Early Morning, Fintray 1911

James McBey made this etching, Early Morning, Fintray, with ink on paper. It’s all about these lines, like a spider web delicately spun across the paper, creating trees and reflections. McBey’s not trying to hide the process, each stroke feels like a decision, a breath held and released. The material is so present here. The ink isn't trying to be anything else. Look at the bottom left corner, how the reeds or grasses are just bundles of quick marks, but they totally read as thick with growth. And the surface of the water, it's not smooth or glassy, but alive with this almost frenetic energy. Then your eye is drawn to the two trees, these anchoring shapes that are softly rendered. They are full but also feel transient, like you could blink and they might just dissolve. McBey reminds me a little bit of Whistler, with this focus on mood and atmosphere, but there’s something rawer, more immediate in McBey’s touch. This piece is about capturing a fleeting moment, a feeling more than a place, and embracing the beauty of ambiguity.