Induction: Etching
- llatham222
- Dec 19, 2024
- 2 min read
Updated: Jan 28
I had prepared some photographs to work from, close-up images of papery fragments in the installation at Drawing Room gallery by Emma McNally. I was able to take lots of photographs which seemed to take the form of miniature landscapes, beautifully lit and peppered with the curious smudges and lines of McNally's drawings. The concave form of the paper and its starkly bright edges made me think immediately of aquatint and I played around on Photoshop darkening the background to make the forms even starker in contrast.
I began by sketching the details lightly into a soft ground, which helped me to plan the aquatint stage. I then applied a layer of fine aquatint over the plate, with a small amount of coarser grained rosin for the centre of the curved paper object with the idea of capturing the grainy texture from the photograph. I had polished the zinc plate as much as time allowed, so I hoped the first stop out would result in the bright white of the photograph being present in the print. I etched the plate in 4 layers then removed the aquatint and rhinds layers with limonene and methylated spirits.
I was excited by the final print; particularly the bottom left section, and the shadow beneath the curved form. I find the process of aquatint makes me imagine and depict forms in a completely different way; it captures a lot of the 'stuff' and experience of printmaking that I love: unpredictable results combined with a blind-ish faith in my own knowledge that something good will come out. I am also mistrustful of artworks which are 'finished'; I tend to lose belief in them, whereas the malleability of a plate and the reproducibility mean they seem as points on a journey.
I applied another aquatint layer to this plate and etched the background for another 45 seconds or so with the aim of darkening the background forms. The background now is much more successful; it recedes while still containing the impression of the other forms.
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