Throughout my printmaking experience, I have always been so concentrated on line and form. For this print, I wanted to "let loose" and experiment with free form. I wanted to create a plate that wasn't dedicated to portraying a certain image. I wanted to see what would happen and what I could create if there was no rhyme or reason to the process. I used a paint pen as ground, and to create a different type of texture that I hadn't yet explored with. I experimented with etching, and defining negative space.
When printing, I discovered that the negative shape I had created had a life all its own. But what was it, this shape, this thing? I've never really quite decided what exactly it is, so henceforth I dubbed it, "The Thing". This was an experimental plate, proof to myself that I could represent something more figuratively as opposed to literal. In the end, "The Thing" is left open to interpretation and the viewer can decide what this shape means or represents.