Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
About Me
In 2012 I began to pursue my life-long interest in art more seriously. I started out painting, in acrylics and watercolours, preferring to interpret landscapes and images from nature. Much of my inspiration was drawn from the surroundings of our small farm, which teems with birds and animals. Like most farms in this area, the soil is very poor, but we have wildflowers, trees and rocks in abundance. The navigable canal which borders our farm and the nearby large marshland are also sources of inspiration.
I also began to explore working with fibres and wood from the farm and enjoyed many adventures felting wool and silk, repurposing fabrics, crafting items from wood and birch bark, and sewing. This was a real surprise to me, as my relationship with needles and sewing machines had never been particularly harmonious!
Then, in an effort to improve my painting, I decided to try another medium to build my overall skill as an artist. So I took a printmaking course and found a medium I really loved and wanted to explore. I began with relief printing, using wood and linoleum (lino) blocks, often burnishing by hand. I then began to learn intaglio techniques including dry point (using an acetate or plexiglass plate), metal plates etched with acid, collagraphs (using cardboard as the plate), lithography (with gorgeous old litho stones in use for decades), and other materials such as Sintra (a dense PVC foam). I have also begun printing with recycled materials like Tetrapak containers, potato chip packets and take-away food containers.
What is it about printmaking that appeals to me so much? The history of printmaking and the fact that many materials and techniques have changed very little over the centuries. I appreciate that my prints, each one an original work, are more accessible to those purchasing art, I love the planning process for a print and the preparation involved, and I enjoy the puzzle and problem-solving elements of producing a print! I appreciate the range of techniques that are available for making a plate or block, applying the ink and choosing the paper which, when combined, provide an almost endless number of ways to express myself. Perhaps most of all, I am fascinated by the alchemy of the press. No matter how meticulous my preparation, I cannot entirely control what happens when I put ink, paper and block or plate together. I always hold my breath when I lift the press blankets and peel away the paper to reveal how the press has transferred my image.
I hope you enjoy the images on my website and share the pleasure I get in creating artworks that celebrate the natural and the built world around me.
All my prints are available for sale and I mail unframed prints to North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. Each photo of a print indicates in the caption the image size and the price.
About My Work
Fine Art Prints
Each print is an original work of art, not a reproduction, created by making (carving, building, etching) a plate or block, which I then use to transfer ink to paper, either by hand or with a press. Each of my prints is numbered (unless it is a unique print) and signed, and most of my editions are small (20 prints or fewer). I love and respect the history and traditions of printmaking, the process and the planning, and the alchemy of what happens in the press, beyond my control.
Paintings
I paint in acrylics and watercolours on canvas, wood and paper. Cows are one of my favourite subjects!