Developing drawing into print

A couple of posts ago I showed the development towards the drawing, 'In between path, the far end'. These drawings, translated into etching, are intended to be part of a series of four, from which the best three will form one half of my MA final show. Intentions are good, but I may not have time to make all four!

This drawing is the second view of the path - a mid point:

'In between path, mid point' graphite

and has formed the plan for a new etching. The image below is a sneaky preview. The first two stages of etching done I decided to try a monoprint on the plate to see how the shadows would work with the etched image so far:

etching and monoprint

Its an intriguing image, which will help me to decide what to do next. I'm enjoying the ability to experiment with images at different stages in the print room. There is a freedom in it. With drawing I feel more closely bound to the truth within the image in front of me, in the print room the image can mutate through many different states.

Oak shadow

Westonbirt Arboretum remains a very strong inspiration as the year progresses. I have loved studying, sketching and photographing the trees while their branches are bare. I now have hundreds of photos and a fair few sketches to keep me going as the buds burst and the leaves start to appear.
These are the development stages of a new print which has been keeping me busy while the bigger projects get going.

The first layer of resist is splashed
across the surface of the plate

Sugar lift and dry brushed stop out
gives the shape of the trees

A thinned application of stop out
creates some shadows and depth

Burnishing creates more contrast and provides
a lighter toned 'pathway' leading through the image

'Oak shadow' 20 x 10cm
The shadow has been reworked to create a softer shape
and this etching is, I think, finished

I used to hate the idea of burnishing, but now I love the flexibility it gives.

Progress of woodland drawing

Work is well underway for my MA show final pieces. This post will give a sneaky preview of subject matter and some of the process. I draw out my images before I etch them, here is some of the planning so far for the first piece:

Sketchbook work on location

One of the many, many photos that enable me to work back in the studio

A discarded starting point

A second start, photocopied part way into the drawing

The image resolved
'In between path, the far end'
70 x 35cm

 Just need to do the etching now, and that will take a while...

'trio of trees'

I have a few major projects on the go that are going to take some weeks to be finished enough for the blog, but while big etching plates and drawings are taking their time I try ideas out on a smaller scale. This one came together very quickly.

Another woodland print of a trio of trees, which started with a base structure of lines inspired by printmaker Michael Goro.

lines drawn through hard ground, some stopping out

trees added through sugar lift and dry brushed stop out,
the atmosphere created with spit bite

I'm going to leave this print at this stage. It can be so easy to overwork an image, I think I caught this one at the right moment.

The wood, on wood, from the wood

Inspired by the work of Laurie Steen I gessoed a piece of wood I had left over from my lasercutting experiments and got the graphite out...

During these days of low winter sun I have been taking lots of photographs at Westonbirt Arboretum. The starkness of the tree shapes and the undulating shadows are exquisite.
The piece of wood I have drawn on is sourced from the Arboretum; there is a satisfying connection in working on material from the place being described.

Woodland Sketchbook

Preparation for my final set of  MA work is now well under way and has required a number of sketchbook visits to Westonbirt Arboretum. These are some of the more recent ones, drawn hastily because of the cold!

While I'm sketching I often write notes and phrases of the things I hear,see and feel. It helps me to develop a fuller image in my own mind of the place. I call these notes 'word walks', and I should warn you that there is absolutley no intention of them being poetry, but I quite like the shape of them. I hope you don't mnd if I try one out.:

Winter space,

A wider path.

Gateway.

Sentinel trees lean inwards, outwards.

Stubborn frost hardens and glitters.

A pale January sky

Silhouettes twisting branches.

Outside world quietens,

Blackbird settles on path ahead.

Rustling in undergrowth,

The dog investigates.

All other sounds are distanced by trees.

Low sun, light pools

Warms hands through gloves.

Trees stand straight,

Or bend and buckle

Throwing theatrical shadows.

Give space, close in

Reach overhead

Embrace the path

Tunnel the exit

Into space

Progress of a woodland print

I've had a small etching plate in reserve for the last few weeks, and each time I've been waiting for stop out to dry, or for a plate to bite I've been getting on with this plate.

It all started (as most of my work does at the moment) with a visit to Westonbirt and a bit of a sketch...

...and then a play with a marbelling effect in the print room...

...I painted the image with stop out...

...then added aquatint to give some depth and contrast...

...then brushed in some more stop out to take the starkness out of the background...

...and finally burnished the aquatint so that the cave like effect of the path through the trees was taken down a notch...

...and printed the final image in Sepia. No matter how mysterious or foreboding a dark path into woodland looks there is always a warmth in the trees themselves - the black was too stark.

When I'm working on big plates it can be hard to make small adjustments and see the benefit as quickly as this. These little plates allow a faster learning process and another layer of experimention.