Studying Lucian Freud at Hastings Contemporary

During the final weekend of Hastings Contemporary's Moore/Freud exhibition, I visited with my etching needles and a plate in order to study Lucian Freud's Kai, an etching made between 1991-92 of the artist's stepson.

On a smaller scale than Freud's original, I was able to explore how he made his marks and how he explores subtle shifts of planes and interest across the subject's face. I worked for about an hour (compared to Freud's months!) which meant my lines were more frantic than the original, but it was great to be alone and up close with such a beautiful piece. As well as seeing the areas of real control in Freud's etching, there are also moments of loose scribbles that change the tempo of certain areas. The key is trusting where abouts in an artwork these two types of line should sit.

I took my zinc plate back to the studio to see how the lines translated. I enjoy etching because one is always switching between two different ways of working: the technical process (cleaning the plate, applying ground, smoking the plate, inking and printing) and the artistic act of drawing. These start separate but then begin to merge as you start using the process to influence the mark making, whether by aquatinting, inking in a certain way, using chine collé etc).