Black and White

I'm looking through my art for a suitable small black and white image for a kitchen. Here is one possible piece, a still life etching completed in the 1970s. This was done by drawing directly on the zinc plate while it was coated with hard ground. There was no completed preliminary sketch, although I may have made a few thumbnail sketches to get the composition right. The tones are dependent on hatching and crosshatch lines. The mirror doesn't seem quite round, does it? But the ellipse of the small basket is accurately drawn.

"Still Life," etching, approx. 3 ½" x 4"

Artists' styles change over the years, and it is evident in the above etching that my style has changed. The subject of the still life was influenced by looking at the unique work of Giorgio Morandi. My composition and arrangement of objects is quite my own closely cropped style. Later, after 2006, I began opening up the space around objects, and relying on less formal hatching. The hatch work was influenced by Francisco Goya, who sometimes used the horizontal hatch lines like I have done in the background. Goya is better known for his work with aquatint. Here is an aquatint of mine.

"Irises in Vase," etching and aquatint, approx. 6" x 9 ½"

detail: "Irises in Vase"

The irises were drawn directly on the zinc plate with a Sharpie marker as the acid resist. The plate was then aquatinted to get the rich dark background. The subject matter was influenced by the beautiful monotype irises of Michael Mazur. I did a series of monotype black and white irises too. I'll show those at another time.