Carselands (or "The Carse") 1914

David Young Cameron made this landscape print of the Carse of Stirling using etching. The process involves drawing with a needle on a metal plate covered with wax, then submerging it in acid. The acid bites into the metal where the needle has exposed it, creating recessed lines that hold ink. I can imagine Cameron carefully scratching the plate, line after line, building up the image. The etching process has its own language; you can see his attention to detail in the way the darks have been built up, like a slow accumulation of feeling. I'm getting a sense of place here – that vast emptiness, a low horizon. For me, it's all about the relationships between the lines – the cross-hatching that creates depth and tone, the spare use of line in the sky that gives it a sense of openness. It reminds me that artists are in a constant dialogue. Each of them is making a mark, responding to what came before, adding something new to the conversation.