Bailey Brook
October 19, 2005
Copperplate Etching
4"x6"
This little landscape etching has so many problems I can't possible count them all.
First of all I spent almost three hours scratching the drawing on the ground and then ruined the surface before I could etch the plate. So, I had to clean the plate, re-ground it, and then spend a few hours scratching the drawing on for the second time. There are several drypoint marks visible throughout and in the upper right hand corner there is some little marks that must have been on the ground from me handling the plate roughly.
The lines etched very evenly and there is not enough contrast to make the line drawing interesting. I think I am going to work into the plate a second time by burnishing some light areas back into the drawing and then try a second round in the acid bath.
On top of all that the plate could have been wiped better but this proof is just a tool to make the next state better.
posted by workspace @ 7:52 AM
2 Comments
2 Comments:
It's interesting to see you incorporate figurative elements into your prints.
As you know from my previous responses and our conversations, I think self-portrait work is a valuable meditation for the artist.
One thing that seems different about this piece is the figure's detachment from the ground. In your landscapes, you work with form and space as a whole. Is this intentional? or are you applying different value to the human form?
Clarkelane, you mention "the figure's detachment from the ground" and I hope that this proof is not so bad that you thought they were figures. It did not scan well.
However, I have always tried to treat trees the same way I would a figure. I studied under, Bill Holtz, a student of Hans Hoffman and he taught me to look at everything as a whole plastic space that is to be manipulated by the artist.
The self-portrait is a form that I had not used in almost ten years and I did come to it with a hint of fear inside. So yes, I did treat them in a different way, but my use of the picture plane is essentially the same, a shallow space with a controlled sense of depth.
Cezanne's large figurative compositions remind me more of plant forms than actually living people.
Thanks, P
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home