I think this one is done.
The picture does no justice to what's going on in the foreground at the bottom of the print.
I used leaves and ferns again, but instead of painting the caustic soda on them and etching away their shape, this time I painted around them and etched away the background to get a positive of their shape.
This print was designed as a counterpoint to 'Rising Mist'.
Where this is very still and smooth I wanted to create something full of noise and texture. I think I've managed that! I used two plates to create it so there are areas where you can see the first plate is affecting the ink on the second, but I quite like that. I etched most of this new one with caustic soda so the overall feel of it is quite organic.
Things I would do differently start with the composition. I think the lines are too flat and the trunks of the trees are far too thin! I think composition is something I need to go back to and start paying far more attention to. I'm getting so carried away but the experiment and the idea that I'm forgetting the basics and I think a little slowing down and really planning the image before diving in with to how to make it is a good idea.
While I wanted something busy and highly textured for this it's getting close to just being plain messy, I think I've just hung onto it, but only just. I need to bear in mind the effect of the two plates and the overlap when teamed with the caustic soda gives a certain effect that I could overuse very easily. I do wonder whether the smooth stripe in the centre is almost too smooth given the rest of the print, it could maybe have done with some very light texturing treatment, just to pull it into the rest of the work. It's been fascinating watching this one develop as I really didn't know what it was going to look like. Now that I've tried it out I will have a much better inkling for next time.
Doing these large prints is tricky and the registration wanders very easily. I have some more of this large paper but I'm wondering whether using it at half size might be an idea, maybe producing two prints that could be individual or sit alongside each other, although I do like the challenge that the larger prints pose and the differences in making them to working on smaller ones.