Tag Archives: printmaking
365 art challenge #3
Monotype #3 and ghost: water based Speedball relief ink on copper, printed on what I believe is Rives BFK paper. The previous two monotypes have used additive processes, where the image is made from painting onto the support plate. This print uses a subtractive technique, completely covering the plate with ink and wiping it away […]
365 art challenge
This is the best book on monotypes I have yet to find. I visited author Kurt Wisneski a few years ago at the university where he was a printmaking professor, and he later mailed me a copy of his wonderful book. Even more important than the book was the advice he offered about graduate school […]
Zinc plates
Zinc plates are an economical alternative to the copper plates traditionally used for etchings. Zinc and copper are etched with different chemicals, and I no longer have access to the nitric acid used for zinc plates. I have a few of these plates left over from my college printmaking classes, and have decided to get […]
Comparing different papers
After several rosin applications and a bit of tinkering with the aquatint process, this plate finally has a nice velvet black background. The next step is to burnish the gray tones and improve the range of values. Last night in the studio, I wondered if switching from my favorite gray Magnani pescia paper to the […]
Buried Treasure
In the past few years, my printing techniques have evolved and improved, and I’ve decided to give second chances to old etched plates. This etching began as a 9″ x 12″ plate. At the time, I was convinced that it was the single worst piece of art I had ever created. It occurred to me […]
Proofing a two plate etching
I had an odd scrap of copper that lent itself to this unusual composition. I’d promised myself that I would take a break from color printing and return to black ink, but the first proof cried out for color. I cut a second plate as close to the size of the original as possible, and […]
Paphiopedilum II
I picked up a lovely lady slipper flower, or paphiopedilum, from the Portland Nursery about a month ago. Since then, I’ve been racing against time to make as many detailed drawings as possible before the flower wilts. Over the past year, I’ve purchased 11 orchids, 9 of which have survived, but only once have I been […]
Scraping and Sanding
I had the bright idea that I should recycle an old plate with a very light, poorly executed spraypaint aquatint. I thought it would be pretty easy to remove, but I was wrong. Friends in the studio have had success using power sanders to remove old imagery from plates, but given how tight my living […]
Oncidium Press 