Oscar Kearsley

I first experimented with creating a background for my UFO print with monoprint. I set the press light to allow a noisy, textured black background to print. A paper stencil masking out the light of the UFO was placed over and then inked up and hand printed on top as a ghost print. This allowed the light to still have tonality to it while being lighter than the surrounding night sky. I liked the result of this as it matched the rough aesthetic of my plates, but it seemed difficult to control. As my final print will be very large, I chose to instead paint the backdrop.

I painted the background with watercolour but found it too light. There wasn’t enough contrast between the night sky and the UFOs light. I added some black acrylic paint to the watercolour and recoated it. I really liked the result as it maintained a watercolour-like aesthetic while being much more bold. It was close to a gouache is appearance. Painting the background also allowed me to create a gradation between the light and the sky. By wiping away the paint around the edges of the light it made it appear as if it faded out into the sky.