Year:

Medium:

Printmaking Etching

Size - (USA):

16 W x 20 H x 1 D (inches)

Size - (metric):

40.6 W x 50.8 H x 2.5 D (centimeters)

Theme:

Holidays

Edition:

Original

Artwork ID:

622016

PDF Copy:

Artwork Info Sheet (PDF)

Artwork Description:   THIS ETCHING IS SOLD WITH BOTH A FRAME, 16 INCHES WIDE BY 20 INCHES HIGH, AND MAT. THE BLACK WOOD FRAME INCLUDES AN ACID FREE, WHITE MAT. THE ARTWORK ARRIVES WIRED AND READY TO HANG. This original, hand printed etching is a continuation of artworks that I executed from 1996 to 2006, all based on All Hallows Eve or Halloween. Those works included large acrylic paintings on stretched canvases, watercolours on paper, and mixed media monoprints. This sequence of Cartoonistic creations celebrated the Gaelic festival of Samhain, pronounced soo-ween, and was sold to collectors around the word. I recently had the inclination to explore my GOTH POP style again, although with metal plate etchings developed in acid and printed on paper with oil base ink. Samhain marks the end of the harvest season and the approaching winter, or the calendar’s Dark Half. Traditionally, it is celebrated from October 30 to November 1 and marks the beginning of The Celtic New Year. It is a time when the veils between the worlds of the Living and the Dead are at their most transparent, or thinnest... a time when ancestral spirits can easily cross over to the Realm of The Living to either help or haunt. In Mexico, it is known as The Day of The Dead, a period when families gather to feast at the graves of their dead loved ones and offer them sacrifices. Some people consider this an evil celebration, but it celebrates a sacred link between the departed and the living... a time when the days begin to shorten and the nights gain in length. This image shows the third of four editions, with each one limited to only five etchings. I employed one zinc plate, which measured 8 inches wide by 10 inches high, or 20.320cm by 25.400cm. The plate required seven workings in conjunction with seven baths in Nitric acid. The studio techniques include aquatint, intaglio, Chine colle, and drypoint. I used oil base ink from Paris, Charbonnel brand, and RivesBFK white paper, also manufactured in France. Thai mulberry bark paper, Unruyu brand, was employed in the Chine colle process. The framed etching is 20 inches high by 16 inches wide.