Dish Duty

Just completed another drawing for a series I'm working on.  I thought I'd post it up here before I get down to the nitty gritty of flushing it out onto metal... aka, redrawing it,  etching it, printing it, etc.

January 25th through 31st 2010

I'm off to Melbourne, Australia for 6 weeks. Talk about last minute work trip! The past week has been superbusy trying to get organized to pop over to the other side of the world. As a result, no painting! But I am bringing my set with me and shall post from there. I am very excited to see the apparently thriving art scene of Melbourne. Stencil art is a big movement there, as well as many indie galleries and of course, stately museums. Salud!

First etching on the Chef!

After about 16 hours of delicately drawing this image on the soft-grounded plate i etched the bastard! It's gonna need quite a bit of work from here in, but for a first pass I think it turned out pretty good.

A couple more passes

After a couple more passes and completely destroying the clean edges of my plate, I have now arrived at something that I'm really starting to get happy about!

I also introduced a little colour to the mix by applying my first layer of ink in the traditional fashion (apply & and wipe), and then rolled on a secondary coat of slightly transparent brown to give the overall tint of the image.

From here I'll introduce a little bit of aqua tint to some areas and then possibly a little bit of texture into the background... not sure on that yet though.

 Below is a close up of some of the detail.

Soft Ground dabblings

As my etching plate sits in the acid... the edges slowly corroding away for the next couple days to get them to that perfect state of imperfection... I decided that I need another project to keep me trucking along in the in term. I had my drawing already made up and decided that I would dabble with soft ground etching. 

Basically this is a similar process to hard-ground (which I've been using) except the layer of ground is much thinner when applied and it remains tacky while on the plate.  

My teacher suggested this method to me and I took it on without really knowing quite what I was getting in to,... but that's also the fun part!

What I've had to do thus far is coat the plate, trace my drawing (outlines only - on tissue paper), and now I'm very gingerly transferring the drawing onto the plate making sure not to contact any part of the plate with pressure from my hand or foreign objects. In this step I draw directly onto the traced out image and do all the delicate pencil shading. In the end I should have a final image on the plate which will then be etched with acid.

Here's the set up... original on the left, tracing and plate on the right, mirror used to see the image in proper orientation for the shading.

 

Print after 3rd etching

So here's a quick update on the progress I've been making with my print.  So far I have taken my original sketch and done a series of 3 stages of etchings, each stage consisting of 2-4 acid dips to complete the full etch. I have spent a considerable amount of time working up the detail in the dot work to give a sense of shading and texture. From here I will do another 2 or 3 stages of etchings to change the actual shape of the plate as well as bring a little bit more detail into some of the areas that still need it.

Last but not least I am looking to integrate some aquatint into the print to fill out some areas that could use subtle shades of grey.

Below is a little compare and contrast from the initial etch to the current state of the print.

January 18th through 24th 2010

When you project an image, you really only get the 'bones' of it. Because you are drawing from what is essentially light, getting finer details is really not possible. Well maybe it is - but not on my top of the line projector. So I am left to round out the image. I love doing this with portraits. From flat lines on a page to something more alive. These steps are really the first opportunity I have to figure out the feeling of the painting - from the gaze or the eyes, to the persons age, and manner. Also, drawing is fun.

Chef Brunoise

As the clock counted down to midnight on New Years Eve 2010 Sach challenged me to make a drawing every day as part of a resolution for the year. In keeping my promise I have been trying to make a drawing each and every day... so far so good!

Here's a little sketch that's going to be part of a longer-term series I'm planning to put together as I work on.

Chef Brunoise.

January 11th through 17th 2010

This weeks focus was searching out an image for my next work. This can take hours because I've got to get an image with a high enough resolution and one that of course inspires me to make it into a painting. I do lean quite heavily on the camera's perspective but use the image as only a base, something to reference. I see this step as the foundation. After I'm satisfied with the image, I will project it with my toy projector! Not ideal, but hey, its working for me now!

First etching

Here is a quick peek at my current print after the first round of etching. Lots of detail and shading to build up, but the bones are there. With further rounds of etching I should be able to create something that looks similar to my drawing... but with a uniquely printed quality to it.

To Accompany My Plate

So my freshly smoothed, polished, and coated plate couldn't just stay as is... naturally I had to draw a little something to put on it.  I came up with this...

Plate Prep

I had to post a little something to highlight a my first experience with preparing metal for engraving.  I know its not rocket science, nor is a big leap for mankind... that said it was great to take a dull piece of metal and transform it into a shiny piece of glory just begging to be carved!

Taken to the stars

This one is out of my sketch book rounding off some of the stuff from last year. I was thinking about great things for the future... moving on and up!

January 4th through 10th 2010

I have been working on a series of watercolour portraits lately. This one is of Franz Kline and is the third in a series of artists whom I admire or have influenced me. I like the working on these because the are small, quick and allow me to feel a sense of productivity. I am thinking now of who I will paint next. It is strange how you already start to work on your next piece when you have yet to finish the one in front of you.

Fire it up!