So, I left off covering the plate again in asphaltum. Now, I have to go back in and scrape everything back out again that I want to re-aquatint, which will be at least another 5 hours...but after awhile it gets to be kind of calming...
Here's the first proof in color, after aquatinting the plate that's holding the black ink one more time. This is the two plates I was working on-the one in the background wiped with blue ink over the text and red over the ammonite, and the top one wiped with black ink. Still not a hundred percent what I had in mind, but I actually kind of like the ghostlike effect in some spots. This color scheme definitely isn't doing it for me, though, so it's time to play around, and get some plexiglass ready for a background.
And here we are-the (SCARY!!) multiplate printing process. First, I rolled up a mix of yellow and ochre ink on a sheet of plexiglass (cut to the same size as my plates and scraped smooth along the edges). The plexiglass is the first thing printed, as you go light to dark with the plates.
Now plate number two-I wiped the text brown and the ammonite with red, laid the plate down (after removing the plexi, of course) and ran it through the press again. Looking good so far!
Plate number 3-the darkest plate on top-and my plate must have moved or I didn't set it in exactly the same spot as the other two were on the press because as you can see, my registration is a little off. But the color scheme rocks-it's getting there! SO close.
Ta-da! Here it is! Right before I printed this one, I had issues because my plexiglass cracked on the edge and it ripped my paper (grr), but this print looks pretty decent. I still have work to do as far as getting the text wiped so that it can be read more clearly, but at least I won't have to mess around with aquatint on this one anymore!
I've explained the process with this one, but I realized I haven't discussed content at all yet. This print is based on The Story of B by Daniel Quinn-a continuation of Quinn-inspired prints after "Without Gorilla", based on Ishmael (you can find that print in my earlier blog posts if you haven't seen it). I took the ammonite image from the cover and added the animal and human silhouettes to depict different beings existing together, and in the background is some text either directly quoted or paraphrased from the book. The general idea/lesson is that man belongs to the earth, not the other way around, and the reason that the world is so screwed up is because people forgot how to live in harmony with the rest of the earth, that every life has equal value in the big scheme of things and we're not the most important beings in the universe. The only way we can go about saving the world from being destroyed by humanity is to remember how to live in a way that works best for everyone, and to do that, people need to become aware of the history of this one destructive culture whose way of living was deemed "the right way" when it isn't at all...
So that's a general summary of the inspiration; it's hard to really sum it up. Read the book, for sure, and the others in the trilogy as well (Ishmael, My Ishmael) if you haven't-they definitely offer a unique perspective on our history and way of life.
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