Printed Pictures - Final Response

Evaluation

Strengths

• I am really proud of my concepts for these and how each element included has a meaning behind it. I can't think of a time when designing these that I just added something for the sake of it and I feel that all aspects of the images are explainable. 
• I think they work as a set but also individually as they stand well alone. I think this is probably down to the colour scheme tying them all together through the subtle tones and textures but also the distinct compositions with the oval frame and symmetrically based designs. 
• My prints incorporate two analogue print processes which is a result of a lot of experimentation and decision making. I am glad I took this root instead of using monotype over my linocuts because these designs look so much cleaner and more well presented. 
• I think I have done well at thinking outside the box when it came to the tools for cutting my lino. I knew that cutting so many tiny pearls out was going to be challenging so using the belt hole puncher was great for solving this problem. Although only small, I think this is one of the best decisions I made in this project as I feel that cutting these with a normal cutter had the potential to go terribly wrong. 

Weaknesses and Improvements

• Linocutting is something I hadn't done before so I was proud of what I managed to achieve when cutting out my linos, but I still don't think they are excellent quality. This is probably down to lack of practice and the tools I was using which has left my designs caught in the middle of being refined, detailed designs and just being a little wobbly. Obviously I can't gain years of linocutting experience in just a few months but I think for the future, I will be more aware of the do's and don'ts and maybe get some finer cutters. 
• Continuing on from this, I think the smoothness of the ovals could be improved. Cutting these out of square linos meant I had to plan how to optimise my use of space. Through the tracing and re-tracing process, my designs got a little bit bigger each time due to the shifting of the trying paper which meant that the edges of the oval hit the edges of the lino. This made some parts straighter than I would have liked.  and having to make the the oval-ness of them
• The fact that these are digital prints and not authentic analogue prints lowers their value to me. Obviously I can't speak for everyone but it seems a shame to me to spend so much time on producing something that can be printed with a traditional process and then altering it to be digitally printed. Part of me regrets not trying to monoprint and linoprint directly onto my finals but looking back, I can see this would have taken so much more work which probably would have been detrimental to my contribution to the rest of my project and my other modules. 

Overall comment

• Overall, I am pleased to say I have made something I am proud of which is great for me because so often, I finish a project and realise that I don't like the final outcome. Most likely because it has caused me so much stress and I am fed up of looking at it. I'm not fed up of these yet though. 
• I like they aren't intimidating at first glance but are have darker concepts embedded within them. They are clearly conceptually driven and I think this has been a big step for me, to move away from the tangible.
• I like to think that they bridge the gap between Christie's time and modern day, the colours link to the revival of vintage which is on trend nowadays.  
• I don't think it initially screams out 'Agatha Christie' to a viewer with no concept of the inspiration for the work but I feel that this actually might be a good thing because it shows I have avoided the cliché and recognisable things that have been done before. I'm sure that with some knowledge of the background of this work and some prior knowledge of Christie, people would be able to piece together the meanings of these individual prints.