Negative Life Energy II is the final, and most successful, variation in the experimental life energy series. It combines several of the techniques I’ve been working with:
- paper stencilling with acrylic paint
- direct application of watercolour pigment to a blank screen
- photostencilling with acrylic paint
- printing onto different paper stocks, in this case Fabriano
This print has a raw, spontaneous feel quite unlike the single screen prints that I started with. The marbled ink of the paper stencil has mostly blended into a dark brown reminiscent of woodblock prints. The directly-applied watercolour sits on top of that, giving a light and subtle blend of colour and an interesting texture. The final screenprint (a photostencil of the yin-yang watercolour sketch) is deliberately non-registered to increase the tension between the balanced imagery of the yin-yang and the Chinese life energy characters.