Another soft ground etching started- stunted.

Last night in class I decided to work on another soft ground etching. After pulling the proofs last week, I realized this medium is exactly what I was looking for in 2010 when working on all those pencil drawings, and wanting a way to create multiples of them (not giclée). This is perfect, as it allows the same combination of soft and hard lines as the mechanical pencil drawings.

So, after creating my little registration-key, I rolled-up my plate with soft ground wax and began drawing away– click on the image above to see full image. Alas, after getting this far (everything in real pencil was what I worked onto the plate- the blue pencil was just my basic reference lines), I looked at the plate beneath and noticed different levels of sheen on the ground. I showed it to my instructor, and learned, alas, I’d put the ground on far too thin and it was no good. So I basically wiped it all off and must start at the beginning again next time I go in.

UPDATE: Below is the proof after starting from scratch. Her face came out not as subtle or lovely, but I will be working on that one very dark eye, as well as doing some spit-bite in the background.