Beautiful new etchings from Ngaruwanajirri on Bathurst Island

During Covid, I had to work by correspondence; getting artists to send me paintings and drawings on acetate and film. Now the communities have been able to open their doors to visitors again, I am enjoying making plates with the artists themselves. Photo transfer of washes is still one way to go (see pics), but coffee lift and BIG ground are my new tools when working with painters like these guys. Instant coffee has proven to be just as good as sugar lift, and doesn’t require smelly bitumen. At last, a use for all those old tins of instant coffee.