10″ x 8″ Mezzotint and drypoint from copper plate. The mezzotint rocker took days to create a velvety black, into which I burnished to lighten areas, and then use the diamond-tipped tool to scratch in the dark lines and control the darks. I like the way some patterns of the lines remain from the mezzotint rocking. It reminds me of a Hopper etching I saw once of a dark street corner, that had lots of cross-hatching, as the rocker creates.
Its so time consuming, that its no wonder the mezzotint process is regarded an elitist print technique. Beginning in the middle of seventeenth century, it was mastered by artists such as Durer and Escher.
denise moser 