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.

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

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.
    

Reprinting

When I downloaded the entry form for the West Lancs Open from the Chapel Gallery I noticed a call for entries for their Christmas exhibition from artists who work with stories – fable, myth and personal narratives.

I sent off my CV and some photos and I’ve been accepted!

Amongst the images I sent were the Taylor Brothers. I got the prints out of the drawer this week to check they were OK and I realised I’d printed them all on off white or cream paper, which I wasn’t too keen on in retrospect. So I reprinted them on smooth white this week.

Yet Another Try

I went to Hot Bed Press to print on Friday fully intending to redo the perspective book as a soft ground etching but when I looked more closely at the first plate and the test prints I decided that most of the problems were down to wiping not biting so I’m going to think about book covers and paper weight then try printing it again later.

So having nothing else prepared I decided to have another go at gum arabic transfer for resist.

 I still over cooked it in the solution but the resist took much better than last time. 

 The raggedness of the text I think was due to me jiggling the bath while the plate was biting. Not an intentional effect but one I will bear in mind for the future.

I also tried adding gum arabic transfer on top of the etching.

 And reprinting the etching plate on top of that. 

Then home and a trip to Ormskirk where the opening of the West Lancs Open Exhibition was taking place in the Chapel Gallery. I’m please to say that both Rapunzelle and Concession Pereptuelle were accepted

Large etching finished

Well I’ve finished the etching that I wanted to use for the perspective book but I think I managed to get grease on some areas of the plate while I was working on the tones so it hasn't bitten evenly in a couple of places. Having proofed it and worked into the more obvious blots and problems I'm still not sure about it.

I have another plate so I think I'll redo the image but this time I'll try a soft ground for the line etch just to see how the two compare. If I'm still not happy I can always revert to pen, watercolour and digital.

Book in a jar

After fiddling, experimenting and several strops I finally came to the conclusion that trying to print a 6 x 84cm image wasn’t going to work as a 4 colour separation gum arabic print. I’m not really sure why I thought it could in the first place.

Having decided that digital was going to be the way forward it meant accepting that I was working with cartridge paper.

I explored various closures and ways of attaching the scroll to dowel then realised the paper height was the right size to fit in the jar I use to mix my gum arabic in. Given the subject matter it seemed to make perfect sense.  So I bound the short edges with copper to finish them off and made a belly band with the image extending over it to hold the scroll shut.

It is intended as a comment on the practice of killing for collecting, such as big game hunting, birds egg collecting etc, rather than on the serious academic study of butterflies and moths. Not at all what I thought it was going to be when I started but I’m still pleased with it.

Different Paper

I’m thinking of making this as a scroll inside a book or box so I started to experiment with the structure.

Cartridge paper is far too springy for what I had in mind and for once the internet doesn’t seem to have any helpful suggestions for paper type or weight.

I went looking through my stuff for something more malleable than cartridge, less fragile than tissue and in long enough lengths that I won’t have to piece it.
I found interfacing...

(it takes the ink much better than I thought but needs a backing paper to read clearly. Probably not what I need for this project but definitely something to come back to)

...and rice paper from a long ago experiment with Chinese calligraphy.

I thought the lack of size in the paper might be a problem with such a wet process but it seems OK. 

Next step 4 colours, and trying to print with a master and on paper that are both too long for the press bed.

There’s been a murrderrr....

The past two Fridays the drama group has been putting on Four Weddings at a Funeral - a murder mystery, so I haven’t quite finished etching the large plate but I have got it ready to go into the copper sulphate for the first line etch next week.

I’ve also been working on the artwork for a new book. The image will be 6 x 80cm. I’ve produced two versions, one to print using the inkjet printer and another to try printing in sections as a gum arabic transfer.

This is a small section of the image for the inkjet.

Small Etching

I've tried another mock up of the book using a scan of the tonal painting

 I've also tried the last section of the drawing as an etching and I think it’s OK.

I have a plate that’s 42 x 15 cm. On Friday I’m going to go for it! I can always go to Plan B (or should that be D for digital?) if it doesn’t work.