Rowan

Rowan depicts the Sorbus aucuparia, a small tree native to Irish hedgerows and uplands long associated with folklore and threshold sites. Doyle works in copper-sulphate etching, a less toxic alternative to traditional ferric chloride or nitric acid mordants — the salt solution bites the plate slowly to produce fine, persistent lines well suited to botanical record. The addition of chine-collé, in which a thin sheet of (often Japanese) paper is laminated to the heavier support during printing, allows her to introduce a contrasting tonal field — typically a warmer or more saturated ground — beneath the etched line. This treatment situates the rowan against a coloured backing rather than the white of the cotton paper, and the seam of the chine-collé sheet often functions as a quiet compositional frame. The print sits within Doyle's career-long survey of Irish trees and hedgerow flora, conducted from her studio at Graphic Studio Dublin since 1991.