One new skill I started working with for this project was darkroom photography. We printed out images onto acetate sheets and then laid them on top of the photography paper and then exposed the image, creating a negative image when we developed it.

The top image I also used as a reference for my screen print. The bottom image is what inspired my oil painting. I really like these prints because they have really strong contrast which is very effective and striking. I also like that they are negative prints because this makes them look more abstract. I made the bottom image by drawing onto the acetate sheet with a marker pen rather than printing an image onto it.

After I had taken photos of the test tubes I had another darkroom photography session.

First I printed out the image onto acetate, and then I made a negative print using it. I decided that I also wanted to make a positive print from this negate, so I made a contact print by laying another piece of photography paper onto the negative and then exposing this for around 15 seconds. I really like how this positive print turned out, and I think that any imperfections just add to the piece.

This is another example of the above process. This image was quite dark, however, and so it took a bit of editing to make it bright enough so that there would be a print that worked well. Also, there are some lines running across the image; an imperfection made by the printer when it was transferring the image onto acetate, but I decided that I actually preferred the image with this imperfection and so decided to expose it anyway. I made another contact print to get the positive from the negative and I am very happy with how it turned out. When I was developing the negative, the top of the image got darker very fast and so I lifted this end of the image out of the developing solution. This made the bottom of the image develop more and reveal more detail in this area without the top of the image getting so dark that it obscured the detail.

I used the acetate image from earlier and scraped away some of the ink on the sheet using a sharp pencil. I also added some details onto it with a marker pen. I did this three times in order to produce this small series of images where it appears as if something is growing in the last three test tubes. These images could alternatively be placed the other way round to look like something is dissolving in the tubes.

To improve this series I would take it further by adding more and more into the test tubes until they are completely full. I think that this would make for a more effective piece of work.