Bill Ritchie's art in the
Inge Balch Collection
Little C Square
1977 Print. Intaglio & woodcut. Black, ochre, blue, orange. Smith & Weber intaglio ink and watercolor on Japanese papers chine colle'd on Van Gelder Zonen. 6 3/4 X 5 in. on 12 X 9 in. Number 33 of an edition of 98. Signed lower right
Artist's Comment: The C-squares series used the architect and engineer's instrument, warped, bent and twisted. It was the year of the Great Wave Square at Seattle's art festival, Bumbershoot, and other works on this theme. Sosaku-hanga is similar to watercolor and I could get a variety of colors in the foreground (bottom) area of the print. No two are alike - but almost. The bent 'C' form of the C-square is debossed.I used a pierced, cut-out area in the thin copper that I used for the etching and a ribbon of wood veneer carried the ochre.