Caroline Walker writes: ‘Early Years brings my interest in nurseries as a subject for painting into the language of printmaking with my first set of etchings since experimenting with the medium during my MA at the Royal College of Art (2007-2009). “Early Years” is a term used to describe children’s developmental provision in the years before they start school. It’s a period in which young children learn about the world around them – how to feed and dress themselves, speak and understand language and build relationships with others. Each etching depicts a scene of nurture with a pared-back palette of colours allowing me to enjoy the quality of line that etching offers. Spoon Fed depicts my own daughter eating lunch as a two-year-old, Comforted and Prepared show children in the forest setting of the outdoor nursery both my children have attended, and in Settled the little girl at the centre of the image looks back directly, interested in my presence there documenting these acts of care which are most often out of sight.

‘A separate etching, Changeover Day, depicts a scene from the guest changeover day at a holiday park in Southern England. On Mondays and Fridays each week the housekeeping team sweep across the site cleaning, changing bed sheets and preparing the log cabin accommodation for the next holidaymakers. In this etching one of the cleaners is seen carrying bags of laundry through the dappled sunlight of the picturesque woodland setting.

‘It’s been both enjoyable and challenging to work with etching again so many years after exploring it as a student. I’ve had 10 years of getting to grips with lithography, but working with etching has felt like learning a completely different language, opening up a new way of image-making in printmaking for me. I spent time studying Mary Cassatt’s and Paula Rego’s etchings of women and children for some inspiration on how to approach it. The first stage of soft ground etching felt like drawing in the way I make preparatory studies for my paintings. Then over the course of five months, we’ve added more to the plates to add spatial depth and dimension – aquatint, sugar lift, a subtle base colour and then finally a touch of watercolour to highlight some areas and bring into focus the human relationships being portrayed in the prints.’