Etching with copper sulphate

I recently attended a two day etching workshop at the Wrexham Regional Print Centre - www.regionalprintcentre.co.uk, tutored by Tracy Hill - www.tracyhill.co.uk.

I have limited experience of acid etching, and was interested in experiencing a less toxic method. The process is the same as the traditional acid method but obviously different chemicals are used.  We used both zinc and aluminium plates as matrices and printed with oil inks onto Hannemuhle and Somerset paper.

Tracey demonstrated every stage which was useful for everyone whatever their previous experience, and she was very relaxed and generous when asked to go over the details again for anyone who needed it.

Firstly the edges of the plates had to be bevelled, to prevent the blankets on the press being damaged but this also means that the final print will be cleaner, and then degreased as grease, including that from fingers, would effect the ground that was to be laid over the plate.

The acrylic ground a mixture of two substances - rather than a traditional wax ground - was then rolled on to the chosen plate. Textures were created by laying various found objects, lace, feathers, net, dried plant material,string, stencils, onto the plate which was put through the press. The plate was then heated on a hot plate to fix the ground and finally placed into the copper sulphate solution.  The solution etches into the areas of metal which have been left exposed by the textures pressed into it. The plate is then cleaned of the remaining ground and detritus from the mordant and printed.  This is my first attempt - two feathers and a piece of unravelling cord on a zinc plate.

Before printing I used a dry point needle to emphasise some of the details of the cord that and also add details of a third feather in the upper left corner to link in with a pale mark that looked like a quill. Ideas for future development includes printing with chine colle to emphasise the feather structures, burnishing the highlights and more dry point work.

I next tried a smaller zinc plate - the same process with the ground but after allowing it to partially dry for a few minutes I added water with a brush. The result is reticulation where the ground - which is water based - partially dissolves with the added water and produces interesting, not entirely predictable results.   Again before printing I added dry point - too faintly as can be seen in the prints but these can be worked on further.

I burnished the un-etched metal of the plate to make the highlights more prominent added a traditional wax hard ground and emphasised some of the dry point marks made earlier and then inked in green as an experiment.  I don't think the colour works and prefer the blue black - the abstract design reminds me of the flint walls of West Dean and in the future I will continue to work on this plate to emphasise this element and perhaps try to replicate the lovely colours one sees in flint particularly when wet.

The next day I worked with aluminium plates.  These are slightly less predictable in the mordant and I decided to try with some semi abstract landscapes. I have had a week drawing mountains recently and these were in the forefront of my mind as inspiration.  The first plate was covered with the ground and then water added for the reticulation.  The abstract shapes reminded me of clouds so the mountain range was added below with a dry point needle and some more water added to provide texture on the land.  The second plate was a thin strip.  I drew onto the ground using a dry point needle for an impression  of landscape and also added a little water reticulation for tone and texture.  On reflection, this was too much for such a small plate - less is more in this instance.  After heating the plates to set the ground, they were put into a saline copper sulphate solution.   The back of the plates had to be covered with plastic tape to prevent the back being attacked by the etch and in that process I must have scratched the larger plate with a small piece of grit. This didn't become apparent until after the print was pulled but as can be seen left quite a prominent series of marks all across the plate.

I inked the plate again trying to remove some ink from the most prominent mark but this seemed to make it more obvious, so decide to add to the scoring with dry point - in an attempt to make a virtue from an error  - and extend some of the marks including the very harsh ones to create a feeling of wind sweeping over the landscape.  This was an improvement and when I inked the landscape in green making it more prominent it made the image more balanced still.  The motto is - make sure the area is perfectly clean before turning the plate over before taping the back!

Finally I decided to try the small landscape with some chine colle - a white tissue with tracings of green ink on it.  The plate is too small for the large piece of tissue so I will print the plate again with smaller additions perhaps in unrealistic colours to emphasise the abstract nature of the marks and to de-emphasise the complicated, detailed landscape I tried to represent.

All in all a very busy two days - lots of experiments and 4 plates that I can continue to work on and develop at home and perhaps take  back to Wrexham for some more etching. I have lots of ideas and intend to play around and see how far I can push them.  



Still Life - preparing the plate and printing the final image

I decided on a trial run so used a small drawing as a guide and produced an A6 plate.  I was relatively pleased with the print although the major error I made of not reversing the image is very much the type of error made by a novice such as myself.



I found the repetitive mark making always meditative and quite soothing.  To keep the marks even is very difficult and will take me a great deal of time and practise to master it - if I ever manage to do so but the trial was successful enough to warrant trying it for the larger, final print for the assignment.

 

For the final image, I did remember to reverse the image and was surprised how different this was.

Although I have used the mirror technique of checking for errors in painting and drawings  before I had not noticed the difference in the "feel" of the reversed image - how changing the orientation of the flow of an image from right to left can alter ones perception of it so much. Something else to remember for future projects.

 

Size was dictated by the maximum size I can print on my press which is slightly larger than A4.  I use a plastic matrix for dry point and found that the concentration required for the close tonal marks required me to work in stages - I found that if I pressed on too long, the marks would vary too much. Although I would prefer to the marks to be as even as those produced by Morandi, I just do not have the expertise to produce the consistency and found myself instinctively following the curves of some of the elements. I was also surprised how hard it was to reverse the mark making to ensure the flow of the print. It is difficult to tell how the marks will print but from the plate I felt that the necessary tonal contrast had been achieved.

The assignment called for at least 5 prints, which could be the same or all different. I decided to use two different papers for the prints - a warm cream coloured Japanese Simili paper and a pure white Masa paper - this was to see how the image looked on different backgrounds   I have recently seem some etchings by Rembrandt where the same image - of Christ on the cross - was dramatically changed by where Rembrandt had chosen to wipe the ink, thus lightening the image, so I decided to experiment with varying the wiping on the prints to see how the image changed. 

For the first print on the cream paper, the plate was inked too lightly so the apples were indistinct and I also felt that the background needed some texture/tone. I was pleased with the image and felt it was quite successful. The marks could be a lot more even but this will come with practise.

 

 

 

With the second print, also on the cream paper, I left some tone on the background, behind the pots and above the jug. I also darkened the front pot, and wiped the apple in front of it to emphasise the tone and bring the apple forward.

With prints 3 and 4 - on white Masa paper-

 

I left more tone on the background but it is too uneven and the tone is too heavy at the top rather than behind the pots.  Too much ink has been removed  rather than selected to highlight the folds of the cloth  The apples are too pale.

 Prints 5 and 6 are on the cream Simili paper and I decided to emphasise the tone on the base of the front pot and the apples



 The shadow on the right side of print 5 is too faint and the shadow on the right side of print 6 is too dark but I felt that the print was getting stronger in tonal contrast

With prints 7 and 8, I decided to experiment with applying extra ink to certain areas for greater contrast using a cotton wool bud. 

 

This proved to a quite effective way to add back ink to small areas where the wiping had been too rigorous.  To an extent it is trail and error as the final effect cannot be evaluated until the plate has been printed but worth the experiment.

 

The final two prints are the most successful. Both on the white Masa paper and showing the individual items of the still life composition in detail with the tone of the background, shadow and cloth more balanced.


 
 

I feel Print 10 offers the best contrast in terms of tone and I found it the most interesting and effective. The dark patch of tone behind the highlight on the jug is interesting. The tone on the cloth is very random and is not as effective as it could be if I had been ore careful with this part of the image.

Reflections

• There is a limit to the number of prints that can effectively be printed from a plastic matrix and so is not really practical when experimenting with the intention of printing an edition - in future I will use a metal plate - that will give me the opportunity to decide on how I want the image to be without compromising the edition number.


• Since I was aiming for a tonal image, I felt that the pure white Masa paper was more effective than the cream Simili


• The mark making is not even, and this deflects from the final image.  I need more practise in producing them in a more even manner.


• I enjoyed experimenting with selective wiping and utilise this more in the future

 

 

 

 

Still life - a learning curve

The assignment called for setting up a still life, incorporating a fabric drape, with lighting that created sharp shadows - chiaroscuro. The choice of print matrix was left for me to decide.  While I was researching artists and print makers who produce work in this genre, I found myself obsessively drawing little still life's that I found around me. This was helpful because my ideas of what I wanted to incorporate were slowly being defined. These were all pen or pencil drawings because these are the tools that I always have lying around and mostly in my "doodle book" - the sketchbook that I keep by my chair in the living room, but spread out on anywhere and everything - my journal, receipts, magazines - anything.

 

 

The first still life I set up was full of complicated drapes and curves.

 I played around with different elements and locations and after some quick sketches I reluctantly had to admit that my skills are not good enough to do the set up justice - either printmaking or drawing. 

 

 

 

So I simplified the image   I found the black and white photographs useful when judging the still life and deciding what type of print matrix to use. 

 

Some colour sketches followed in oil pastel - here I was trying different  colours and designs, simplifying the shadows, a more abstract approach - with a nod to Ben Nicolson, sharp dark outlines inspired by Samuel Peploe and a straight forward tonal drawing.  I think they all hold potential for further development.

 

Much as I enjoyed working with the colour, I felt that I wasn't sure that I wanted to develop them into prints at this time. I came across Morandi during my research and was able to get to an exhibition of his work

http://www.moma.org/collection/artist.php?artist_id=4079

 

I was inspired by his black and white etchings and decided that I wanted to try to produce a dry point using the same marks that can be seen in his prints. I developed large charcoal and pencil drawings large charcoal and pencil drawings in preparation for the plate, at this stage still looking at the design rather than trying to emulate Morandi's mark making

but with some small sketches looking at specific mark making to emulate him.  I want to try to achieve the quiet contemplative mood that his work engenders

I found that my memory of the still life set up was quite strong even after I had dismantled it and that this visual memory allowed me to continue to develop images. Although I had settled on the design and had started working on the plate, I found I was still interested in the set up and continued to develop it for future work.  This is a major step forward for me as, usually, I am quickly bored with an image and once a piece of work has been completed, rarely want to revisit it, but I have a fund of possibilities through this one piece of work that is quite exciting.

For instance, a doodle of apples and pears when listening to a speaker - doodling has always helped me concentrate - led on to a design based on abstract shadow patterns .

and a small sketch with simplified shadows






The next stage is to continue working on the plate and when it is finished print with more experimentation using  inking and wiping to vary the tones

 

 

 

wonderful workshops

First up was week one of 3 weekly workshops with Betsy Smith arranged by my local art society - Shropshire Art Society. Her work can be seen at www.twenty-twenty.co.uk.betsy-smith. Betsy is a lovely Shropshire artist who paints from the natural landscape with her feeling and emotion. The workshop theme is "The Inner Eye" - a phrase from Wordsworth poem "Daffodils".

Betsy gave us a still life set-up to look at for 10 mins just to look, not to draw, and then covered it and asked us to draw paint from our memory.  My initial painting was a very sketchy watercolour which I greatly enjoyed doing and featured on the large red parasol, a curvy vase, and butterfly and bird motifs from other items.


Imagining the flowers on the vase that I invented turning into butterflies and birds I painted them floating onto the parasol.


Then came a still life, using some of the same motifs but thinking ahead to a possible print.  Finally, Betsy altered the set-up - gave us another 10 mins. I was very taken with the Buddha' head  and the painting grew from that using colours, symbols that I dragged from my memory. I still remember the lovely peaceful feeling when painting this.

On Saturday came "inspirational Sketchbooks" with Sue Brown, organised by the Twenty Twenty Gallery in Much Wenlock. Sue is an artist/printmaker represented by the gallery - www.twenty-twenty.co.uk/Sue-Brown

Sue showed us a technique called gum arabic transfer and after experimenting with the technique, we spent some lovely time sploshing and splashing paint, texture and colour on to an A3 sheet of cartridge paper. Sue then showed us how to cut and fold it into a small sketchbook. I later glued and trimmed it and cut a stencil in the front page to show off colour from inside since I had been very heavy handed with the black ink and my book is quite dark.

I have made another book ready to be trimmed today for an upcoming trip to Edinburgh. In this second attempt I left a lot of white and pale painting space for new images to be added so I can use it as a real sketchbook and record some of my memories of the trip.  I have already identified some ideas for using the gum arabic transfer for printmaking projects and also the process of making the books as small personalised gifts.

Yesterday was week 2 with Betsy.  She had asked us to bring images/sketches with us to work with.  After showing us some of her original sketches - wonderful loose drawings with all the information she needed, and the paintings that were developed from them, we were given 10-15 mins to look at, not sketch, our chosen images. Because I had spent so much time concentrating on the cedars for Project 1 of my OCA course, I chose to feature the Cedars.  Now I love trees, can draw them - but always feel disappointed with any paintings I make incorporating trees - so this was going to be a challenge.

Betsy suggested colour sketches first especially if using watercolour.  So, after choosing my three colours - I always restrict my paintings to about 3 or 4 colours- this time, magenta, turquoise and cad yellow - perhaps a strange choice but I went with my instinct I completed two sketches.  I liked the magenta trees, so went with that colour way.  The result was quite interesting until after a break for lunch I over-worked it.

However I liked the colours, they made some lovely soft browns and greys and with only a short time to spare, Betsy suggested I have another go with a different colour way and perhaps looking at the number of trees and positioning.  In the final 10 - 15 mins I produced what I think is the best of the bunch.  I broke all the rules - continued working wet into wet, and glazing over wet paint but I quite like it.   Doing this has made me realise how valuable the preparatory and development work is.  I have always leaped in without enough experimenting and looking before, thinking perhaps that I hadn't got the time to do the sketches, the colour sketches, the working out - but the Cedars are a motif I will come back even though I have finally produced the last piece for the first project.


I am not completely happy with the print - it could have been inked a lot better and more evenly but since it is a dry point on plastic, there is a small finite number of images that can be taken.  I will take a final print to eventually send off, concentrating on producing a clean, clear print. However, I feel I am getting closer to producing an image of the Cedars that sums up how I feel about them.

Reflecting - its not rocket science

I have been reflecting on the course so far. At first I was disappointed. I seemed to have been working for a long time and to have achieved nothing or rather very little of any account. Mainly due to changes of mind and lack of focus on what I wanted to achieve.

However, have realised that I already have a good idea of what I want from the second project - the urban landscape - therefore my sketching and information retrieval visits will be more productive and provide more relevant material to inform the next piece of work. 

I also feel I would benefit from being more efficient. By thinking ahead to the next projects rather than exclusively focusing on the work in hand, I can make use of those small pockets of time that I have to draw, sketch and work up ideas and also better utilise the resources such as using the inks mixed for one printing to perhaps explore and develop ideas for the future.  Not rocket science but a light bulb moment for me. So the course has already informed my thinking.

I have been looking at dry-points again - a medium which I have always loved to do but also always seek out in exhibitions.  I found two artists that I hadn't come across before - Elizabeth Reed Smith - her dry points of trees are very beautiful especially "Arboreta 11" and as a result I have had yet another rethink about the medium for project 1. I have decided to use dry point - I love drawing trees and dry point is such a drawing medium that I should be able to convey my feelings towards the cedars with this medium where I have been struggling and dissatisfied with lino and woodcut.  Check out her work at www.elizabethsmithprints.com

Another artist I came across was Paul Niemic Jr.  He also uses dry point but in a different way - his image "Wingbeats" of Canada geese taking off is also very beautiful - you can hear the wings clap against the water. His work can be seen at. www.paulniemiec.com

I hesitate to talk about my dry points in the same post as the wonderful artists mentioned above, but  I have been working on a dry point using the portrait from my last post.   I have given the poor model after-eight shadow because I was too heavy with the shadow around her chin but am pleased with the marks in the hair following the form and as a first - a portrait in dry point - I am not too embarrassed to show it here. I have learnt a lot from attempting this so resolve to use the work from life drawing to do more prints - it is a good way of developing techniques in all the print medium without the pressure of thinking it is project work.