Patonga Pelicans Drypoint Prints

Patonga Pelicans 14 x 17 cms
Drypoint printed in three colours and finished with Sennelier oil pastels

Drypoint 14 x 17 cms

When I return to Australia I'm always hanging out for the sight of my first pelican. Patonga, a little fishing village about an hour from Sydney, is my favourite place to spot them. I was told I'd get my best shots early in the morning when the local fish and chip shop owner throws out his rubbish. I waited in vain on Monday morning. Not a pelican in sight.What I didn't know, but the pelicans did, is that the fish shop is shut on Monday so they give Patonga a miss and go to Fisherman's Wharf further up the coast.

Next morning I was having my coffee at the local shop when I spotted the fish shop proprietor heading to the wharf with a bucket. I had no camera, no sketchbook. Then realised I had a mobile phone. In a state of bliss I got some pictures - bless my little Nokia 2700 classic - they are good enough to sketch from.

Sketching & Walking

W&N Sepia Calligraphy Ink, Montblanc pen & waterbrush

As daylight saving ended today I managed to get out of bed early enough to go for a walk. I made this sketch in a cheap book (not confident about what I would achieve) as I returned to town through the olive groves.

Drypoint etching of Dermott

I've reworked the zinc plate for the above print with a diamond tipped drypoint tool. Zinc is not as pleasing to work as copper so I don't think I will be economising in future. Anyway, as HWEM points out, there's probably a limited demand for prints of our dog with his begging bowl.

Scratching Dermott

Drypoint Etching - Dermott with his Begging Bowl

Copper is rather expensive so I decided to try a piece of zinc for a drypoint etching. I didn't polish the plate sufficiently so when I printed, where I wanted bright white, I ended up with soft gray. After pulling the above proof, I decided to repolish the plate and rework the drypoint.

The second result was even more disappointing. Now I'm waiting for my new diamond-point etching needle to arrive from England and I'll have one more try. If that doesn't work, I'm going to leave all future scratching to Dermott!