The engraving workshop has really helped me understand
Blake’s work. In a way that is exactly
what he means when he says "As the true method of
knowledge is experiment the true faculty of
knowing must be the faculty which experiments." In
all the classes I have ever taken, the lessons
I learn are the lessons done hands on or been about a
subject that really interests me. In high
school, I had to take a chemistry class (ick!). All
year in chemistry I had a hard time keeping any
interest in the subject. It was the last lab that
forever changed my opinion about chemistry. And
even looking back now, I have a fondness for the
subject because of my experience with the last
lab. We were given a number of unknown liquids and it
was our job to figure out what was in
each vile. I had to research numerous methods of
eliminating certain elements and also the
different ways to figure out precisely what element
was present. The engraving workshop has
been a similar experience: to actually go through
similar processes is astounding.
Even more interesting has been the painting of the
engravings. The first engraving I did, I used
watercolor pencils. The colors were dull and almost
lifeless. But then I used the paints and the
colors were brighter and more vivid. Then on the last
engraving, I used less water that gave a
completely different effect. The coloring of these
engravings was an experiment in creativity
itself. In the middle of one engraving, I already had
ideas for the next one and these ideas kept
building the more I did. It is easy to see how the
different prints Blake did could change so
drastically in color because there are so many ways to
see things that the nuances of color are
only limited by the imagination. That is why it is so
hard to imagine why Blake disliked the
Industrial Revolution. Part of it I do understand:
the dependability on machines and the
movement away from nature. But the pure part of the
revolution, where ideas were built upon
other ideas (think of the bicycle or the steam engine)
– I think Blake would have applauded that.
I think it is so rare for an artist to be capable in
two mediums – and two very different mediums.
is so amazing to see what he thought and what he saw.
Like when you read a book and you have
certain images in your head about the characters, the
setting, what everything looks like, but then
the movie version comes out and the characters are
nothing like you pictured, or its set in a place
completely opposite of what you thought. But with
Blake, you have what he thought and what he
saw, so there should be little confusion. Although
the confusion is still present. But by seeing
what he thought and saw about characters and places,
we stumble down his path of sight.

Little Blurb about my engravings....
The design I choose was kind of a collage of different
images. The tree is my very own drawing
but placed in the engraving because Blake used
numerous trees in his engravings. The female
figure is half stolen from a Rodin statue except I
added a head. The figure in the top corner is a
copy of "The Ancient of Days" or the character of
Urizen (the plate can be found in Blake’s
Europe). There are some interesting ingredients that
are more happenstance than anything else
and that is the four elements are portrayed in the
engraving: earth, wind, fire and water. In my
engraving everything is connected and the Urizen
character is creating something, which is not
the case in "The Ancient of Days" engraving. I
started out using watercolor pencils but the color
wasn’t vibrant enough and then changed to watercolor
paints. The final engraving I used less
water to get a darker, more vivid coloring. I choose
red tones only because I am attracted to them
although I would love to use cooler blue tones but I
seem to paint best in warm colors. The
poem I used in Blake’s and is from the "Auguries of
Innocence." It was important for me to use
his own words because the whole project was to
understand the process he used and to better
understand the use of images with words.