Copper Drypoint: Cloudcroft

After trying my hand at a copper drypoint a few weeks ago, I decided to make a second one. Whereas the first image featured a great deal of negative space, I decided to fill this one with lines and make a landscape.

Once I had perused my sketchbooks, I settled on a sketch I did in Cloudcroft last fall of some wooden beams from a long-dilapidated railroad bridge. I always like this drawing because it reminds me of a lithograph by Bolton Brown that I've admired for some time, Zena Mill. I always enjoy myself whenever I go hiking in that area, so I thought it was appropriate to commemorate the place with a print.

Here is the original sketch:

After a few evenings' work, I had the copper plate ready to go. Whereas with the first drypoint I was a bit tentative with the lines, this time I really tried to carve more deeply and get some great burrs. As I've mentioned before, the biggest challenge with drawing on metal is coping with the reflected light and actually seeing your lines, but if you tilt the plate at an angle, it becomes manageable.

A few weekends ago, I took the plate to the studio, where I inked it up:

And here we have the printed version:

Whereas with the previous drypoint I only made twelve prints, this time I went up to fifteen. As with the last drypoint, I hand-colored the prints after they had dried, using my Akua inks.

This is one of the more conventional images I've done, but it was a good learning experience. If nothing else, I've got an ready supply of holiday gifts on hand now.