June “Spanish Dagger”
Spanish Dagger
Since moving to Texas last year, I’ve become a bit obsessed with succulent plants. Maybe because I had never really seen many before, or if I did I never really payed them much attention. There is just something about the deliciously strange, jurassic beauty of succulents that I find mesmerizing. They seem like they are out of another time and place. And they remind me of dinosaurs, who doesn’t love dinosaurs? Yuccas are some of my favorites. They are tons of different varieties, but most tend to have a leafy base that produces delicate, beautiful flowers on a tall, slender stalk. Spanish Dagger’s are one of my favorite types of yucca with spiky leaves and creamy, milky flowers that hover above on a slim stalk every spring.
the copper plate, ready to start printing
plate smeared with ink
wiped with tarlatan
proofing
final proof!
After finishing ‘Spanish Dagger’, I started on a series of larger etchings of succulent plants. I’m still working on these, but here’s a peak at a few proofs.
a larger version of Spanish Dagger
Ocotillo. These guys were all over Big Bend. They remind me of giant coral or seaweed.
Red Yucca, from my front yard. They have beautiful delicate pink flowers.
