The Makings of “Partedahs”

Love them or hate them, Hadeda’s are everyday familiar visitors to any South African home. The sound of one passing Hadeda is enough to startle you, but when a colony of Hadedas (yup, that’s their collective noun) lands on your wall or roof, it takes a strong constitution to not jump right out of your skin or stare with indignation out of your window.

Quite frankly, they should be known as “a SCREECH of Hadedas”, or better yet, “a PARTY of Hadedas”. Colony sounds far too dignified and pompously colonial.

During my time in bed-rest earlier this year I became a lot more aware of my surroundings, and almost looked forward to the daily screech and visit of the neighbourhood Hadeda flock. They reminded me of the noisy, teenagers I used to teach – in their own world, completely oblivious to the noise and disruption they were making. Joyful and full of stories. Without any warning they would arrive as loudly as they possibly could, much like my Grade 10s students would arrive for art lessons. Caught up in midway conversations and social cues, enraptured in their own world. And as suddenly as they arrive, swiftly they’re off to their next hang-out.

In my screenprint I have designed for “Partedahs” I have created the scene I envision happening daily on my roof. And now every time I hear this unruly gang of Hadedas screeching on my roof I enjoy imagining them in some version of this image.

The print will be screenprinted onto Fabriano. The image size is 60x60cm, the paper size 70x70cm. I will OF COURSE be using my usual mix of pinks and greens, while introducing some more neons too. It will be a 9 layered screenprint.

The Process:

Hopefully this provides a bit more insight for you about the process and planning that goes into screenprinting.

1. This was the initial sketch in my sketchbook, during bed-rest, that inspired the piece.
2. During our renovations Mark and I packed up our entire house, except the kitchen and bathroom, and lived in Fynch’s room. Picture a Dr Seuss balancing act of furniture. That was life for 2 months. We had just enough space around the bed to get in and out of the bed. And, during this time I was still on bedrest. In the middle of the furniture piled up on top of each other, and under a frighteningly large amount of baby clothes and nappies, I began creating the final image of “Partedahs”. I draw these final sketches for my prints on drafting film so that they are transparent and I can start to add differed layers.
3. This image shows 5 transparent layers placed on top of each other. Although it is in black and white, each layer, once exposed/burned onto one of my silkscreen screens, will be printed in either a shade of pink or green.
4. This is all 9 layers placed on top of each other. Below is a GIF for you to see how each layer builds on from one another. It’s tedious work that takes a lot of concentration. I also find that working in black and white, but thinking in colour, makes my brain hurt! I work with transparent colours, so I also have to think about the different colours they will make when overlaid. For example, if I layer green over pink it creates a brown!

So, now all 9 positives are ready to be exposed/burned onto my screens. I also have to decide how big I want to make this edition. I like to keep my editions small, but I’m thinking that I might do an edition of 10. (Thats quite big for me!). Watch this space to see the print progress 🙂

I will make sure to film how I expose/burn these 9 layers onto 9 different screens, and then go about printing them. I’m hoping to have them printed this coming month. Fingers crossed x

2 thoughts on “The Makings of “Partedahs”

  1. This is beautifully written and made me recall the daily visit of Hadedas when we lived in Durban and later Pretoria. How their arrival shattered the peace but you can’t help but wish you could understand what it was they were so excited about.
    I love this idea of you’d a d can’t wait to see more. X

  2. Thank you Amy-Jane, for showing your process! You are very organised and productive – I’m duly impressed! Looking forward to see the rest of your processes..

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