Every year, Edinburgh Printmakers participates in Print Day in May (PDIM), an international celebration of printmaking. In May 2025, as part of the PDIM celebrations, artist Nicola McInally was awarded a discounted Summer School Course of her choice, and a Visiting Artist Residency in EP’s print studio.
Nicola had come across PDIM on social media a few years previously.
“I loved the idea of this communal annual event where you could see printmakers across the world post what they had been working on that day.”
She submitted her first entry in 2024 and was one of California Printmakers PDIM winners that year. In 2025 she chose to submit work to EP as she was interested in the prize of a course and residency, and had heard great things about the new premises.
Nicola submitted her work You Can’t Hold Back the Night for EP’s PDIM competition on social media, as she was at the stage she wanted to do a trial print to see how the colours worked together and plan the order of her chine collé sheets. She felt there was still work to do on the print before it was editioned, but the final print was eventually exhitbied as part of the Society of Scottish Artists Annual Exhibition and at the Royal Scottish Academy.
The EP Studio team selected Nicola's work due to its richness of colour and depth of texture. It also felt like a great opportunity to forge a connection with Nicola's work at Fife Dunfermline Print Workshop.
Nicola chose to attend the Summer Collagraph Course, as she hadn’t had any experience of collagraph printing and was keen to find out more.
“The course was great. The tutor, Gillian Murray, was knowledgeable, easy going, and happy to offer any advice.”
During the course the group learned how to make several collagraph plates which they then went on to print from. One of Nicola’s plates was a view of a night scene from her old flat on Leith Walk. Carborundum grit mixed with acrylic paint was used to create the darkest area below the skyline. The result was a deep and atmospheric print.
“Collagraphs really feed into my curiosity of how materials work together and the effects they create when applied to printmaking. I loved how you can use leftover materials, such as cuttings or scraps as part of your printing plate. There are endless ways of creating textures which obviously will play its part in how the print will look. The fact you can pretty much make the plates anywhere and the reusing of redundant materials, makes this printing technique very appealing to me.”
“Before the residency I had an induction for the studio which was informative and allowed me to get started straight away when I was there afterwards for the week. During the residency everything was straight forward and it was good to know that staff were at hand to answer any questions.”
After attending the course and spending time at the beginning of her residency to experiment, Nicola found that she could use the different textures on the collagraph plate to create tonal differences and to enhance her chine collé.
“The studio is welcoming, with lots of sources of natural light and feels spacious. The facilities are great; staff are lovely and it’s handy having a shop in the studio to buy paper as well as other items.”
Nicola is currently working on the finishing touches to her plate, which is based on the view from Iona looking over to Mull. She began working on it towards the end of her residency, and will print an artist’s proof of it during her next visit to EP. She’s also working on several large-scale drawings which are precursors to a series of large collagraphs.
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Originally from Tillicoultry, Clackmannanshire, Nicola studied at Gray’s School of Art in Aberdeen where she specialised in painting. After developing her practice for several years and then having a studio break to start a family, she received a Visual Artist Craft Makers Award from Creative Scotland in 2019, which led to her membership at Fife Dunfermline Printmakers Workshop to explore etching techniques. She had little experience of printmaking prior to that, having taken a taster session at Peacock Studios in Aberdeen and an etching weekend at EP when it was located on Union Street.
“It was an artform I really wanted to explore further, and after properly doing so I was hooked!”
Nicola’s artwork is based on recollected memories and drawings contemplating autobiography and landscape. Recalled landscapes that feature in her work include the Fife Coastal Path where she lives close to, the Ochil Hills which were the backdrop to her formative years, and journeys heading over to the wilds of the west of Scotland. She has always been drawn to creating rhythmic artwork. Repeat patterns found in her prints can be a soothing gentle flow of marks or veer towards more energetic line work to illustrate the contrasts of Scottish landscapes and her memories within them.
“I’m drawn to printmaking as there is so much you can do. There are so many variables that you can work with to achieve what you want in intaglio printmaking, the way you wipe the ink off the plate, the use of materials and processes to name a few. Chine collé is of particular interest to me as I can combine my love of painting and printmaking together by using sheets of painted rice paper within this process.”
“The accessible and experimental nature of intaglio printmaking satiates my curiosity. I love the steps to making a print: the drawing, the pondering, working it out, creating a plate, and trying out test prints before moving onto the artist’s proof. I also enjoy the positive headspace that it takes up and feel printmaking lends itself very well to the type of work I do.”
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Read more about Nicola and her work
Find out more about Print Day in May
If you're interested in trying Collagraph yourself, join us for an upcoming course or workshop.
