Artist Statement
I studied Printed Textiles at Manchester Metropolitan University and have been an artist and printmaker for over thirty years. I have worked in many fields of art and design, including designing furnishing fabric, tapestry needlepoint and greeting card designs for companies including Primavera, Papryrus USA, Anna French, The National Trust and Liberty. I have exhibited my paintings and prints in galleries, and artisan fairs both in the UK and abroad and I’m currently a member of Peak District Artisans.
I keep my printing press in my front room, where I also have a gallery of artworks.
I use many different printmaking techniques, including etchings, collagraph, dry point and monoprint. My work reflects an attempt to recreate a personal inventory or treasures, possessions and memories, often evoking a quiet secret world of strange birds, magical characters and moonlit gardens. It includes a lot of romantic or magical imagery, British flora and fauna, plenty of moons, angels, wings and strange witchy characters. My work is both decorative and illustrative too, often inspired by folktales and books I have read as a child.
Printmaking allows me to explore variations on a theme. I enjoy the process of layering different media, often combining monoprint with watercolour, pastels, ink and even bleach on the same piece, often creating a distinctive ethereal quality. I love to break rules: prints are frequently drawn into or re-coloured. The aim is to create a unique and beautiful surface, experiment with mood and colour; it’s all a bit of an adventure really!
