Come see my etchings, Lambikins.

That’s the traditional come-on of the well educated lecher and for most people that’s the only thing they know about etching.

Take dry point, yes, it’s one of the many print making techniques and it is etching. And if you aren’t trying to lure maids to a fate worse than death you can go to the local museum and see exactly what all of the fuss is about.

Dry point uses a sharpened needle to scratch lines in a copper plate. That’s the standard version. You can use Zinc, or even plastic, (Many print makers prefer plastic because the material is so soft it is easy to work and because it will only strike ten or so prints before it is used up. See, eliminate self-control and you make a limited edition easy.), to scratch the image in and once you are finished it’s off to the presses and let the numbered editions roll.

Why dry point? It’s easy? It is and it is a technique which is much more like drawing than the other print making disciplines. With dry point the image is created not only by the lines etched in the plate but also the burin and for this reason the plates degrade at a rate faster than other forms. Yeah, there’s always a catch, but for limited editions when you have no sense of self-control it’s a good thing.

I did say that before. So let me change thoughts, (I can too have two thoughts at once.), dry point is more like drawing than some of the other techniques. And any time you don’t have to master a new discipline you can spend more time creating.

Why drawing when painting is soooooooo much more expressive? Because with a drawn image you can get more detail into the work. Yes, I know you can get a lot of detail in a painted work, but sometimes the very fine details like the rigging of a sailing ship of the scaffolding of a new building calls for a whole bunch of fine work.

So when someone asks “What the heck is this here, dry point?” you know the correct answer, right? And if you live in Coos Bay or surrounding counties, you can see some fine examples at the Coos Art Museum.

Ed Jenkins, just a 101, has a show in the Mabel Hansen gallery which features dry point done right. And while you are learning all of the ends and outs of dry point you can ponder just what you’ve done with your life. Ed is 101 and has just started a new painting…