Artist talk: Eleanor Watson

Following a previous career as a forensic psychiatrist, James Anderson’s colourful carborundum and layered woodcuts convey the emotion of inner worlds. We discuss abstraction, inspiration and the hard work of practice with him.

Fine resin dust is applied to the surface of the etching plate, then melted from underneath to melt and harden the dots of resin. When immersed in acid the plate ‘bites’ between the aquatint resin dots, creating a distribution of tiny holes on the plate which print as a tone.

Etching was originally invented as a method for adding decoration to armour during the Middle Ages. Artists began to use metal plates for printing in the 15th century, when Albrecht Durer made work on iron plates. Later artists such as Andrea Mantegna in Italy and Rembrandt in Holland went on to make etchings on copper.