Wednesday 31 August 2016

Butterflies and Cats

I finally finished the butterflies.
Having scraped and burnished the body and wings I first tried soft ground etching to give the detail but after 5 minutes in the copper sulphate it had only bitten in odd spots. I think there was too much residual grease from the ground on the plate. It did however break up the too even polished surface of the wings.
So I decided to degrease thoroughly and try with a hard ground. Much better bite.
 Then a repeat print in the same ink (a mix of Prussian blue and burnt sienna - it gives a lovely steely grey) with a rollover of white mixed with a trace of burnt sienna. They are only slightly different but the rollover has warmed the butterfly.
I’m not completely happy, I should have burnished back the antenna to make them white rather than etching them, they are rather lost against the background, but I think it’s time to try out what I’ve learned on a new image.

On a different note it’s panto time again (oh no it isn’t, etc, etc)

Trying to be organised this year I decided to try and get the publicity artwork done early. This is the painting for the 4 foot banner that will go outside the hall to (hopefully) drum up an audience.
 Not the most thrilling image but it does have to incorporate a lot of text and be readable from passing cars.

Monday 22 August 2016

Reworking a butterfly

I only had time for a short trip to HBP this week. I've decided to rework the butterfly that I etched using gum arabic transfer as a resist.
I like the text but the butterfly is far too dark to read against the background and it lacks detail.
I started by scraping and burnishing. I wanted to clear the butterfly back to nearly white but leave some underlying texture.
 I think the next step will be to put a soft ground on the plate. I’ll draw into this to give the darks

Wednesday 17 August 2016

Holidays

It’s been a bit quiet on the work front for the past three weeks because we’ve been away staying with friends in France.
Lots of sun and wine, good food and good company. What more could anyone want.