Show and Tell: You Can Turn to Stone Now!

You Can Turn to Stone Now! by Kathryn M. Bennett

 

In my printmaking classes at WOU, we were required to choose a theme each term. Since I was also studying anthropology, I chose to focus on folklore and mythology. This project was originally a plan for a painting (yet to be done... but I will). Many sources say she was ugly, but I wanted to illustrate Medusa as a beautiful woman who was cursed with the inability to let anyone get near her. Also, most images I found showed her with the snakes all the same kind and I chose to give her a variety.

I was fortunate to have classmate Diana as a model. She was a beautiful and willing subject. I had found the light in the women's room near the classroom had the best diffused natural light and had used it on a few occasions. While I took the photos, I told Diana to think this way... “I want people, when they look in your eyes, to just know that they are going to turn to stone.” She did a wonderful job (thank you so much DW)!

 

 

 

Cropped image

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also did my own research for snake images. A couple months earlier (while planning the painting), I had photographed snakes at Brad's World of Reptiles exhibit at the 2010 Oregon State Fair.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next, I developed a few charcoal and graphite sketches.

 

 

The final design was redrawn on mylar. Since this was a two-plate project, the second was for the additional blue.

This imaging process used ImagOn, which involved laminating a photo-reactive film onto copper. It took me two weeks, eight tries, and numerous trial prints to get it to work for me. The trials would work and then the plate would not. Fortunately this method is fairly inexpensive. The film on the plate appears to have begun to break down through time. I need to research and find a way to repair and perhaps seal it if I want to make more prints. (If not, at least I still have the mylar drawings I used to make the plates.)

 

 

 

Intaglio printing involves applying ink (I used Akua water-based inks) to an etched or textured surface, wiping away the surplus, and printing on damp paper using a roll press (of which I do not have but is on my wish list).

I made two kinds of prints. One with a two plate process (printing each paper twice and getting the registration just right) and another by using both the black and blue ink together on one plate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also experimented with monotypes by applying Akua colors on plexiglass and printing over the intaglio image. They aren't listed online but they are for sale.  Contact me!

These prints are available for purchase in my Etsy shop.

 

Feel free to browse any time and if you see something you would like to see featured, just leave a comment and I will bump it up on my list. Please help me by sharing these blog posts with your friends and in advance... thank you!

Note: Actual image is 9" x 12" I made a few prints using Arched Rives BFK paper, but listed only one each, so if you try to purchase and it says, "Sold" then let me know and I will post another listing (while they last).