Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/357002
(Clockwise) "Matilija Poppy,"1976, aquatint and drypoint, "Sally," 1979, aquatint, drypoint, and etching, "Buster," 1982, aquatint, drypoint, and etching. 206 C A R M E L M A G A Z I N E • S U M M E R / F A L L 2 0 1 4 Given her virtuoso facility with line, Van Hoesen's mastery of the intaglio printing process (including etching, engraving, dry point, and aquatint) is not surprising. Abundant skill with a variety of tools and technical procedures enabled her to achieve superb quality prints, in which her meticulous attention to detail and eye for color blossomed. To create the French lop-eared rabbit "Sally" (1979), perhaps her most recognizable and beloved work, Van Hoesen made 20 individual drawings before incising the printing plate, and worked through a process of 12 distinct steps to apply and blend color and add detail before she was satisfied with the result. Only then did she turn the plate over to the pressman to create the print edition. Van Hoesen even took the addi- tional step of hand-coloring a finished print with watercolor or colored pencil. The young artist began to draw just about as soon as she could hold a pencil. Her first sub- jects were people, and she drew them in every place and kind of situation. While bedridden with a long illness, she copied pictures from magazines and books, and later her favorite paintings in museums. In the book "Creatures," she is quoted: "I don't remember making a deci- sion to be an artist. I just was one." Following her parent's wishes, she attended Stanford University rather than Black Mountain College,