Every year, Hotbed Press in Manchester launch a 20×20 print exchange. Printmakers are invited to create 25 20cmx20cm prints in any medium. These are then collated and every artist receives a box set of 20 prints by 20 different artists. This year I was enamoured by a sweeping shape on a portrait print I recently made. The shape was part of a background to the portrait that was created by soaking a kitchen scourer in a mix of carbon powder, washing up liquid and a dash of water and wiping over a sheet of mark resist film. I isolated a nd masked an 20×20 square on the A1 screen and printed 25 square prints. These neatly framed the sweeps, however they did not stand out. I selected a brush of similar size to the sweeps and applied a print varnish to create a reflective highlight.
A1 Two colour Portrait 
sweeps detail 
first pass comparison 
brush size 
finished 
25 20×20 prints
