Hand Colored Etchings by Simon Bull

Trained in the art of printmaking, Simon Bull has gone on to discover new and exciting ways of expressing his personal artistic vision through this powerful medium. The etchings, which were his signature works in the UK, were developed over a period of years and combine his love of watercolor, traditional etching and aquatint techniques. Together with a joyous expression of form, he fuses all of these elements into a celebration of color and life.

In 1997 Simon was awarded the accolade of the UK best-selling artist award shortlist, despite competing with a hand made editions program against mass produced editions. Again in the year 2000 he was short listed for the awards, this time in two categories: Best selling published artist overall and best selling original print artist. He won outright the Artist's Print Award for being the best selling artist in the UK of original hand finished prints.

Below is a quick description of the painstaking process involved in producing each hand colored etching.

First, Simon created the original copper plates by painting his designs in acid resistant varnish and then immersing them in acid several times to produce a ink holding texture. This plate is cleaned and reused for each print in the edition.

To produce and etching from the original plate, an even layer of ink is applied with a roller. The plate is polished with a course cloth, known as a scrim. The scrim removes the ink from the surface only, leaving some of the ink trapped in the etched areas.

The plate is then placed on the press and damp paper is laid on top. The plate and paper are pulled through the press, with the pressure of the press forcing the paper into the textured areas, thus transferring the ink.

The resulting black and white print is then hand colored with water based, transparent layers of colored ink. As soon as the inks are dry the gold sizing is brushed on and gold foil is laid in its place.

Next Simon adds pastel to the darker areas to enhance the jewel like feel. The pastel introduces a layer of opaque color to complement the transparent layers of ink. The piece is finally completed after Simon adds his signature and the edition number in pencil below the image.

Turning Point Gallery is going to be offering a variety of Simon's hand colored etchings for our November 2009 Simon Bull show. These etchings have increased in value ten fold since he last produced one in 2001. Come by the gallery to see these vivid works of art as well as a special order catalog of other available etchings!

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