Carving Again

Classes have started back up at City College and that means my Saturdays are once again full of printmaking and lino carving; it's wonderful! As usual, I'm carving trees, though this year is proving to be quite different from previous years. My new Flexcut carving tools mean I can carve more quickly and cleanly, leading to more graphic images. I'm trying to figure out how this fits into the rest of the series. Who knows, I may just have to start doing multi-block carvings...

Big Top Etching

Big Top etched plate

I first learned, and fell in love with, etching in the summer of 2004. Being a photo major in college, I didn't have time to do much etching (besides photogravure) over the past 7 years. 

Etching tools and unworked zinc plate

I decided to take an intaglio course at City College of San Francisco this semester and after only two classes, I am once again in love with the process.

First round Big Top print

My choice of subject matter came from a thought I had at work one day: If I had a circus, what would it look like?

Second round Big Top print

Admittedly, I'm not the most skilled at drawing and lately I have been doing whimsical drawings in a more simplistic style. I thought this would work great with my chosen subject matter.

Third round Big Top print

It took three rounds of reworking the plate, each time adding more texture, shading and grass to get the print above, which I'm quite happy with. I'm hoping to have enough time to make one or two more circus related plates before we move on to the next project and next semester I'd like to make a portfolio of my version of the circus.