sketches

Day two hundred and forty: I’m a fan of German Expressionist, Emil Nolde’s, intaglio printmaking, particularly for the sense of layers he achieve when working with etching and aquatint together. My study today is based on a detail from his 1911 print Schriftgelehrte (Scribes), which is one of my many favorites in the Thrivent Financial Collection. Ironically, I forgot to create layers in my painting program before I began, so I had to truly build up the layers on a single canvas. There was no backing up, unless I started over. “Like a real artist,” I thought to myself, “I’ll have to accept my mistakes and work them into the surface.” I think I only used the “undo” function on my inscription, which took me a couple tries to fit it into the available space and make it legible. I think if I were to try making a print, I would start by etching copper plates with acid to see if I might create effects similar to those of Nolde. To see the (much more subtle) original print, check it out on MoMA’s website.