In the 50's and 60's our family frequently visited Anza Borrego Desert Park in December. We would spend the days exploring this beautiful landscape. One of the spots we explored was marked as the "Slot" on the U.S.G.S. Topographical map of Borrego Mountain. This slot canyon starts as a shallow ditch, cuts into a narrow sandstone crevice barely wide enough to walk through, and widens out into a sandy arroyo.

This is a color viscosity etching that I did in Kay Metz's printmaking class at the University of California at Santa Cruz. The concept of this type of print is that first the plate is etched to create different levels, then ink is wiped and rolled onto the different levels. The plate is inked and wiped to get color into the deepest level, then a hard roller is used to deposit ink on the top level, and finally a softer roller is used to deposit ink onto the middle levels. Different viscosities of ink are used, which allows one ink to resist another, thus depositing different colors on various parts of the plate. The plate is printed in one pass through the press.

Other prints using this method are, Conquest of a Small Planet, Computerization, Crystal Growth, and This is a Doodle.

Photos of this small canyon led to a whole series of prints. Other ones are: The Slot #3, The Slot #5, The Slot #6, The Slot#7, The Slot #8, The Slot#9, The Slot #10, and The Slot #11. I also did a painting:The Slot.