Each image I make takes on average a month to produce. I employ two techniques; Mezzotint and burnished Aquatint both of which are based on the same principle. I begin which a metal plate on which I create a uniform texture which is what holds the printing ink in place, I then work into this texture manually using a steel scraper to ‘engrave’ my image. The difference between the two techniques is in how the initial texture is made. A Burnished Aquatint is a branch of acid etching and the texture is created using nitric acid to ‘bite’ into a Zinc metal plate. A Mezzotint is usually done on copper or brass and the texture is created manually using a tool akin to a large curved chisel with a row of teeth across its edge. This tool is rocked back and forth across the plate until the texture is uniform and is ready for the image to be engraved.
Once I have finished drawing the image on the plate (usually the first two weeks of the process) the printing ink is applied carefully by hand to the plate and the image is pressed onto high quality fine art paper. My images are printed in several layers to create defined colours and shadows and the plate is reworked between each layer to accommodate the different areas of colour.
