David Sully was a student at the Royal Academy Schools under the teaching of Peter Freeth RA RE. Subsequently, he was employed to edition prints for artists at the 107 Workshop in Wiltshire, and worked for five years plate making and editioning intaglio prints.
He aims to make both drypoint and aquatint prints with the same spontaneity as his sketchbook drawings. For a number of years he has carried out the ritual of making 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.
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. David is interested in how a gestural flourish can be allied to the internal rhythm of the drawing, and how the quality of each chosen print medium can add subtlety.
