Artist Statement

Focus Environment

A favorite subject of natural wonders emerged as animals and nature artifacts became objects of exploration in Nature Spirits.

This collection consists i large part of intaglio etchings such as aquatint, drypoint, mezzotint prints. In these age-old these techniques an artist will chemically or manually treat a thin copper plate onto which the image is drawn and etched by hand. To round out the set, pen & ink, watercolor, graphite, oil and other paintings were converted to sepia tone images. Many of these images are featured in the book Nature Spirits: Intaglios and Mixed Media and are also available as inexpensive greeting cards and matted prints.

In copper etching techniques, wherever acid reacts with the plate, ink will later be applied to crystallize various tints and shades that form the final image. Watercolor paper that has been soaked in water and blotted dry will be laid upon the inked up plate and rolled through a high-pressure printing press. These techniques have been used by old masters since the 1400s, after Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press. This is how the first books were illustrated, for centuries.