John Piper - ACE004.3

In the studio. Turning the painting into an acquatint. Covers copper plate with grease and blackens surface. Uses a tracing of his drawing to transfer the outline into the plate, which he then follows with etching needle to expose the copper. Coats the plate with stopping-out varnish, and treats it with acid. Etched plate placed in box of resin dust, and then heated to melt the resin. Covers white parts of design with stopping-out varnish; baths the plate in acid. Takes first proof in hand press. Finished acquatint. Paintings of bombed-out churches which offered more abstract images and unusual lighting effects. Painting of Knole, Kent. Other paintings. Landscapes. Mallam Cove, Gordale Scar, Hardrow Force, and similar features in Yorkshire, and some of Piper’s paintings of them. Commentary quotes Wordsworth over: "The stationary blasts of waterfalls/Rocks that muttered close upon the ear/Black clinging crags that spake by the wayside." Ruins of Byland Abbey. Sketch by Piper. Final painting (1940). Other paintings of similar ruins, all displaying his neo-Romantic style. Scenes in North Wales. Paintings.