NUDES: SOFT GROUND ETCHINGS
Limited edition soft ground etchings drawn using soft ground technique and hand printed from copper plates.
Limited edition soft ground etchings drawn using soft ground technique and hand printed from copper plates.
COLIN BAILEY
ARTIST & PRINTMAKER
Nudes
Soft Ground etchings
Soft Ground etchings
Come up and see my etchings!
Just about every time I mention that I print etchings someone will come up with this phrase. The etchings here are a follow on to the Fallen Angel Nudes and Figure paintings I have done over the last 18 months. I have deliberately concentrated on using the soft ground technique in order to keep the drawing on the plate loose and freer than the tighter and more controlled etchings I usually do. The results are an experiment and I have deliberately kept the various states of the plate to illustrate their progress.
Soft Ground Etching
This variation of etching differs from what mainstream etching in that the wax resist rolled over the copper plate to protect it from the acid never sets. Hard ground has to be removed with a fine point or needle and the print is characterised by fine lines; tones are conveyed by a parallel or criss crossing lines (hatching) and depth (controlled by the length of time the plate is bitten). Soft ground is far closer to the natural action of drawing with a pencil. Thin paper or tissue is laid over the wax ground and the image is drawn with a pencil - the texture of the paper presses into the wax and when it is removed the wax will stick to the paper leaving the drawn lines on the plate exposed to the acid. A limited amount of tonal control can be achieved by the pressure of drawing and this can then be overdrawn and bitten further.
Etchings: Original prints printed by hand on 250 GSM Rives paper off hand drawn copper plates using soft ground and etched in “Dutch Mordant”
What is etching? What is a limited edition print?
What is etching? What is a limited edition print?
ETCHINGS:
GICLEE:
PAINTINGS:
GICLEE:
PAINTINGS:
WHAT IS A LIMITED EDITION PRINT?
The terms Limited Edition Print, Original Print, and Reproduction Print are often confusing. Printing has always been associated with the mass production of the written word or image and so the phrase original print seems a contradiction in terms.
Printmaking as a form of fine art has become distinctly separate from printing as the process of reproducing multiple images.
Printmaker is the term used to describe an artist who works directly with the medium that will be printed from; as opposed to reproducing an image created in another medium.
Printmaking links FAQ
Artist’s Limited edition prints for sale by UK Printmaker
All original etchings on this site are drawn, etched and hand pulled by Colin Bailey.
All reproduction giclee prints on this site are scanned from Colin Bailey’s own original paintings and printed by Colin Bailey.
Etching is one of the oldest and most satisfying forms of printmaking and in the hands of a expert can deliver intricacies of line and tone unrivalled by any other printing process.
Etchings are the prints produced by etching an image on a copper or zinc plate, using acid, filling the textures of the image with ink and then printing it on to paper by running it through a heavy press.
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