Since the 1980s, Leeds-born artist Norman Ackroyd has lived in and worked from an old leather warehouse in Bermondsey, south London. There he produces his work on an early 20th-century printing press, including his stunning coastal landscapes.
Isle of Pabbay, Hebrides. All images by Norman Ackroyd
Norman Ackroyd’s semi-abstract etchings capture Britain’s craggy outcrops and wild seas in dramatic monochromes, using a technique called aquatint.
The meticulous process involves applying a fine powder of acid-resistant pine rosin onto the engraved copper plate, then immersing it in an acid bath where it produces large swathes of soft half-tone, giving a watercolour-like quality to the image.
Ackroyd etched many of his landscapes on a tour of the British Isles in the 1960s and 70s, yet they remain strikingly fresh and contemporary.
