Obstacles and an Opening

That marvelous etching I was working on in my last post? It did not go so well... Some technical mysteries popped up, and we're not really sure what went wrong. First of all.... the "copper" seems to not really be copper, yet I'm unable to identify what on earth it is, it isn't zinc, and it doesn't look like aluminium. It's a mystery metal. It had to be left in the ferric chloride acid bath for a lot longer. Luckily though, the lines did get etched in nice and seemingly deep.
When it came to printing the image, the first proof came out almost perfectly - oh I was *so* happy. The next proof... well, almost as good as the first, but the girls face didn't seem to print... then it went downhill from there, with each consecutive print coming out fainter and fainter. What a nightmare.
So, we'll see. I'll save the prints I did pull, and turn them into "mixed media" works, using watercolours, pens and inks. I think, it will actually be fun. But I definately missed my deadline in mind.

~*~

On an more positive note, my partner Rudy Kistler had his third solo Art Exhibition a couple nights ago. "Shadow on the Back Block" at Charles Hewitt Gallery in Paddington. He is a painter and works in oils on board and canvas. This year he went on a long painting trip for six months, painting the fruit growing regions in Australia from Sydney down to Mildura. He had been very stressed in the weeks leading up to the exhibition, but I think it was a great success. The gallery did an amazing job of curating the pieces, and so many of our friends came to show their support.

Sadly, my camera does not seem to like documenting humans, and the photographs I managed to take were, well... shocking.  And even more sadly, we didn't manage to get my outfit on camera either... and I really worked hard on trying to steal the show!
So I'm sharing the one decent shot I got of one of the walls, and my two favourites from the 53 paintings he has exhibited!
You can visit the Charles Hewitt Gallery website to see the rest: http://www.charleshewitt.com.au/