Nature and Birds seem to be central to your work. What is it about these subjects that fascinates you the most?
I have always been fascinated by painting/drawing/sculpting/printing birds and I still don’t think I could fully tell you why. My parents have a two by one and a half metre oil painting of an emu I painted when I was 16 above the kitchen table, birds have always been a subject I’ve been drawn to. I love the form of birds, I love their patterning, I love the fact you have to work hard to see them as they are always twitching, moving, swooping, soaring. I love the way their lives are quite secretive, which I think stands for a lot of the natural world. I think this is where some of the fascination lies, when we manage to catch a glimpse of an animal we rarely see it feels like such a thrill and a privilege. In a lot of folklore, birds were seen as messengers between this world and the other world as they were the only animal that could fly and go between them. I think I always want to portray a little of this magic and mystery into my work.
What’s your favourite part of the lino cutting process?
It’s a cop out but I love every step. It’s the fact that there are a variety of steps though that make me love it. I have never been someone who is very good at doing one thing for a long period of time, I’m quite impatient, I get an idea that I’m desperate to see realised but before I’m halfway through that one I get another idea that takes precedence and my focus shifts onto the next. Therefore, having the different stages of designing, drawing out, cutting, inking up and printing keeps me focussed and interested. I always have a few linos on the go at once which means on a day where I don’t have much brain power I can switch to one that’s already designed and drawn out and I can just do the lovely meditative process of cutting out the background, carving the details. On a day where I’m itching to get some ideas out I can design and sketch out work onto fresh lino. I don’t think much beats the first time you print a design and see it revealed after it living only in your head though, so I do especially look forward to those days.
How do you approach translating the natural world into your lino-cut pieces?
The longer I have worked with lino, the free-er I have become and I think when I have a rough idea and sketch it and rework it straight onto the lino, for me, this generally makes the best prints. Lino printing can be quite a static and graphic medium and so I try to bring as much energy into it as possible. I love to include the background of my lino and make sure I specifically ink this up when printing in order to include its swirling movement and texture. I also like to add hand painted elements with gold leaf or paint to bring in different qualities of colour/line/texture. I take my sketchbook on the many walks I do in and around Edinburgh as nature can be found everywhere and from these thumbnail ideas and sketches go straight onto the lino to work out the final details and compositions in pencil.
Do you feel a connection to the wildlife you depict? Have you ever had any experiences in nature that have influenced your work?
I feel very connected to the wildlife I depict. I am lucky enough to live very close to Blackford Pond, Blackford Hill and the Hermitage in Edinburgh and just this small wild area alone could provide me with inspiration forever. I walk down there almost every day with my binoculars in hand and immerse myself in the environment and the wildlife there.
Living first in Yorkshire and now in Edinburgh I have always been lucky enough to live in green places where a bit of wild has never been too far away. I’ve had wonderful experiences seeing countless foxes roaming through Edinburgh at dusk, going to see seals breeding on the shore at St Abbs and a chance sighting of Dolphins near North Berwick. However, when having nature to escape into has been most important to me has been through the most difficult times of my life. I was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma at 19 years old and Thyroid Cancer a year and a half ago at 27 years old, and its during these times where you’re either in the very clinical setting of hospital or not feeling well enough to do a big hike, that being able to sit out in my parents garden or sit on a bench down by Blackford Pond has just made me feel like I can breathe a little easier and life feels a little lighter. So, I have to say it’s these simple times sitting and watching the swallows swooping around in the evening or the ducks paddling around that have meant the most to me.
How do you see your work evolving in the future? Are there any other printmaking techniques you’d like to experiment with?
Absolutely! I would love to learn more about collagraph printing and etching as they both give such beautiful scratchy, expressive, atmospheric, textural prints. I am interested in so many different creative mediums and materials that I would love to explore and combine with my printmaking practice. For now, I am experimenting with bringing more colour into my work and playing around with flowing watercolour versus the more static process of layered printmaking, so I am excited for my new collection of work that's evolving at the moment. As for where my work will evolve in the future, honestly, who knows! I feel so inspired by a range of materials, processes, objects, ideas, colours that I’m just trusting the process and feel excited to see where things end up.
Are there any printmakers that inspire your work?
I love the printmaker Jenny McCabe at the moment. She also depicts a lot of birds and achieves such a beautiful quality of mark making in all her work. She has recently done a series on Greek statues heads which are so atmospheric and striking. I think the quality and variety of tone she creates in her work with often very simple materials is absolutely stunning.
What’s next for your printmaking practice?
Experimentation! I still feel completely at the beginning of my printmaking journey and just want to experiment and learn and explore as much as possible. I studied painting and printmaking at Edinburgh College of Art but focused a lot more on the painting element at the time. I then did an MFA in Performance Costume and worked in the costume world for a couple years and so although I have always done bits and bobs of printmaking, I really feel like I'm properly discovering it for the first time again. Having somewhere like Edinburgh Printmakers to go and print has been such a game changer in making it something I can pursue and lean into as much as I want to, the future is exciting!
