Etching Adventures, Part 7

Greetings and welcome back! I hope your weekend was restful and relaxing.

My etching class may be officially over, but that doesn't mean I'm officially finished with etching. On the contrary, I have a list of projects I'm eager to start working on in the near future. Admittedly though, I haven't been to the studio lately because I'm in the midst of getting ready for a conference in San Diego next week, where I'll be participating in the annual meeting for the Renaissance Society of America.

I did get to the studio last weekend, however, where I was able to compare the various states of my second etching. I'm glad I made an impression of each state as I went, because then you can remember how it evolved.

Etching without aquatint.

Etching after three brief submersions in the aquatint bath.

Etching after two longer submersions in the aquatint bath.

I also made some more prints using the same plate. I started out with black ink only, and, at the suggestion of our studio head, used whiting on a Q-tip in the tree roots to make more prominent highlights. Here's what I managed to get:

Out of my own curiosity, I then decided to print a few with color.

For this print, applied red ink to the roots, and black ink along the edges, blending them together as I wiped the plate.

I also used the red and black intaglio ink, but then added some yellow monotype ink to see whether how would get along with the others.

This colorful print features red and black intaglio, with yellow and blue monotype ink at the edges.

I'll definitely continue printing with this plate, but I have many other projects I'd like to put under the etching needle soon, so I'll be moving on to something new soon.

Since I'll be out of town next week, there probably won't be a new Sketch of the Week. I'll be back in on Monday though, where I'll share with you some new sketches and photographs.