Sneakily I slipped into a lunchtime ACMI screening of the Iron Giant. I say "sneakily" because I never feel quite comfortable going in to a cinema in the middle of the day ...I don't know why but it urks me.

I was completely awe struck. It was magnificent to see on the big screen. The opening shot was very powerful.......this didn't strike me as much whenst I watched it on DVD a few years ago. I must say I was very glad to have extracted myself from my day and to have planted myself in front of this film. Such a well written story - I shed some little tears and I giggled out loud. Twas splendid indeed.

I've been to see the Grotesque exhibition at the NGV three times now. The combination of closely working on an etching with a magnifying glass (see previous silverfish blog entry) and then having a long gaze at some very beautiful and evocative etchings is really quite a grounding experience. Also inspiring ofcourse, but strangely grounding. It is the mark of the artist's hand that describes the image, it is the residue of this process that delivers the idea, the content, the image, ..the thoughts if you like. Its not just the idea, its the careful consideration of the delivery, and the 'peace' of time that was given/used by the artist to create the piece.

Francisco Goya y Lucientes
Spanish 1746–1828
Hobgoblins (Duendecitos)
plate 49 from Los Caprichos (The Caprices),
1st edition 1799
etching and burnished aquatint printed in sepia ink
18.8 x 13.2 cm (image), 21.5 x 15.1 cm (plate),
24.6 x 17.7 cm (sheet)
Harris 84.III.1


Klinger had a very intriguing series about a glove..(see link..he was a forunner of surrealism)


I also visited G editioning one of his mezzotints yesterday. Lots of talk about silverfish.
Re the etching I had to touch up last week. It didn't work. Well it did initially, then I was asked to touch it up a little more. I sat down again with my little magnifying mechanism and fixed it...a little too much..and the patch where the blighter of a silverfish had chewed it ended up looking like a bit of pooh.
Really.

Serious action was required. I spent another evening focussing on the original set of images that this particular image is a part of, and indeed the poem with which it is 'bound' to in its final state. So then I created additional marks to the composition - which was tricky..as I had to emulate some light plate scratches. To get to the point: It was a success I managed to clear up any confusion between the etched image and ..pooh.
The print has now trancended into a world apart from me. Its a "letting go" that I have mentioned before..and shan't harp on about it now.