Reindeer
This is one of my most popular works. It started life as an idea for a Christmas card, but it was discovered by a publisher on Instagram and used as the cover artwork for a novel, The End of Drum Time by American-Finnish author Hanna Pylvainen.
Reindeer is a reduction lino print.
Prawn
The joy of lino printing is that - once you get an idea, you can execute it fast. I had a spare afternoon, decided what I wanted to do and drew the motif straight onto the lino block using references I found online. I then spent a happy couple of hours carving the block, using etching tools to created the dots you see.
I think the key to lino printing is a combination of simplification and exaggeration. Both of these are on display here.
As it's a mono-colour print, the process is quick. Within a few hours, you have lovely prints drying on the rack.
Pak Choi
An etching and aquatint, this has the added element of colour - not straightforward on one etching plate. The technique I used here is called à la poupé. It's all the way you apply and wipe ink on the plate itself.
This is a great example of how I work. I was preparing supper. I cut the pak choi I was using in half lengthways and arranged them in the pan. I saw how beautiful they looked - and hey presto.
Pomegranates
This is a pretty complex etching, as it includes three different techniques. The first two are etching and aquatint. These create the lines and the tones. The third technique is called chine collé (etching is full of French-origin words). In this case, it's the chine collé that adds the pop of red. How does it work? Once you have your etching/aquatint all done, you cut out pieces of tissue paper and stick them with a very simple paste to the etching plate. You then print the plate onto damp Somerset paper. The force of the printing press is so strong that the wet paper melds with the tissue paper. I did this a few years ago and it's still one of my favourite.
Koi Carp
This work is an etching and aquatint. In contrast to lino printing, etching allows you to be both detailed and precise.
The first step is to draw the image onto the zinc plate, prepared with an acid-resist layer of beeswax/bitumen. To get the tone you see in this (and most of my intaglio work), you apply an aquatint. This enables the deep, velvety black you see, as well as the subtle greys that help to give the fish form.
This work has special meaning for me. The koi carp you see live in the pond in the Trinity Hospice garden, where my beloved sister spent her final two weeks.
