Latest mezzotint...
"Plumber's Nightmare"
4 x 6"  edition 25 

Started another mezzotint this weekend...4 x 5" zinc plate.  It's another Back Porch Motif

Finished this plate and decided to pull an edition.  Probably 25 + artist's proofs
printed on Fabriano 90# acid free paper.
Below is the finished plate and a print.

Pattern is transferred.....burnishing begun.  Some lines are incised, just to hold the pattern in the technical parts

After the first session of burnishing, I ran a "proof-print", just to check my progress.  The blue sharpie design also printed.  I wish I could make a whole edition of prints with this "sharpie" bleed-through.  I think it looks cool.

This is the design I decided to use.  It's a watercolor I did last month.  I resized it, reversed it, and rendered it in black and white.

After I rocked the plate, I drew the design with a sharpie.  I began to designate the areas that will be black, and leave them untouched.  The negative areas around the pumbing will be black also.

Thanksgiving evening, I started rocking a new mezzotint plate.  This time I used a 5 x 7" zinc etching plate, rather than copper, because I thought the extra thickness would help the richness of blacks acheived with my little studio press.  I used a 65 pt rocker, and rocked in 16 directions.