Artist profile
I was born and grew up in the North-East of England. After studying Archaeology, Information Technology and French, I spent nearly 20 years in digital communications/education and international data and lived for 10 years in Manchester. Now married with two children and a clingy spaniel, I have returned to my home town, Saltburn and recently rediscovered my love of art, specifically printmaking.
Drawing inspiration from the natural world around me, I base my work on my own sketches and photos producing limited edition prints with relatively short runs from my home studio in Saltburn-by-the-Sea.
In the studio!
Print process images for 'Patience'
Print process
I usually create reduction linocut prints. In the reduction method of printing each layer of colour is taken from the same block of lino, which is destroyed during the process. After the initial print run, more lino is removed, re-inked and subsequent colours are printed over the top of the printed image.
My prints usually begin with a pencil sketch which I import into Procreate and play around with colours and layers. I then flip the image to reverse it and print out the digital image in the required size. I transfer the image to the lino using carbon paper and then go over the image with permanent marker so it remains visible after washing the block down between impressions. Then it's carving, inking, printing and repeat until the full edition is printed!
In my printing I usually use - Pfeill carving tools, Caligo Safe Wash or Lawrence Linseed Oil based inks, Zerkall printing paper or UNICO Fabriano paper, a Hawthorn Etching Press, Ternes Button registration Pins or a floating registration jig.
Open Editions vs. Limited Editions
An edition is a number of identical prints that are produced from the master linocut block or blocks. There are two main types of editions:
- In an Open Edition the printmaking process is unlimited, so there can be as many impressions of the master linocut block(s) as desired. As there is no limit to the number of prints that can be produced from an individual block, these prints tend to be sold at a lower and therefore more affordable price than limited editions.
- In a Limited Editions there are a fixed number of prints, which will not be changed in the future. Generally, the lower the number of prints in an edition, the larger the artistic value and therefore higher the cost. Limited edition prints are numbered - for example as '14/30', to identify the 14th impression from an edition of 30 prints. The edition number does not include artist proofs, but only the total edition size.
- Other types of editions include - Artists Proofs (test prints) and Variable Editions (still limited but a VE print may include hand colouring, different paper, chine collé - so each print within the ‘edition’ is different to the other. A VE print will use a numbering system - 1/X VE where X is the total number of prints in the edition).
Print