Oranges, by Gary de Soto
"The first time I walked
With a girl, I was twelve,
Cold, and weighted down
With two oranges in my jacket.
December. Frost cracking
Beneath my steps, my breath
Before me, then gone...
I smiled,
Touched her shoulder, and led
Her down the street, across
A used car lot"
I had read this poem, Oranges, by Gary de Soto, a while ago in middle school, and I always imagined it as a snowy setting in the 1950's. When translating that image into an etching I wanted to highlight the range of value from the bright lights to the darkness of the night. Originally, I had many, many ideas of how to show those intentions in my work. I decided on a somewhat literal interpretation with an old car dealership in the snow. I thought it had a lot of potential to be better than how it turned out. Unfortunately, when the plastic plate stopped printing I was unable to develop the drawing in the way I wanted. However I was able to literally illuminate my drawing by adding a backlight to the inked plate. Some comments that people pointed out were:
-Good contrast, light behind illumination
-Texture is good, 3-D look with shadow
-Mood with darkness is eerie
-Etching around the light adds interest
-Can't tell it's an etching
I agree with the comments and I was overall glad with the way it turned out. The etching medium allowed me to really add in detail and see the medium in a new light. I didn't enjoy etching as much as other mediums like pencil and paint because it is difficult to see the end result beforehand.
