Soft-ground etching

21/05/19

This is the first time I’ve done a soft-ground plate (zinc). I wanted to create a skin like texture. I crumpled tissue onto the soft-ground and wound it through the press. I like the result, it’s tactile and very skin like.

The idea was to then make the youngest head a light tone, then next darker and oldest figure darker still to mirror the aging process of each generation. The loose idea is that they are united and the same, yet all aging, but there’s a beauty in the aging and not something to mask or fight. Unfortunately the tonal range didn’t work so well. I didn’t leave the plate in the acid for long enough between stopping out.

I’ve also gone on to add a bit more texture by dry pointing into the plate, which I think has give it less of a monotone feeling. I did another soft-ground too and added a cheese cloth texture. Again it didn’t work that well because I rolled the ground a little too thick, but this was the point of this plate, to experiment. There might be their things I can do with it in the future. I like the idea of generations of women, my mum has been a huge source of support for me over the years and my oldest daughter is so similar to me in many ways, which pleases and worries me all at the same time.

Drypoint on zinc.

My friend Alex recently had a baby, it’s naturally completely turned her world upside down. Day and night come together in weird sleep deprived hallucinations (well that’s my memory of having babies!). This etching is my first drypoint on zinc and is the result of us meeting up so I could sketch her and Jamie. I then placed an aquatint over the drawing to help bring out the shapes and create the slightly surreal surroundings of life with a newborn. I think I was trying to be less obviously (or not as the case was) symbolic than in my midpoint review and go with my instincts a bit more. I think it’s worked better as a composition.