Ian Brooks

My work is rooted in landscape – particularly wild, remote, sometimes bleak locations – and a fascination with its small-scale details and textures. 
 
I work primarily with the traditional etching techniques of sugar-lift and spit-bite aquatint, building up the image in layers of tightly-controlled drawing, and more abstract, loose, semi-random marks which mimic the natural textures of the landscape. While working on the etchings I find a constant tension between a natural tendency towards realism and finely rendered detail, and a desire to simplify and abstract the image to achieve a looser rendering that maintains the energy of sketches made in the field.