Angus Grant Art

Paddling, Painting, Printing

Category Archives: Etching

The Red Squirrel book


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Squirrillustrations

Delighted to reveal another first for Angus Grant Art: illustrating a newly published book.

Last night I was at the launch of The Red Squirrel: A Future in the Forest by Neil McIntyre and Polly Pullar. You’ve maybe seen it in the news over the past couple of weeks, e.g. this one from the BBC.

The book was funded by a successful crowdfunding campaign, and published by Scotland: The Big Picture. I was asked by Louise at Cairngorm Futures, whose team did the design work, to contribute some illustrations of woodland fauna – and a few squirrel tracks – to go alongside Polly’s text. You can see my pictures below.

Acorn
Acorn
Pine cone drawing
Pine cone
Lichen
Lichen
Squirrel tracks
Squirrel tracks
Hawthorn
Hawthorn

It was such a fun project and it was great to meet Neil and Polly and the others involved at the event last night. Really enjoyed hearing Neil’s tales of trying to capture photos of these curious creatures.

And the book looks brilliant – lots of very good-looking squirrels!

You can get a copy from Scotland: The Big Picture.

Art print loch Morlich


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Printing workshop postponed

Sorry to report that the printing workshop I was due to teach on March 12 has had to be postponed for the time being.

Hopefully it can be rescheduled later this year. Many apologies if you were hoping to sign up – watch this space for further information!


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How to take the first easy steps in making beautiful prints

Angus grant fine art print highland cairngorms perch loch AlvieBusy few weeks coming up for me. I’m teaching a few classes organised by the Cairngorms Learning Partnership (CLP).

This Kingussie-based charity offers a range of courses in the Cairngorms National Park.

You can find the full list of those on offer by clicking here, but to give you a flavour, at the moment there’s felt-making, cooking and flower-arranging. Something for everyone!

I’m teaching a four-week silversmithing course, starting this week. It’s fully booked – which is great!

And next month, I’ll be running a one-day introductory printmaking workshop. This will give participants an overview of different types of printing, including intaglio and drypoint etching.

It takes place on Saturday March 12 – you can get more information or book your place by visiting the CLP’s website.*

Or you can visit my Events & Workshops page to see all of my upcoming classes.

*Since this blog was written, the class has been postponed. Click here for more information.


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Upcycling old etching plates

When a printmaker has finished printing an “Edition” it is traditional to destroy the artwork on the copper plate by scratching a great big cross on its surface. Another way to destroy the plate is to cut it into lots of wee pear shapes. You can then tap each of these into a handmade wooden mould, (gently to preserve the wee bit of the artwork left on the plate). After that you could drill a little hole in the top of the wee bit of copper and attach it to a super posh handmade lure with semi-precious stones and silver plate finishings to be sure to catch the most discerning trout, pike or salmon.

spinner


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Mezzotint Etching

First take a nice shiny copper plate and rock the mezzotint rocker across its surface to cover it in lots of wee dots

First take a nice shiny copper plate and rock the mezzotint rocker across its surface to cover it in lots of wee dots.

(1 hour later) As you work across the surface of the plate you will create more and more wee dents that will hold the ink nicely.

(1 hour later)
As you add work across the surface of the plate you will create more and more wee dents that will hold the ink nicely.

(4 hours later) After a while you will see that it is possible to create a nice black tone.

(4 hours later)
After a while you will see that it is possible to create a nice black tone.

(8 hours later) After about a day of mezzotint rocking you will be close to getting a nice even texture to your plate. You will have decided that the £35 that the art shop was charging for machine mezzotinted plates was an absolute bargain. You will go to bed and dream about mezzotint rocking that night.

(8 hours later)
After about a day of mezzotint rocking you will be close to getting a nice even texture to your plate. You will have decided that the £35 that the art shop was charging for machine mezzotinted plates was an absolute bargain. You will go to bed and dream about mezzotint rocking that night.

(12 hours later) You will have vowed never to mezzotint a copper plate by hand again, but your 10x15cm plate will print a nice rich plack.

(12 hours later)
You will have vowed never to mezzotint a copper plate by hand again, but your 10x15cm plate will print a nice rich black.

You create your image on the mezzotinted plate by selectively polishing areas of the plate so they don't hold the ink as well.

You create your image on the mezzotinted plate by selectively polishing areas of the plate so they don’t hold the ink as well.

The polished bits will be a lighter tone. You will have to make lots of wee test prints along the way to see how you're doing.

The polished bits will be a lighter tone. You will have to make lots of wee test prints along the way to see how you’re doing.

done

done