Tulips and daffodils: three colours on one sheet
The tulips and the daffodils were made together. I printed them on one sheet in three inks, fluorescent yellow, mint and gold, and only cut them into two posters at the end.
Here is the whole journey from drawing to wall.
Drawing
I drew both vases on the iPad. While drawing I already think about the colour of each area: yellow flowers, a mint background for the daffodils, a gold one for the tulips.
Splitting into colours
Each colour is then saved as its own greyscale file. On screen the layers look strange, black and white and disconnected. They only make sense on paper, printed over each other.
Colour by colour
I start with yellow because it is the lightest. For this print I chose a cream paper that makes both the yellow and the mint stand out.
After mint comes gold. Each time I change the drum, make a new master and feed the same sheets again. With three colours it really matters that the paper lies exactly the same way every time, otherwise the layers drift apart.
Checking and cutting
I always look at the finished sheet against the light: do the colours line up, is there ink missing anywhere?
Then I cut it into two posters on the trimmer.
