The geological processes of erosion, weathering and accretion, which shapes the land are literally etched into my finished plates. Using the corrosive and textural power of iron salts on copperplate, successive soft-grounds are drawn on, directly and expressively, to retain the quality of pencil marks. Each ground is then etched, until, after several states, a complex, layered topography is created.
The resultant prints do not try to hide the process of making rather they celebrate it. The stark tonality of positive and negative space throws landscape into sharp relief, in an expressionist reimagining of Irish landscape. These etchings of land and seascapes in Co. Wicklow and Co. Clare are rooted in my geographical background and my practice of drawing in the landscape.
Gallery: