Monday, April 27, 2009

Aquatint

Georges Rouault, French. Born 1871. Grimacing Man from Flowers of Evil. Aquatint.
The top narrow rectangle is an enlarged cross-section showing particles of resin on a plate surface.

1. Stopped out* before biting
2. One-minute bite - then stopped out.
3. 4 minute bite- then stopped out.
4. 16 minute bite, then stopped out.

Intaglio process. A tonal medium which permits 'grainlike' values in the print ranging from silvery grey to intense black. A porous ground of resin or other substances in applied to the plate, heated, then etched a number of times to produce the required values. (Jules Heller)

* Stopping out: Preventing certain lines or areas of a plate from biting, by brushing on an acid-proof material.

4 comments:

Jennifer Lommers said...

I loved doing Intaglio printmaking (oh, about 20 years ago now), but back then I was just etching the plate before rubbing the inks into it and sending it thru the print press. It's interesting to see another method (I realize there are a few others too). I may need to get back into it one of these days... a Printing press is on my 5 year wish list!

Thanks for sharing!

artslice said...

Hi Jennifer... I hope you get your wish, I'm sure you'd make some very nice prints! Thanks for stopping by.
ps are you coming to Spokane for ArtFest this year?
~Brenda

Jennifer Lommers said...

Hi Brenda,

Thanks for asking about Artfest! Sadly, I was not accepted this year. I was looking forward to coming! Oh well - are you going to be in it?

artslice said...

Oh, bummer!! Well, maybe I'll catch one of you shows this summer... you never know.
No, I won't be in it - I'd like to in the future but for now, there's no one to watch the kids for that long. Maybe when they're older!