Solar Plates with Dan Welden

Every summer I like to do an intensive art workshop or class. This year I found interesting looking programs at Castle Hill, an arts center in Truro, MA. Looking over the workshop and class offerings, I was impressed with the visiting artists and the cost seemed reasonable. As an extra bonus, our dear friends have a house up on the Cape, minutes from the Center.

I chose a Solar Plate workshop with Dan Welden. I haven’t done etching in years because I am wary of the hazards of the process which uses ferric acid and other harsh chemicals. I was intrigued that solar plate etching is safer and cleaner; sun or light is used to etch the plate and water is used to process it.

Our group was small, only four students, and the printmaking facility was brand new. Each day our class began outside in the summer morning sunshine with a meditation, listening to classical music or opera. It was such a lovely way to begin. Other classes were going on around us, painting on the outdoor stage, writers workshop on the lawn, dogs running to and fro. It was a magical setting.

We learned several techniques to create images, the first started with meticulous drawings on glass; the second was a more intuitive approach drawing directly on an ink covered plate with a sharp stick. Some students pushed the abstract by incorporating water stains and accidental marks. We added color to our prints by applying it to a plastic template; by altering the ink viscosity; and by application of good old colored pencil.

I can’t thank my friends, the Sanders, enough for letting me stay with them for a whole week. And I have to thank them for their suggestion that I look for the two horse barn that had been relocated to the Castle Hill property recently. I used it as the subject for a print series, which I will write about separately.