This continues my Berlin-themed holiday card series: Eckkneipe with waiting dog – both, to me, are Berlin. Since working on this card, I have become obsessed with old Berlin signage, especially neon script. More of that to come (at some point)!
This year’s etching was inspired by my heroes of the Berlin streets, bike messengers. This ecologically mobile Santa is speeding past the Brandenburg Gate, heading south with a bag full of happiness for the new year.
This is a three-plate etching with parts in drypoint and mezzotinto.
inking the plate
press at VHS Kreuzberg
Druckwerkstatt at Bethanien Berlin
beautiful press at Druckwerkstatt Bethanien
the other two plates ready to print
The kohlrabi print I did last year has turned into a fascination with the entire cabbage family. With savoy cabbage, I love the completely different textures of the two sides of the leaves, and the contrast between light and dark, inside and out. What’s next? I can’t say quite yet, but there will be more of the Brassica family in my future.
This is a three-color etching from Lomo photos I took of Koi fish at the Berlin Botanical Garden. 20 x 15 cm.
A chain of peppers I brought back from Italy. Two two-color etchings. 2011. 7.5 x 25 cm.
Window display from one of Madrid’s many religious icon shops. Mezzotinto. 19.5 x 15 cm.
One of the weirdest and loveliest members of the amazingly diverse Brassica family: Kohlrabi. I had never seen one before I came to Germany. 12.5 x 12.5 cm.
Etching from an old photo of my mom in her back yard in Lincoln, Nebraska. I loved how proudly she is displaying the new doll, and how they are both dressed, and the contrast with their surroundings. Mezzotinto. 15.5 x 20 cm. This is still a work in progress.
Softground etching from 2004. 15 x 21 cm.
Deborah Anne Bowen 