Etched lino

I left the Fine Art course, and banned myself from taking any more courses for a while over the winter.

But now Spring has sprung, and I just couldn't help it. I signed up for a very exciting workshop in Etching Lino at ELP.

I'm a big fan of Steve Edwards work, check out his beautiful, large scale linos here
You really have to see them to appreciate them though. You can find his work at Greenwich Printmakers Gallery in Greenwich Market.

He has really evolved this method of etched lino, where you use caustic soda to eat into the lino, like the acid eats into the metal in etching proper.

When he showed us how he works in the studio, I was in awe of the complexity. He uses 8 plates per image, and layers and layers of different colours. No wonder they are so rich and beautiful, and the skies and water have such movement.

So, we have made a start.

Here are my two plates - one is going to have the key elements (boats and skyline), the other has a resist painted on it. (It needs to be quite thick to resist the caustic, at least two layers.) This is called Brunswick Black and you can get it from Intaglio Printmakers. 

Next week: etching the plates with caustic soda.