My second print series, again using the drypoint technique, but this time working with two plates! You can see below my original drawing (top right) and the two plates I prepared for this print.
I liked the result, but in some ways it felt quite meek and the wall textures not entirely satisfactory. So I decided to work into the plates a bit more … resulting in the print below. Which frustratingly I liked even less …
The additional marks feel heavy and crass. Partly this time I left the ink more heavily on the plate, hence the stronger colours. But also I realised I’d etched too heavily into the metal plate used to print the red. But it turns out there is a magic trick to soften away your etching on the zinc plate. Strangely, the thing you use is lavender oil! I have no idea what the chemistry is that makes that work. Resulting in the next print in the series, as below
And yes it also has a little yellow. I’ve done this by inking up the metal plate very carefully with mostly red but also a small zone of yellow. Hence 3 colours from just two plates. Again I quite like the result and it’s definitely an improvement on print two. But I wasn’t feeling super enamoured with the result. Then a month or so later I had some spare time at the end of a class, so decided to knock out one more print for good measure. And this one I love.
Darker, moodier and more atmospheric. The colours come together more strongly and make for a killer Venetian window! And with the addition of the last print, I even like the full series of the 4 prints again.
