Layering : New Works by Ian Westacott

"The door was opened by the Beauly elm. I was so overwhelmed by its ancient mythical quality, the way it holds more than eight centuries of Highland history.  I had to find a way to reinterpret that".

 

 

" The Glen Loy pine is reflective of so much upheaval over the last few hundred years- war, weather, forestry. Its top is as fresh and young as any tree, but its trunk tells you anything you want to know about memory "

IAN WESTACOTT 

 

 A tree holds within its form all that has passed its way through decades or centuries it has been rooted in a single place. Countless days of light and wind, summer sun and winter storms, human and animal activity, coat the tree with layers of meaning and fill its cells with energy . Ian Westacott has been revisiting and drawing these Highland trees for many years.  He feels in them a source for the hopes and tragedies in his life, as well as in the Highlands more widely. Each work develops unhurriedly over time.

 

 Ian carries his copper plate to the tree and sits beside his subject, searching for a way into its complexity.  He begins with a hard pencil, drawing carefully through a soft wax ground covered by tissue paper, directly onto the plate.  

 

Back in his studio, he applies acid to the plate letting it eat into the copper through the unwaxed areas revealed by the pencil and the pressure from his hand.  These marks are undefined at this stage and when he prints from the plate the effect will be soft, as if made by a crayon.

 

After the first print , he strips away the soft wax and applies a firmer ground.  Using a fine-pointed etching needle,  he goes back over the image to sharpen and define the detail.

The plate is steeped in the acid for a second time and inked again for printing. Often he will repeat this,  adding more hard ground. more definition and a third or fourth printing, building texture and depth.

 

This multi-layered process has created a more expressive way of working.  "I like to explore the connection between us and other living beings.  These trees have grown in a particular Highland way. and some things are clear, others more abstract,  The Gaels have a word for the essence of things . In these works  I'm trying to find a way through to that - the trees own unique brigh."

ALISON  MUNRO