I finally finished the etching of the Mykonos Windmill. It was created as a single plate line etching and aquatint (for the tones).

This etching is a copy of a sketchbook drawing I did on location in October 2009 on the Island of Mykonos, Greece. I’ve added a few more details than the original drawing since this will be printed at a larger size.

For the first state of this print (which I didn’t print) I used a deep bite etch on a zinc plate. This worked better than I thought it would and created an interesting fuzzy edge that separates the foreground from the back ground. For the second state, I used a hard ground line etch in two different timed stages. The darker lines had a twenty minute etch time and the lighter lines (mostly the lines in the distance) were ten minutes. It was rolled up in blue black ink and printed on yellow proof paper.

This drawing was created on location on the Island of Mykonos, Greece. I’m currently working on an etching of this piece and I’ll post the progress in the coming days.

The following is an excerpt from my forcoming book The Artist on the Road, Impressions of Greece:

To keep my artistic momentum going, I head out to draw. One of the first things I notice is an old windmill situated on a nearby hill, overlooking the city. It’s been converted to a museum, so I go inside. A workroom fills most of the area, with a spiraling stone stairway on the left. Curious, I climb the steps to the second floor. The space is cramped, with several large wooden gears used for grinding grain, and on the far side, a small window illuminates the room and reveals sweeping views of the city below. I walk back down and exit into the fresh air. It’s here that I do one of my favorite drawings and interestingly, it has a similar feeling to the drawing I did on santorini this morning. Thankfully, I didn’t over burden the page with detail leaving open space for the work to breathe. The composition keeps the eye moving, and I like the way it seems to roll across the page. The windmill looks powerful with its kaleidoscope arms spiraling outward over the city.