The image I have chosen to reconstruct is Sir Charles’ Bell’s first plate from his The Anatomy of the Brain, Explained in a Series of Engravings. I was called to this image after seeing it in our reading of “The nervous system and the anatomy of expression: Sir Charles Bell’s anatomical watercolors” by Brendan Clarke and Chiara Ambrosio since I have been exploring watercolor as a recreational art medium and I had yet to do a proper anatomical study; I also had never painted something so visceral before. In this engraving, Bell depicts the “general Anatomy and subdivisions of the Brain” and intends it for an audience or readers to learn about the structure of the brain, the meninges, and blood vessels. This plate employed watercolor painting and stipple engraving techniques to create the image. While watercolor painting may only require paintbrushes, watercolor paints, and paper, a stipple engraving is much more complex. Stipple engraving uses a pattern of dots of different sizes and densities to create variations in tone. The dots would be engraved into a metal plate using a steel cutting tool called a burin or using an etching process, in which acid or dye fixative is used to cut into an exposed metal surface. However, I do not have access to a burin or etching process materials, and such methods have been replaced by modern printers for more everyday usage. To recreate the iconic dots of stipple engraving, the best way would be to employ pointillism techniques during the painting process by just dotting with the tip of the paintbrush.
While recreating this image, I looked up online for the same image of this engraving, and I found digital copies of the entire The Anatomy of the Brain, Explained in a Series of Engravings that had higher resolutions, which allowed me to zoom in on details that I either did not notice or got wrong entirely. I used heavily this online copy as reference throughout my recreation.
Before you start, provide answers to the following:
- What is this image for?
- This image is for representing the general anatomy of the brain.
- Where is the image coming from? What do we know of its source? Its audience?
- This image is the first plate in Sir Charles Bell’s The Anatomy of the Brain, Explained in a Series of Engravings. This source was originally printed in 1802. Its audience is most likely medical students, surgeons, and/or anatomists interested in the brain, as Bell wanted to represent the brain without the destruction of dissection.
Materials & measurements
- Can we identify all the materials needed to make it?
- Materials needed to make this image include ink, watercolor, and paper. For the stipple engravings, metal plates and tools or acid would be needed.
- Are there multiple varieties of tools used to make it?
- In stipple engraving, the engraving could be made using a steel cutting tool called a burin or by an etching process that uses acid or dye mordant to create a design in the metal plate.
- What is the stability of a material over time?
- Watercolor paints have a longevity ranging from two to ten years, depending on how it is made and who produces it. Paper also takes about five years to begin yellowing. Stipple engraving would last as long as the metal does before it starts to oxidize or before the liquid reagents break down.
Tools & equipment
- What tools are necessary?
- Ink, a pen that uses said ink, watercolor brushes, watercolor paints, paper, metal plates, etching acid or mordant, etching needles, and a burin are necessary tools to create this image. To replicate this image, I would need a pen, watercolor paints and brushes, pencils, paper, and a lightbox.
- What are the best ways to replicate the effects of inaccessible tools?
- I do not have any sort of etching or stipple engraving materials. To create the “dotted” effect that stipple engraving employs, I can use a small paintbrush like for pointillism.
- How do technological changes impact our interpretation/expectation of the image? (e.g., engraving, woodcut, silver chromate)
- Since the image has been republished (therefore repainted and re-engraved), we may or may not be working from what Sir Charles Bell originally created. I also only had access to a digital version of this image, so there is a loss of resolution and quality when recreating this image when reprinting it and tracing it. This will result in a less accurate depiction of the brain.
FIELD NOTE 1 OF 3
Date: 2/11/2022
People Involved: just me
Location: at my desk in my family home
Reconstruction conditions: Late at night, everyone in the house was asleep except for me. Mostly quiet. Had my “classical jamz” Spotify playlist playing.
Time and duration of reconstruction: Started at 11:36 PM on 2/11/2022 and took about eleven minutes.
Equipment and tools used: Printer. Mechanical pen with 0.7 mm lead and 0.3 mm lead.
Subjective factors, e.g., how things smelled/looked/felt: It was a pretty chilly day, so my full mobility was limited. I suffer from chronic hand/wrist pains that result directly of extensive drawing and writing, so I took frequent breaks due to the pain that inevitably flared up during this project, but this pain also caused me to make some mistakes in tracing. I also routinely drank tea and because I had music on, I casually danced along at times. Also, my printer does have the best resolution when it comes to printing colored pictures, so I lost a lot of details when I printed out the images to trace.
Prior knowledge that you have: I’ve traced images onto paper before, but my previous tracings have been smaller pieces of paper that I applied directly to my phone screen or laptop screen.
Reflection on your practice: After initially printing out my images, I realized that my printer did not print in as high quality as I intended. I had to start a “pre-tracing” in which I lined as much as I could with regular pencil. This was to accent the lines to be more easily seen through the tissue paper. It felt weird to document this particular practice as it didn’t really end up on the final recreation; it was just more of a guide for me personally. It may have also hindered my recreation since I did make many mistakes in this pre-trace which would eventually be carried down to the final recreation, but this was my first sit-down with basically as close to the original image.
Photos/video documenting process:
Questions that arise:
- Did Sir Charles Bell suffer from any sort of hand/wrist injury or pain as a result of his drawing and writing, too?
- What can I change about my own techniques to help preserve my own health?
- Why did Sir Charles Bell pose the man for the brain image as if he were sleeping?
- Did Sir Charles Bell intend on including details like the arm, the facial hair, the nose, the eyebrows, and the typical head hair in the illustration? He could have easily solely focused on the brain only.
FIELD NOTE 2 OF 3
Date: 2/12/2022
People Involved: just me
Location: At my desk in my family home
Reconstruction conditions: Quiet. I was home alone as my parents had left for a party and I had the house to myself during the entire time of this practice. Had YouTube videos playing in the background with no headphones.
Time and duration of reconstruction: Started at around 8:30 PM on 2/12/2022 and took about 3 hours (with breaks).
Equipment and tools used: Mechanical pen with 0.7 mm lead and 0.3 mm lead. StatMark Pen typically used for microscope slide and tissue cassette labelling. 15 inch ruler. Scissors. Compass (like the kind that helps you draw perfect circles). Plastic container with lid. Lamp. LED battery-operated wire lights. Tissue paper. Scotch tape.
Subjective factors, e.g., how things smelled/looked/felt: While creating a DIY/bootleg lightbox, I realized that the LED lights were just not bright enough. So I had to ramp things up by taking my entire desk lamp and placing it in my lap while holding my clear plastic box over the head of the lamp. It was very bright. When I needed to turn the lamp off to replace it, everything was pitch black despite the light from my computer screen. I also electrocuted myself trying to unplug my lamp while it was still on because the tips of my fingers touched the metal of the plug. I had a strong tingling sensation up my hand and ulnar side of my arm that faded into a dull ache.
Prior knowledge that you have: I have traced something that I have drawn before (in a form of transferring media), but that was only from regular sketch into digital art. I looked up methods on how to transfer my trace to watercolor paper (or any other medium) prior to starting this practice.
Reflection on your practice: I realized I had no idea how to handle tissue paper. I ripped the paper a lot when beginning to transfer the trace to watercolor paper, but I was able to resolve it by using Scotch tape. I also had to change how my makeshift lightbox worked because it just wasn’t bright enough for me. I also do not think it was wise to have a 60 watt lightbulb directly shining in my face. I mentioned before that I had shocked myself by accidentally touching the metal part of the plug as I was unplugging it while the current was still flowing through. This was actually not the first time this happened to me. About five years ago, when I was a sophomore in high school, I did the exact same thing with my iPod touch charger (the same as an iPhone charger). This time, I had a better reaction because I recognized the feeling. However, five years ago, I let the current travel up my entire arm, almost around my shoulder, before realizing I was touching a dangerous part of the plug (I personally blame young Keanu Reeves for getting myself electrocuted for the first incident because we were watching the 1993 Much Ado About Nothing movie at the time, but I digress).
Photos/video documenting process:
Questions that arise:
- Is there an easier way to do this?
- Did I really have to make myself trace this whole image three times?
- Has anything about my body changed as a result of two electrocutions through the arm? What are some long term health consequences that I have to face now?
FIELD NOTE 3 OF 3
Date: 2/13/2022
People Involved: just myself
Location: At my desk in my family home
Reconstruction conditions: Afternoon. Beautiful day outside, nice and sunny with not a cloud in the sky. Lots of machine sounds like the washer and dryer in the background. YouTube videos playing in the background
Time and duration of reconstruction: started at around 3:30 PM, ended at around 4:50 PM. Duration of an hour and twenty minutes.
Equipment and tools used: Mechanical pencil (0.7 mm lead and 0.3 mm lead). Watercolor paint set. Round brushes. Fine tipped chemical resistant permanent marker. White gel pen. Plastic cup filled with tap water. Paper towels. Electric hair dryer.
Subjective factors, e.g., how things smelled/looked/felt: The sun was going down as I was painting, so it felt like my color perception might be off due to the brightness changes. It was rather cool in my house, so my fingers got really cold and stiff. Doing this part of the project was during a time crunch where I had a few hours before returning to something, so I had a bit of stress. The washer and dryer were running in the background. The paper of the original image was yellowed, and I was working with a white canvas, so my recreation was less yellow. My arm and hand were aching throughout the entire process.
Prior knowledge that you have: I have experience with watercolor painting, but I’ve never done a painting that was so visceral or anatomically focused before. I knew that I could speed up the drying process with a hair dryer to save time.
Reflection on your practice: I started this practice because I had a large chunk of time between interview conducting. When I first started, I felt as though I was under severe time constraints which caused stress, but as I continued painting, that stress melted away, and I focused on just wanting to paint as best as I could. I also was drinking tea, but that was not a good idea as I had a cup of paint water nearby. But I was too focused on the painting that I did not even drink anything. I also noticed that I had the letters wrong in the initial tracing. I was able to rectify this when making the final trace to make the guidelines more visible. I traced this image by Sir Charles Bell four times, and I wonder if that had anything to do with my arm/hand pain.
Photos/video documenting process:
Questions that arise:
- How could I have painted this without having the guidelines being so present?
- How could I have better balanced the guidelines to be dark enough to be seen when painting; light enough to not be seen in the final painting; yet dark enough to not fade away in the presence of water?
- How were watercolor artists so good at hiding guidelines? What tools would I need for that?