Fourth State

I’ve been so eager to work on this mezzotint that I went to the studio twice yesterday! I love the process of proofing and watching the image evolve as I work the plate. Since this plate is a test piece, I decided that I wanted to push the details and articulation as far as I could in this plate. I stayed very faithful to my reference photograph, trying to pick up all of the specifics that were there. I think the fourth state was actually trying too hard to copy the reference photograph, and I probably should have stopped working on the plate sooner. This was a good exercise though, better to go too far and then pull yourself back rather than wonder how things could have been.

I think that my favorite state was the second state. In the second state, the image is more suggestive and ambiguous and therefore feels more dimensional. I’ll know for the future to stop earlier in the process to retain this quality.

Second state, below