Otter Waters. Denis Brown, 2002.
5 sheets of glass engraved with writing over a watercolor paper background supporting an unique print with an image composed from blurred scans of the glass writings. 42 x 30 cm. Features the poem "Liadain to Curithir" by Catherine Byron.

Back in 2002 I started using digital technology to compose the background images that lie behind multiple sheets of hand engraved glass. I started scanning the writing on individual glass sheets, blurring and colorizing them in Photoshop, and composing an image to be printed using an archival inkjet process. The works derive a rich texture, comprising:

the hand-engraved lettering,
shadows of this, which vary depending on lighting conditions,
more 'virtual' shadows; i.e., the printed image of blurred engraving.

These days I achieve even richer backgrounds by printing onto papers that I first paint and/or gild by hand. I then apply special coatings to facilitate a print that really glows and comes alive. Usually I add further touches of hand painted detail before finishing with an ultra-violet protective spray. The spaced layers of engraved glass above these backgrounds takes the images into a three dimensional space that may only be imagined from flat photographs or web images.


©2011 Denis Brown \| www.quillskill.com

Otter Waters. Denis Brown, 2002. 5 sheets of glass engraved with writing over a watercolor paper background supporting an unique print with an image composed from blurred scans of the glass writings. 42 x 30 cm. Features the poem "Liadain to Curithir" by Catherine Byron.

Otter Waters. Denis Brown, 2002.
5 sheets of glass engraved with writing over a watercolor paper background supporting an unique print with an image composed from blurred scans of the glass writings. 42 x 30 cm. Features the poem "Liadain to Curithir" by Catherine Byron.