Drypoint and oil self portraits

Ok, I think we're ready to come back to the acetate drypoints, but by now you should gather that I like doing portraits. Sometimes with portraits, I think you have the most flexibility doing a self-portrait, so I decided to give that a try after finished doing some cityscapes:

This was the semester when we were attempting to combine etchings with monoprint, so I added some monoprint:

Kept going with the monoprint...:

I used the same photograph that I had taken of myself and tried another monoprint technique which involves painting directly on the plate:

I think things came out a little smoother on my second attempt, which may or may not be better:

Drypoint Cityscapes

Into my second semester of monoprint, I was starting to get anxious to get into some more detailed line drawing. I also love the repeatable nature of most printmaking (hence my use of stencils in monoprint):


Without jumping quite into the etching pool (hmm, that would probably be filled with acid, huh? not good for swimming), I played around with some drypoint on sheets of acetate. Using some photos I had taken, I did a sketch of the Transamerica Pyramid here in SF (above) with an overlay of a nice pattern from some wrapping paper.


I also did a little sketch of The Dom cathedral in Utrecht (above) and the Teatro di Marcello in Rome (below). Each drypoint is only good for about a dozen prints at most