Denis Charles Baxter RBA FRSA RWA

I work from drawings produced on site in pen and ink and I take photographs in difficult locations. The composition and size of the image is thoroughly worked out before transferring the image to an etching plate, although I often add or remove items to the image on the plate as it develops.

Etching involves preparing a ground on the plate and having the drawing on tracing paper placed on the ground with carbon paper to help transfer the image, tracing the line next with an etching needle and exposing the copper which is ready to be placed in dilute acid (the longer the plate is in the acid the stronger the line). Following on from line etching, the next stage is aquatinting the plate in order to achieve tonal variations, timing is critical at this stage of creating the image, I record the time used for each stage of the process. The etching goes through several proofs before I am finally satisfied to create a small limited edition.

Because so much time is involved in creating an etching, I only work on one at a time.