Originally from Scotland, I studied illustration at Edinburgh College of Art and later moved to Kingston Upon Thames to complete an MA in Design for Film and Television.
I held various creative roles in film and TV for the next few years until a working break in the Italian Dolomites, teaching watercolour painting, renewed my love of the natural world and became the catalyst for change. I began to devote more of my time to creative pursuits and delevop my own art.
The main focus of my art practice is now intaglio printmaking, mainly etching and aquatint. As life escalates into a digital age, I find myself drawn towards techniques that are tactile and multi-sensory. There is something enchanting about etching - so many stages are involved, so many external influences and reactions, many of which are beyond the control of the artist. It is a mixture of art, craft and chemistry. The process is both methodical and intuitive and the result can never be totally predicted. As a result, something much more tangible than a computer print, or even a drawing is created.
Etchings are very tactile pieces of art. When the print is made on an etching press, the paper is pushed into tiny rivulets, creating an almost imperceptible three-dimensional shadow of the plate. If you run your fingers across the surface of the print you can feel the ridges of ink. This effect is more clearly seen around the edges, where the paper envelopes the plate and creates a clear emboss.
I generally work on a small scale and love capturing tiny details. A fine etching needle is capable of producing whispery lines and diminutive marks that could never be achieved with any other drawing tool. Each part of the image-making process has it’s own characteristics - the crispness of the etched line, the contrasting painterly strokes of aquatint, and the soft velvety burnished areas. Etching has incredible potential to transform a simple drawing into something more detailed, tactile and layered. The process is time consuming and labour intensive, but meditative. It is extremely satisfying to work through each stage by hand, with every decision having an effect on the outcome. There is a great sense of anticipation when the paper is lifted from the plate to reveal the first proof.