New Work - January 2013

Drypoints in 2013: More portraits, nudes, & ballet subjects, incuding a continuation of the "in Giselle" series

"Lesly in Giselle"" Drypoint engraving on aluminum, (January, 2013).

The portrait above is part of a series of a drypoint engravings on aluminum, all of the dancers from the El Paso Conservatory of Dance in their headresses from the ballet Giselle (which was performed in the winter of 2012) - plate size: 8 by 10 inches. Most of the portraits from the series depict the girls with the spiritual 'ghostly' look that is affected by the dancers during the performance (they were 'Wilis' in the Ballet Giselle - ghosts of maidens who haunt the forests and who prey upon men). But Lesly's smile and personality is so sweet that I broke my pattern and drew her in her more common charming aspect. As I have said before, I suppose this represents another example of one of my favorite quotes: "...a smile is the most becoming ornament that any lady can wear..." (quoting Susannah Clarke, from the book Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell).

I have several others from the "in Giselle" series below. Two include Samantha and Marcela holding up their portraits from the "in Giselle" series. Poor things, I caught them as they were exiting the stage after a long and strenuous ballet variations class...and grabbed them for photos before they could fix their hair, etc. (although I love to draw those 'flyaway' hairs that escape from their hair buns).

Samantha and Marcela with their "in Giselle" portraits.
(portraits are drypoint engravings on aluminum)

State proof series of ""Marcela in Giselle"" Drypoint engravings on aluminum, (January, 2013)

Some people have asked about the process involved in making the engraved portraits. From time to time I shall be giving glimpses into how I do things (well, basically I just draw with an engraving tool on a metal plate, and then print the plate on paper). Above is a sequence of 'state proofs' that represent the stages from a beginning drawing through to a finished one. In the first state (above left) I had laid out the drawing and begun the engraving - but I wasn't satisfied with where I had arranged or located Marcela's hair bun. So in the second state I moved the bun down and re-drew it. This involved scraping and burnishing the plate where the old hair-bun was and re-engraving it, while adding additional mezzotint and engraved shadows to the face and hair (state 2, above center). In state 3 (above right) I added a bit of form to the chest and a few more touches of shading. I printed each state and reviewed things before I was satisfied that I had things finalized. I felt that the image was finished by state 3 (above right) and I began printing it to an edition from then on.

MariaLuisa in Giselle (2013) and AnaMaria in Giselle (2012). These are two more in the "in Giselle" series that I began in December 2012 and continued into January of 2013. I try to capture something of the personailty of each dancer while evoking a Renaissance-era or Pre-Raphaelite feeling in the drawing style. The spirituality of the ghostly 'Wilis" enforced severity onto the poses, although these young women are actually a mix of charm, laughter and fun when they are together. But Giselle is a Romantic tragedy, so that is the mood that I try to communicate, while still expressing something of each dancer's personality. Each portrait is a drypoint engraving (sometimes with mezzotint) on an 8 by 10 inch aluminum plate. I decided to keep most of the images as portraits in profile, or nearly profile, to strengthen the relationship between them and to generate a thematic consistency to the series. Using water-based inks, especially the mix of lamp black and Payne's Gray that I used for this series results in a background 'plate tone' because of the way aluminum attracts the ink. I like the plate tone, and leave it there to form a kind of 'tooth' behind the drawing to get an effect similar to what you get from charcoal or ink on a heavy cold-pressed paper.

""Caitlin in Giselle"" Drypoint engraving on aluminum, (January, 2013)

Link to the previous December 2012 Work in Progress Page

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