angel etching

This etching was done to camouflage a slight flaw in the polish. It's up for grabs in Salem, MA!

Monument etching

I recently gave a presentation for one of the art associations to which I belong and a friend wanted me to tell the audience what I did for a living, as she knew the artists would find my daily work interesting and unusual. No one had ever met a monument etcher before so I had a few questions to answer. It's hard to describe what an etching looks like so here are a couple of examples. The motorcycle monument was custom cut on the sides to accomodate the wheels, and it's one of my favorites. My job was to produce a drawing (using reference photos) to be approved by the customer, then to transfer the drawing onto the monument and finally engrave the image into the granite. My tool is a dremel with a diamond tip, and it cuts very finely into the granite with a high speed stippling motion. Over the summer, I etched the angel as a sample for the show room at one monument shop. The image is taken from a statue. I have been etching since about 1997 and I still love my job. I am very lucky to have steady work as an artist, and at the same time be able to dictate my own hours so that I am free to go out and paint whenever I like.

Here is a conundrum: why is it that I refuse to work in watercolors because "I'm afraid I'll mess up and won't be able to fix it", yet I etch on granite everyday. It's a mystery to me.