September has been filled with photoetching! It’s still ongoing to be honest as I have only managed to create two successful plates during this time….thankfully I’m in love with one of them so that helps! I think one of the main things I’m learning is that everything takes longer than you think it will..so you better get patient or go home…
Despite these frustrations I remain firmly optimistic, that a series of perfect plates are just around the corner and next month I will have a selection of new artworks 😀 I’m very determined!
So these are the solar plates that worked out, the Durham SU image took a lot of test printing and playing around before I found a way to ink it to get the atmosphere I was after. Photoetching remains ongoing with many more possibilities!
Alongside tuition from Iain at Ironpress about different inking techniques I have been experimenting and trying ideas again and again to improve upon them. I managed a more successful Bikini Atoll monoprint, however it still needs more development and I am now looking at combining collagraph to see if that achieves a better result.
Finally I went on a one day Wood Engraving workshop at Ironpress , it was a lovely day, I liked what I made and it was a good day for printing! Image taken from a photo of a pile of tyres I took hanging around my favourite industrial estate, I loved the tiny prints (only 5x5cm) and we had time to add some chine colle to great effect:
Coming up next month should be my first go at etching and also getting to grips with some screen printing. I resolve to remain patient whilst troubleshooting any issues that will certainly arise! In other news I have a few new destinations in mind for some new photography for my next round of prints – firstly Ratcliffe on Soar power station … before they demolish it like the rest of them. I used to love driving past the ‘big chimneys’ as a kid and now am suddenly desperate to include them in my artworks!!