David Sully’s etchings combine the ritual of drawing on location, with the often unexpected transformation offered by the intaglio process, to record moments observed within the landscape.

David aims to make both drypoint and aquatint prints with the same spontaneity as his sketchbook drawings. For a number of years he has repeatedly made small, relatively quick drawings in either pencil or ink wash in small sketchbooks. There is a temporal aspect of a day-to-day diary. The drawings are made at a pace and involve direct one-go decisions.
These drawings evidence the way the seasons overlap, the linear architecture of the trees in winter and their transformation in the spring and autumn.
The drawings describe individual moments and the prints provide a fuller narrative.

Drypoint or etching plates may be started or completed entirely on location with the aim of carrying the spontaneity within the sketchbooks onto the plate.

In this recent series of sugarlift etchings, David is interested in how a gestural flourish can be allied to the internal rhythm of the drawing, and how the quality of the chosen print medium can add subtlety.

David is a graduate of the Royal Academy Schools in London, and has recently been elected as an associate member of the Royal Society of painter-printmakers.