These etchings were drawn from life, on location, directly onto zinc plates. Many were drawn in bars during readings or musical performances, venues where I could find a reasonably stationary cast of subjects, something to drink, and occasionally some very good bluegrass.

There is a pleasing lack of control to working on an etching in a bar, even leaving aside the question of drink. Often the lighting is poor and it's hard to see exactly what one is drawing on a dark etching plate. And when mistakes can be seen, etching doesn’t make it easy to correct them. As a result the drawings and bits of dialogue that I wrote down piled on top of each other and formed a sort of mishmash of line. Back in the studio, I used aquatint to add shades of black and gray and to try to impose some organization on the images.

(Fine, but what is an etching, you ask? Click here, and read on.)