Magnificent Kensington 1904

Joseph Pennell made this etching, "Magnificent Kensington," with ink and a metal plate. Look how he lets the lines pile up, layer upon layer, to create this towering building. It's all about the process, the doing, the physical act of making marks. You can almost feel the pressure of the tool, the way it bites into the metal. The ink pools in some areas, creating these dense, shadowy depths, then fades away, leaving a delicate, almost ghostly trace, like the building is emerging from a dream. Notice how Pennell uses this layering to build up the clouds, giving them a sense of weight and volume. It reminds me a bit of Piranesi, the way he uses architecture to create these incredible, almost hallucinatory spaces. Art's an ongoing conversation, right? A way of seeing, thinking, and experiencing the world that's never truly fixed.