A Girl's Head - K 1919

Augustus John created this image of a girl's head by etching lines into a copper plate. I just love to think about the hand of the artist, pressing into that metal, guided by intuition. Look how he has rendered the shadows on the right side of her face with all those tiny, hatched lines. You can see the time it took, and the process of building up form and tone. I wonder, was it meditative? Painters make so many decisions. Do I like it? What if I try this? They are in constant conversation with the work, changing it until it finally feels right. Even those scribbly lines at the top seem important - they remind me of her hair and all its volume. Painters share their ideas with each other, too, across time. This etching feels very modern, but it also makes me think of Renaissance drawings. We are all connected, through looking and learning, and finding our own way.