Dear diary, part four

June 28, 2013July 7, 2013 | Anna Cull

Beat book cover design – sketches and layout ideas Visual diary, two-page spread (student project, 2011) — Beat book cover design – sketches and layout ideas
Visual diary, two-page spread (student project, 2011)

'A meme that launched a millions trips' – final cover design — ‘A meme that launched a millions trips’ – final cover design

For this project we had to use found images and a limited colour palette to design the cover of a book about the beat poets. My cover is a paper collage of photographs, censored texts and deconstructed poetry. The background features excerpts from the works of Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs that I have retyped, rearranged, printed, torn into pieces and transferred on to paper using an acetone printing technique (the same technique I used for my book without boundaries). The acetone transfer produced a wonderful, imperfect, aged sort of effect which you can see in more detail below.

The diary pages are from a journal I put together for my Design & Arts College exhibition in 2012. Two years of research, ideas, word maps and sketches had to be reduced to a mere 72 pages. It was no easy task but I now have a beautiful, professionally bound diary that I’ll always treasure.

A closer look at yesterday

April 3, 2013April 3, 2013 | Anna Cull

Yesterday – monoprint, 130 x 210 mm, 2010.

Poppytump has asked for a closer look at the woodcut print that made an appearance in my previous post … so here it is.

The stormy sea woodblock after printing.

The ‘yesterday’ woodblock after printing. — The yesterday woodblock after printing.

Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow.

March 29, 2013April 29, 2013 | Anna Cull

I wanted to post something a bit different for the holidays and this came to mind. It’s a printing project from an art course I did a few years ago. We had to make a series of monoprints to represent our past, present and future. I really could’ve used an extra week to get to grips with the materials and techniques. Still, I enjoyed the challenge… and there’s something about the Today print that I really like.

For those who are curious, Yesterday (a stormy sea) is a woodcut print, Today (a sunrise) was made using a light-field method and Tomorrow (clouds with a silver lining) was made using a dark-field method.

Happy Easter!

More from a book without boundaries

May 16, 2012September 15, 2013 | Anna Cull

A few more pages from my experimental “I Dream Of…” book.

Book without boundaries, selected pages – mixed media, 2010.

The van and the hummingbird are prints made by drawing on perspex with watercolour crayon. The images were then transferred to damp paper. The patterned backgrounds used throughout the book are scanned fabrics (scarves, dresses, shirts) which have been laser printed and transferred to paper using acetone. The photo squares of yours truly are acetone prints with watercolour washes.

As I said in my previous post, it’s far from perfect but it is exactly what I set out to make.

Book without boundaries

May 15, 2012September 15, 2013 | Anna Cull

A lifetime ago, in 2010, I made a little book for the Design & Arts College Foundation course. The brief was to create a book — any kind of book, any topic, any size or shape.

I decided to put together something personal and explore some of the things I dream of…

Book without boundaries, selected pages – mixed media, 2010.

I really went to town experimenting with ink, watercolour, ephemera, scanned fabrics and printing techniques. It isn’t polished, it’s far from perfect and it is exactly what I set out to make.

Note: you can see more from my book without boundaries here.

Anna Cull ~ Art & Music

printmaking