Michael Gage

After I saw how much detail the solarplate etching technique picked up from photographs, I wanted to find out whether it work as well with my drawings.

I chose two drawings out of my sketchbook from Tibet, created a transparency, and then etched it onto the photopolymer plate.


Lhasa. Solarplate etching, A4. Click for bigger version.

Again, the plate has picked up every detail of the original image. The top drawing, of Barkhor Square, was drawn in pen and ink; the bottom one, of the Jokhang temple, was in pen and ink, with watercolour washes. All the lines and tones are there.

I then printed the plate again in dark blue and red.


Lhasa. Solarplate etching, A4, second version. Click for bigger version.

My plan had been to cut the plate to create two etchings, but I think I prefer the two images together.

It's difficult to clean the solarplates when inking them, so there's quite a bit of plate tone left. (If anyone knows how to get the white areas whiter, please let me know!)

(Approx date.) Boudhanath Sadak, Kathmandu. Acrylic on canvas, 120 x 100 cm, unfinished.

Garden of Dreams, Kathmandu

We camp outside Ronbuk monastry, in heavy fog. A sleepless night: yak bump into the tents at all hours, and the temperature falls below the range of the thermometer. I wake about 3am, put on every item of clothing I can find, and it's still too cold to sleep.

Next morning, the fog clears, and in the clear bright light of day, the peak of Mount Everest looks close enough to reach out and touch.

It's a twenty minute walk, or five minute drive, to base camp. When I arrive, a soldier asks to see my passport.

 

Lhasa from the roof of the hotel, looking west along Beijing Road. In the distance, the Potala Palace dominates the city.

The Dalai Lama’s summer palace; a complex of temples, pagodas, lakes and gardens.

Urban sketching in Nepal and Tibet.

First stage of the journey takes us to Doha, with its L-shaped city views. Old, low-rise buildings stretch along the coast toward a very modern development of skyscrapers and cranes. A day here, before we fly to Kathmandu this afternoon.