Olive Branch I

Olive Branch I, the opening print of a numbered series, takes the elongated silver-green leaves and small ovoid fruit of Olea europaea as its subject. The Roman numeral indicates that Doyle has returned to the olive more than once, treating it across multiple plates much as a draughtsman returns to a single motif under different conditions. Etching renders the lance-shaped leaves through fine parallel hatching and the slight torsion of the leaf as it twists from the stem; aquatint or plate tone can hold the matte, dust-pale colour of the foliage against the white of the paper. The olive belongs to her studies of cultivated trees beyond the Irish flora — a Mediterranean specimen alongside her pomegranates and citrus subjects — and carries a deep iconographic resonance she does not exploit overtly: the etched branch is presented as a botanical portrait, the symbolism left for the viewer to recognise. The work is consistent with her practice at Graphic Studio Dublin, where intaglio supports such restrained, observational images.