The Birds Nest pub in Deptford is an institution on the alternative/punk scene in SE London. A pal of mine lives nearby and we drink there and play pool on the old and well worn table at the back.
Dive Bar Pool is my attempt to capture the feel of a frame or two in this uniquely South London boozer.
The final edition is an eight layer screen print on 12mm birch plywood. You can see the screen set up for the first colour here. The first colour is for the floor of the pub and is actually a very thinned down brown, which acts more like a wood stain than a flat colour. I wanted the grain of the wood to show through, if you look at the foreground you can see a piece of wood with lots of different coloured squares printed on, these are the different colours I mixed before I was happy to print.
First layer down, the prints are stacked (with wooden spacers to keep them apart) to dry.
The white layer, sits underneath all the other colours. This base helps the other colours appear vibrant and stops the wood grain showing through. You can see the crop marks in the corners showing where the final piece will be cut from the larger sheet once it's done.
The burgundy colour for the walls was probably the most important colour and ended up being the most difficult to get right. I don't normally try to mix colours to the exact shade as the digital proof but in this instance it was a very particular shade I was trying to achieve.
Here you can see the full print before it is cut to size. But before I cut these down, I took them to the spray booth to apply a coat of clear matt varnish.
Once the several coats of varnish had dried I stepped outside my studio and used the rail saw to cut the final prints out.
The final result is an unusual and bold centre piece print. One which I'm very pleased with.
