Kiki Smith's Intaglio Processes

MoMA has a very short video featuring Kiki Smith working on a copper plate using a spit bite method. Here's the link: http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2003/kikismith/flash.html, click on "Process" and then you get to the video by clicking on her Come Away From Her (after Lewis Carroll) image.

The "Process" section also includes other works including a state-by-state image gallery of Smith's development of Falcon.

Multiple Plates

I've been playing around with multiple-plate etchings and it's an interesting process that yields interesting results. There are many printmakers that use this process to register intricate work with aquatints, overlaying color fields to create new colors from the overlapping colors.

For me this process is a way to experiment with multiple plates each done with a different etching technique, to yield overlapping and varied textures rather than focusing on complex color mixing. The print above was created with 2 spitbite plates and a softground key plate. I like the effect of the spitbite with the linear drawing of the softground plate.

As usual, printmaking leads me on paths to all kinds of experimentation and sometimes I wonder if I will end up settling on one technique for all my work. But, I hope not.

Spitbite

This etching, titled "Begonia," was created using several techniques including aquatint. However the soft, muted branches in the background were done with the spitbite technique of painting with the acid directly on the plate with a brush. It's a nice way to get muted tones and/or subjects into your composition.