Today I printed the final layer.
I've got mixed feelings about this one. I'm really pleased with the reflections in the water, I think the mixture of the caustic soda and the cutting has been really effective. It doesn't read as ice though, just water, although I think it would be really hard to get it reading as ice since even the photograph isn't clear. The distant tree foliage also works well and the rainbow roll in the ink adds a little something to it.
I don't like the white reflection of the sun on the water, it feels like too much. I also think there needed to be more red in the bracken, the pale orange works on the foreground grass but there needs to be an in between colour between the dull brown and the orange, a deeper red-brown to really bring it to life. The slight rainbow roll on the water worked nicely, making the foreground water a slightly deeper blue. I think the trees and the reflections needed similar treatment - the tree trunks should have been every so slightly muted in comparison to the reflections.
I'm also wondering about the composition, I think the line of the bank in the distance needs more variation, it's too flat making the image look slightly stripey.
I think doing a watercolour of this first to get more of an idea of the colours and composition could be a good idea.
I'd like to have another go at this since I think there is potential for a really stunning print here that does justice to the beauty of the forest. The caustic soda etching is fascinating but I don't like the way I had to work around the tree trunks so I think doing a two block reduction could be a good idea. One block for the distant foliage, trunks, grasses and water and another for the middle strip of bracken and grasses. I would have to handle the area where there grasses overlap the middle block with extreme care to figure out exactly how to handle this part.