New Projects

Translation: mezzotint and chine colle

Making rubbings is a tactile and visually exciting means by which I love to experience and document many of my travels.  In urban areas this often means rubbings of plaques, tiles, and other human constructs;  in natural settings, any solid textured surface can work. In 2010 I hiked both the Mt. Stephen and Walcott quarry fossil beds in the Burgess Shale in Yoho National Park, and produced a number of pages of rubbings, especially of the trilobites on Mt. Stephen. 

Making rubbings of trilobites on the slopes of Mt. Stephen.  (The town of Field, BC is 2500 feet below, mostly obscured by clouds on the left side of this image.)

Fast forward to 2019, when a project perfect for these rubbings began to evolve. Here, I've outlined the pieces which will be cut out and used for the chine colle.

The start of the reveal.

"Translation"  2019.  Printed using Charbonnel inks on Somerset Satin White paper, using a plate I selectively ground so as to leave polished areas for the chine colle rubbings.  Image size is 23 by 30 cm/9 by 12 inches.