Insomnia
This series explores the physicality of insomnia through prints of myself as I fall asleep. For me the process of going to sleep is lingering, repetitive, and cyclical. Drawing inspiration from the French Gothic illuminated manuscript Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, I created these prints in the rounded form of the Très Riches pages in order to explore the compositional relationship between recorded time (the lunar cycle) and a view into my own bedroom. A blend of monoprints and copper plate etchings, this series oscillates between clear representation throughout the series in order to invite the viewer into this disorienting yet familiar space. Monoprint and Hard Ground Copper Plate Etching, 2018
Aquatint
Variations in tone in my copper plate images were accomplished with aquatint, a process of selective airbrushing and precisely timed acid baths. Each copper plate includes at least five layers of aquatint, accompanied by hand-painted layers of masking BIG ground. This process allows a rigid copper plate to appear painterly, and to reflect on the artist's hand in the image.
I chose to use aquatint in Insomnia to push the boundaries of what aquatint can do in a dark scene and to discover a new depth of representational printmaking. This draft shows one example of the meticulous planning required for each layer of aquatint, creating a believable world of shadows from a flat piece of copper.
