Week 1

I am currently taking the Advanced Printmaking course at The Curwen Print Study Centre following successfully completing the Certificate course last term; along with 7 other people. It is a super place to work with talented tutors. We have all continued this term and are a lovely group, even though I say it myself!! This term is 10 weeks long and the first 2 weeks were traditional etching with Valerie Sims BA; a completely new process for me - and a highly complicated one!!

The 1st week was learning about etching onto a zinc plate using hard and soft ground, the preparation of which took a long time, working through the stages with Valerie's guidance. The previous evening I drew some asparagus before I ate it - I used the sketch as my starting point. By the middle of the afternoon I had printed my very first ever etching - of asparagus using hard ground.

I then stopped out the spears, applied soft ground to the background, put it though the press with some tissue paper on top, then back into the acid.  I like the mottled background. I'm quite proud of the finished result, which you can see below.

 Etching is an interesting process and I have enormous respect for artists producing beautiful etchings. The photo below shows me getting  a workout on the etching press!!



The next photo shows the zinc plate I produced.