Friday, April 23, 2010

Gestation and Aquatint Planning

Progress on my multi-plate color print (which is...not printed in color yet).

Today I spent a few hours painting hard ground on my plates to block out areas that I don't want to bite for aquatint. I also spent some time figuring out exactly where I want the aquatint tones, which plates they should be on, and how long I should bite different areas. I haven't really done much with aquatint, so this will probably be a challenge for me. Here's to hoping that I don't completely mess it up! Below is a photo of me attempting to plan the tones using ink washes. Aquatint test strip is close at hand for the sake of figuring out how long I would need to bite to get different tones.



I also decided that I will only be making two plates. The third plate would have had so little on it, I decided to switch a few things so I could just put those details on the second plate.

And, finally an update on my big print, titled "Gestation." The below print was created before the plate was finished, so the edition is slightly different. I'll get a photo of it eventually (and the two colored prints I made à la poupée). This print was conveniently tacked up on the wall, so I took the opportunity to photograph it.



Surface roll (dark red/brown) + stenciled surface roll (pink).

1 comment:

  1. That little japanese pregnancy doll is just plain creepy. The baby and other background images are very... subliminal. Take one look at that print and you won't get all there is to it. Strangely, the way you have it now makes it look like a really old drawing that got water damage and was laying against another drawing and all the ink leaked out and made the ghost image!

    But when you add the color to it it will look different. Still great though.

    I'm glad you are making it easier on yourself by minimizing the number of plates you have to use. That may also add an effect you didn't intend on but still like! Who knows! Great work!

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