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!!



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.