Copper Plate Abstraction, 2023

At this point in my Intro to Printmaking class I was looking to get a little bit of a break from continuing my conceptual work for the semester, and chose to go a more abstractive route for the print design. Learning the copper palte etching printing process was definitly no walk in the park but I am glad I did. It is super rewarding knowing how to print with the same methods they used during the renaissance and to do it with few innovations since then. The process is long, tedious, and stressful. However, with this lengthy process and intensive plate etching comes print detail that is second to none and almost impossible to replicate with other carving or plate making processes. This allowed me to create a composition with varying values of light or dark depending on how much ink that part of the plate wanted to hold or not to hold. Allowing for me to do single color single layer prints thats when pulled off the palte and dried would end up giving the appearance of multiple shades of the one color. A full value scale from light to dark, some containing lots of texture within the shape borders and other very smooth and clean looking. At the time of uploading this, I still need to finish the orange color print to fully finish this series and have a set of one print frome ach primary and secondary color with this copper plate print design.