Sunday 14 February 2016

A big print getting nearing to completion

Following the progress of this print which took a long time to get anywhere near resolved...


A lot of stopping out allows details to be created with an open bite, gradually less and less metal is left uncovered. This part of the process takes a long time; the stopping out takes its own time and then theres the waiting for the varnish to dry. A full day's work, hopefully rewarded when the plate comes out of the ferric.


The bite at this stage was quite light (not quite so rewarding! but that's printmaking...) and revealed that some of the underlying textures were too strong. A bit of strong scraping/burnishing helped to put the balance right.
The proof from the next stage shows how the structure has overlaid the organic sugar lift marks, hopefully bringing the focus onto the shape of the lane.


Another layer of open bite textures provides better contrast of light and dark, distance and focal points. But is it there yet?


Time to stand back and think.

1 comment:

Charlton Stitcher said...

Following your process as you work through to a conclusion on this plate is fascinating.
I'm currently doing doing a printing course with Sue Brown whom I think you know from a Masters at UWE? (It's great fun incidentally) There's nothing like doing a beginner's course in something to begin to appreciate just how tricky it is!