I draw, I sketch and produce mixed-media collages but my absolute passion is for linocutting, and it has been since the mid 1990's. I enjoy the physical process of cutting and carving the lino with freshly honed tools and I find the variety of styles and marks I can achieve with such simple materials always challenging but endlessly surprising and satisfying. You can read more about me and my work here.
NEWS SNIPPETS - August 2024
As summer trots on, time to reflect on the last couple of months.
Sales of the new edition "Ty John Pier, Nant Ffrancon" (completed in May), featuring John Piper's farmhouse in the Ogwen Valley, now possibly better recognised as the cottage in the TV series 'Mr Bates and the Post Office', have taken me by surprise and out of the edition of 10, I only have one left online in the Mountains section . People have bought for various reasons, people who love the Ogwen Valley, John Piper 'fans' and one to someone who used to live in the farmhouse when he was a student in Bangor University in the 1970's. It's always a bonus to be told what triggers a sale.
A new linocut of the view from the Menai Suspension Bridge looking towards Beaumaris is also complete ...not on the website yet but available as part of the Summer Exhibition at the beautiful Oriel Glasfryn and at The Royal Cambrian Academy in Conwy.
On Saturday 10th August, I'll be leading a Drawing Day at The Royal Cambrian Academy in Conwy. This is a free event and everyone is welcome. Grab a sketchbook and join artists from the Liverpool Sketching Club and the RCA - fingers crossed for a dry day!
Reduction linocutting is one of the most complex and intriguing forms of relief printmaking - it requires having to work with a reversed sketch or drawing, being able to envisage multiple layers of tone and colour, all whilst working toward a final image which exists only in my head.
The reduction process involves using a single block of lino which is progressively cut away for each layer of colour. As the block is essentially destroyed during the process, a reduction print can never be reprinted or re-editioned, guaranteeing a genuinely limited edition.
