Printmaking at Hotbed Press

In January I enrolled onto the Hotbed Press Complete Printmaking Course and so far have mono-printed using thinly rolled ink and drawing on top of it on a light sheet of paper.  Now things are stepping up a gear and I have moved on to using drypoint on perspex and aluminium, which involved lots of scratching and etching using sharp tools and for more ferocious or engineered mark-making, a Dremmel tool.



It has been more than 20 years since I have done any studio printmaking, apart from the odd lino-cut relief printing I've done here and there, so this feels like learning from scratch.

It feels good to put technical process between you and the final result and to have to learn something again.  I find the process of printmaking challenging though, to have to let go and just experiment with a new way of making marks without knowing what the outcome will be.

The process also creates a separation from the work that I am used to with the direct hands-on approach of drawing and painting.  This leads to an exciting moment when you reveal the result.

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