How an Edition Is Made

An edition begins long before the press warms up. The chosen frame is proofed at small size, pinned to the studio wall, and lived with for a fortnight. If it still earns its place after fourteen days of glances, it graduates to full size.

Proofing is where the colour is argued over. The river in Still Water Under Stars took nine proofs before the gold sat right — warm enough to remember the lamps, cool enough to stay night. The tenth proof went on the wall; the first nine went in the flat file, where they still teach.

A print is finished when removing anything else would break it.

Then the run: giclée on cotton rag, one frame at a time, each sheet inspected under the north window before it is signed. Numbering is in pencil, lower left; the embossed studio seal sits lower right. Two artist proofs are set aside and never sold.

When the edition number is reached, the file is retired — no reprints, no second runs, no exceptions. Scarcity here is not a tactic; it is a promise kept in public, and collectors hold us to it.