INTAGLIO PRINTMAKING - USING ABSTRACTION
Printmaking has been a passion for me over many years but I was pleased to rediscover my love affair over the past years. I started to work broadly again with monotype and collagraph and then discovered the non-toxic method of etching using acrylic resist.
Collagraph technique has been developed to utilise collage materials in the printmaking process. Starting with a thick card base which is sealed with waterproof varnish, a design is made using collage materials or a modelling medium. The surface is then well sealed and when dry can be inked and printed through and intaglio (etching) press. Each print is unique and the deeply embossed surface gives a 3D effect.
Acrylic resist etching uses polymers instead of acids and resins to create images on metal surfaces. The technique allows the production of detailed linear patterns and complex tones using aquatint and resists. The making of each plate is often an extended process but the result ensures that consistent inking up allows the production of editions.
Collagraph technique has been developed to utilise collage materials in the printmaking process. Starting with a thick card base which is sealed with waterproof varnish, a design is made using collage materials or a modelling medium. The surface is then well sealed and when dry can be inked and printed through and intaglio (etching) press. Each print is unique and the deeply embossed surface gives a 3D effect.
Acrylic resist etching uses polymers instead of acids and resins to create images on metal surfaces. The technique allows the production of detailed linear patterns and complex tones using aquatint and resists. The making of each plate is often an extended process but the result ensures that consistent inking up allows the production of editions.
This collagraph print evokes the wonderful variety of marine life with its movement in the flow of turbulent waters. The dark blues and greens blend to give a sense of the ocean depths and the silver guilt, the fleeting vision of fish flashing past. Some of the ink has been wiped of the surface of the plate to enhance the pattern of swirling water.
UNDERSEA - COLLAGRAPH 2012
SHORELINE POOL- LOW TIDE - LOOE BAY
ETCHING 2013
This recent etching was made as one of a series of three plates based on the changing patterns within rock pools as the tide goes out. They were made as a response to a great afternoon spent on a beach in Looe Bay in Cornwall in the late October sunshine. The fish can be seen darting through the gaps in the rocks seeking the remaining puddles of water as the low tide laps at the shoreline in the lower area of the image. The rocky patterns were made by aquatint and the gravel and plants in the pool from wash resist. The whole was inked up in three different shades of blue/turquoise to suggest the layers and depth of the pool.