This is a dry point etching done on a sheet of plexiglass. This was a fun picture to make. I thought the image of a sheep looking over a barn door, would make a nice print. I really can't draw very well, and prefer to start with a photograph and then use Photshop to create the desired starting image. Except I could not find any images that I wanted. Instead I found a picture of and old door, used part of the door to make the barn door, then found the sheep image, and merged the two into the desired image. Placed a sheet of plexiglass ontop of the image to create the dry point plate.
In a dry point etch, a very pointy and sharp needle is used to scratch into the material, this may be a copper plate, plexiglass, lexon or any other smooth material that will allow a line to be incised. When incising a line into the material, a small burr or rough edge is left along the edge of the line. To make the print, the entire plate is inked, then the excessed ink is wipe away, leaving ink in the incised lines, and that captured in the burr. It is the ink captured in the burr that give the image the deeper tonal qualities. Unfortunately, the number of prints that can be made is limited. With each inking and wiping, some of the burr is removed. So from time to time, the plate needs to be re-scratched, but this obviously cannot be done indefinitely.
