| Valerie Thornton RE 'While still a student, I saw an exhibition publicising the needs of mediaeval churches - it was a display of large photographs of beautiful crumbling stones - tracery, gargoyles, finials. These images struck a tremendous chord which is still reverberating! I went out to draw a crumbly church for the first time at 6.30 the next morning.
I soon discovered the Romanesque and have sought it out ever since in England, France, Italy and Spain and its close relative the Byzantine in Greece. The search for this subject matter has taken us to some of the most beautiful places in Europe.
I had never been interested in frescoes until about five years ago, when I was starting to paint again after years of etching and drawing. Then the smudgy, faintly-coloured figures became of intense interest. .. I like the strange flat figures. Their instructive purpose gives them a directness and sometimes perhaps inadvertent humour. In their usually faded state they are totally part of the structure. I do not copy them but use them as ideas for paintings - interpreting or inventing the colour.'
Valerie Thornton, 1990
The Process of Etching
An etching is a print made from a metal plate, copper, zinc or steel. Etching has a long history and a great many masters have used the medium - Rembrandt, Durer and Goya for example.
Engravings are likewise prints from metal plates. The image is engraved into the metal with a burin, a sharp metal point which is pushed into and along the metal surface. Etching and engraving can be used on the same plate.
There are many ways of etching lines and textures into metal, but the basic active agent which etches into the metal is acid. The areas of plate to be protected from the action of the acid are covered with one of the various acid resists - wax, varnish or resin.
A wax ground is rolled or dabbed onto the plate, completely covering it. Lines are then drawn through the wax with a sharp point. When the plate is put into the acid bath, the acid eats away the exposed metal for however long the plate is in the bath. A short etch wil produce a delicate line, a long etch a very strong line.
Varnish can be painted on in selected areas or lines, leaving the unpainted areas to etch out in the acid - producing a relief on the plate.
The technique called aquatint is the method of making areas of tone and texture. Ground up resin is sprinkled onto the plate which is heated from underneath. The resin grains melt and stick to the plate. The acid will then bite between the grains, making roughness which will hold ink when printing. Prints are made frequently while a plate is developing. These 'on the way' prints are called states.
Etching ink is oil-based and stiff. To ink up an etched (and/or engraved) plate, it is put on a heated surface. This softens the ink which can then be rubbed into the lines and roughness with a rolled up piece of scrim (stiff muslin), the surplus is then wiped off the surface first with a flat pad of scrim and finally with a light action of the flat of the printer's hand.
The ink is then transferred from plate to paper. The inked-up plate is put on a steel bed with the damped paper on it. Four thick blankets go over the paper, the bed then rolls between the heavy cast iron rollers, forcing the paper into the plate - and transferring the ink image from plate to paper. The prints are then dried and flattened. Several plates can be used for colour prints.
It is a long and exacting - but wonderful process!'
Valerie Thornton
'During an active working life of thirty-six years Valerie Thornton produced some 260 images (prints). "Buildings have been my language", she said. In them she found balance and order. The means by which she expressed that relationship, capturing the spiritual and intellectual quality of Romanesque architecture, she developed from what she had learnt from Hayter. She established her own style, which was individual and strong. Her work will be her monument.'
Ian Lowe (from The Independent,1991)
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