Monday 16 May 2011

Week 2

As it's week 3 of my Curwen course tomorrow, I'll bring you up to date on Week 2, which was more etching, this time learning about sugar lift and aquatint. Again, time consuming processes which I barely got my head round!! Luckily we have a clear set of instructions to follow if we want to do some more of this. I enjoyed the day as it wasn't as frenetic as some days are (I'm remembering the first screen printing day!!). The slower pace was good for me and we had time to go and look at The Asthma Fair stalls which was on at Chilford Hall, while we waited for plates to dry. Etching takes time and obviously lots of practice, as with any new skill and I'm a real beginner!! I etched a lion, from a photograph of a statue I saw in the centre of Aylesbury recently. Below is the finished zinc plate.


The fun part was the inking up and trying different colours. This is the first lion print in black. The background was a bit messy - the acid had broken through the hard ground apparently!


My lion in a different colour.


I like this purple one best. I also had time to print my asparagus in a different colour. I think it looks good in the purple. It also tasted very good!!


So week 3 tomorrow, which is a personal development day. I may attempt a bigger lion just using hard and soft ground but also have more lino prints on my mapping theme that I want to do....decisions!! But certainly more fun than teaching a class of 34 children!!


6 comments:

  1. This is going to be very exciting following your progress through the course.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hello, Just popped over from Gina's blog. I'd love to try etching, I've tried lino printing which I love but I've never had a lot of success. I should probably go to a class, and find out what I'm doing wrong. Your work is brilliant, I'm looking forward to seeing your progress on your course.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Love the lion and the asparagus! I know absolutely NOTHING about printmaking so I shall be reading your posts with great interest. It sounds very complicated........

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hello Anna, I too am a visitor from Gina's world. I love the look of your lion and will follow this with much interest - I remember well the delights (and delightful messiness) of screen printing at school many many moons ago.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hello Anna, I'm another refugee from Gina's blog and love printmaking in all forms but primarily collagraphs. You are lucky to be learning at one of the best places ever. I shall be fascinated to see how these etchings progress. Welcome by the way to the blogging world. It can be hectic but great fun. Lesley

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi Anna, wondered what you have been up to since our printing in bassingbourn. Hope to catch you at open studios. Rhiannon.

    ReplyDelete

Thankyou for leaving a comment, I enjoy reading them. You don't need to have a blog to leave a comment, you can select the name/URL option and fill in just your name instead of a blog link.