That is no country for old men. The young

In one another’s arms, birds in the trees,

—Those dying generations—at their song,

The salmon-falls, the mackerel-crowded seas,

Fish, flesh, or fowl, commend all summer long

Whatever is begotten, born, and dies.

Caught in that sensual music all neglect

Monuments of unageing intellect.

An aged man is but a paltry thing,

A tattered coat upon a stick, unless

Soul clap its hands and sing, and louder sing

For every tatter in its mortal dress,

Nor is there singing school but studying

Monuments of its own magnificence;

And therefore I have sailed the seas and come

To the holy city of Byzantium.

The medium of drypoint suited my idea for this artwork perfectly. Drypoint is a process where the artist scratches a drawing into a plate traditionally the plate was metal now it is more commonly plastic. As the artist scratches the drawing the displaced material creates a burr which holds ink when printed in addition to the incised line. It is this burr which gives the drypoint the rich fury line quality.

The image is printed intaglio which is the same way an etching is printed. First the surface of the plate iscovered in etching  ink.

Then the ink is carefully wiped back using paper, this is quite a labour intensive process.

Gradually the image is revealed, in mirror image to how it will print. When the artist has finished wiping back, the ink is trapped in the low lying areas of the plate. Moisened paper is placed on top of the plate and they are turned though an etching press.

The image imprints onto the paper. Each print has to be re inked – the entire process is repeated each time. It always feels magical revealing the print and seeing how it has turned out.