Technique

The term "aquatint" is not familiar to many outside of fine art printmaking. It is derived from the Latin words aquafortes meaning "strong water" (acid) and tinto meaning tone. Simply put, acid is used to texture the surface of a metal plate into something like the surface of sandpaper. Each degree of roughness holds a certain amount of ink. The rougher the texture, the more ink is held and the darker the tone when printed. By controlling the length of time each design area of the plate is exposed to the acid, a range of tones from very light to blackest black can be achieved in the same image.

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     For the past 22 years I have been experimenting with anything that had to do with aquatint from traditional 18th century methods to modern technology. The directness of pure drawing is the essence of my approach. Combining elements from both old and new techniques, I literally build layers of tone in metal as I would build layers of pencil in a tonal study on paper.