colour (which is not so scary after all ;). One of the great things about the screenprinting medium is the ability it gives you to print multiples relatively easily and quickly (once all the elements of the process are in place the difference between pulling one print or ten is negligible). I made more prints than I intended for the final editions so I would have lots of ‘blanks’ to play with while making hand-colouring decisions…

experimenting with different placements of the hand-coloured elements… and intrigued by how this radically (or subtly) affects the look & feel of an image.

testudines / tortoise shell specimen
hand-coloured details added in bronze and copper gouache

beetlemania!
countless candy-coloured coleoptera legs

The hand-colouring part of the process was time-consuming but a lot of fun – it gave me plenty of opportunity to experiment with colour. And I love getting lost in a drawing’s details, to the point where everything else seems to fade away. I find there’s a lucidity that comes from repetition (albeit slightly different each time) – this is no doubt part of the appeal pattern has for us. Hand-colouring piles ‘n piles of prints was therefore a kind of moving meditation for me… very relaxing :)

echinoida / sea urchin

Well, that’s it for these ‘process’ posts – thanks for looking/reading! Next post – the completed print series…