Mezzotint Workshop - Day 2

The results from this weekends' Mezzotint workshop. The group of printmakers taking part whilst admittedly all were experienced etchers none had done a mezzotint before. These prints were all produced during the course of two 6 hour sessions. For first attempts and considering the limited time spent on them I think this is a seriously impressive body of work.

Mezzotint Workshop - Day 1

This weekend is something of an experiment. Whilst exhibiting at various print fairs I've had a few enquiries about doing mezzotint workshops. I've succesfully done linocut workshops over two days but I wasn't sure it would be possible to do a mezzotint print over a weekend workshop. So to test the idea I prepared a handful of small plates and set off over the hills to my friend Alan Birchs' Prospect Studios and a group of printmakers willing to give anything a go. My idea was to spend the first day  getting the image on the plate and then print them up and refine them on the second day. However, by mid afternoon today some plates were at such a stage as it was worthwhile printing impression to check progress.

Tomorrow we'll have plenty of time to further refine the images on the plates.

High Force - Teesdale

Finally finished editioning the High Force print.

High Force-Teesdale

Mezzotint

Edition of 20

200mm x 150mm

Printed in Indigo Ink from Hawthorn Printmakers Supplies on Fabriano Rosapina paper.

An unusual view of the waterfall, normally the fall is shown from a viewpoint a little further down the river which shows the full width of the waterfall to it's best effect. However, my viewpoint was chosen by the weather. On the day I went there was a heavy drizzle which soaked everything through within minutes and the only viewpoint offering any sort of dry shelter from which to make my sketch was close under the right hand side of the cliff beneath a small overhang. Not ideal as from this viewpoint the vast bulk of the fall is hidden behind the right hand cliff.

Editioning

Finally finished the platework and this afternoon I started to pull the first impressions. I managed to get 7 printed before tea.

Almost Complete

Over the last few days I've brought the plate almost to completion. The third and fourth States are shown below. I'm still not happy that the foreground rocks are entirely convincing and still need some work on them. The fourth state is printed with Indigo Ink, warmed up on the sunlit side of the gorge with a touch of Burnt Sienna, experimenting with how the final edition will be printed.

3rd State. Imp' 1

4th State Imp' 1

2nd State

After a bit more plate work, I took another couple impressions of the waterfall print to check progress.The sky still isn't light enough and parts of the cascade of water down the fall need to be worked on especially on the lower levels. The cliff face on the right is still a bit too uniform in tone and needs to be highlighted more in the sunlight areas to bring it to life. However I am happy with the river below the fall which I want to remain relatively dark. The foreground rocks need to be better defined though.

First Impressions

After working the plate as far as I dared I took two impressions from it this morning. The image is still a little crude in places and needs some more work on it but overall I am pleased with how it is going. Used Dense Black ink from Hawthorn Printmakers Supplies on Fabriano Rosapina.

1st State, imp i

1st State, imp ii