20:20 box set edition

I handed in my 25 prints to Limerick Printmakers for the Hot Bed Press 20:20 box set last week.  This is a box set which encompasses dozens of printmakers throughout the UK and Ireland and in return for your 25 prints you get a selection of 20 prints which could come from any other print studio taking part.  I took part in this last year and got some wonderful prints and apart from these goodies it is also a great way of seeing what other printmakers are doing.  If I was really organised and a decent blogger I would have bothered my backside putting some examples up I suppose but all the prints are available here

I decided to do a drypoint on acetate of my other half who is very camera shy and hates being drawn - possibly because I always make him look like a tramp or a drunkard.  I always have to wait until we are travelling to try and draw him as then he can't get away.  The train to Dublin is a favourite for this and that's where this image was drawn.  I then just traced over it on the acetate and added my own embellishments.  This time however he looks slightly threatening.  He also looks to be gritting his teeth as well.  I added some tears cut from thick paper to give a nice emboss and printed it all in wonderful raw umber which gives a lovely old-fashioned sepia look.  I never wipe my plates back with paper and love the heavily inked look of this print, except for the face where I wiped back more of the ink.  On some prints I added a roll up of green or blue or grey, on others I added colour to the eyes or the speech bubble using Indian ink.  And of course to denote how precious my other half is I added some gold which seems to be a favourite of mine at the moment for prints.

I was really pleased with the way this plate lasted.  I got over 30 prints from it and the last one was a clear as the first.  I covered the paper tears with 2 coats of French polish and they didn't flatten or tear away at all.