For my series of three etchings I combine copper plates with a japanese kozo paper. I then make digital compositions and print them on the kozo paper with a large format ink jet printer. Patterns and textures are then etched on the copper to complement and enrich the digital part. I then color-ink the copper plate, wet the digital kozo which then gets placed on top of the plate, and then I apply wheat paste and trim the kozo to the edge of the plate. After some tweaking and drying the composite plate & kozo get printed together onto fine art paper with an etching press.

This particular piece incorporates a photograph I came across at a photography museum in Nice, France. It was taken in 1900 in Nice, of the Restaurant de la Reserve. Yes, restaurant. The boat and pavilion were all part of the dining experience. You ask: “What ever happened to all the fun in dining out?”  The men sitting on the bench are from a photo I took in the nearby town of Frejus–an image that I felt has a certain contemplative aspect as though they were trying to wish the old days back.

The random fragments are “remnants” of other etchings I have done. These are then filtered and manipulated in Adobe Photoshop. All pieces are then brought into Adobe InDesign where I have great fun rearranging and recoloring. The others in the series will have a similar bent. One includes an old carousel in Cannes and one a wonderful image of a Nice street vendor also in 1900: marchande de socca.

More recently I’ve done several studies on gesso board that will ultimately become larger pieces. These allow me to work quickly with acrylic paints and add various images and materials in a collage fashion. Again, as in the etchings, I typically–but not always–incorporate pieces of my own photographs, sketches, or prints. Some examples are shown here:

Tende

Cordoba

Hanoi

Cortona