What is your favorite hobby or pastime?
Printmaking has become more than a hobby for me — it’s a meditative dialogue with the landscape I love. From bark rubbings in Markstakes Common to chine-collé overlays in the studio, each print holds a memory of place, patience, and presence.
If asked about my favourite hobby or pastime, I always hesitate before answering because i have several which wax and wane. Printmaking feels so much more than a hobby, not least because I make and sell editions. It’s a craft, a meditation, and a conversation with the landscape.
I discovered relief printing years ago almost by accident, as a progression from life drawing and landscape sketches, yet it’s become the thread that ties together so many parts of my life — my love of iconic often veteran or ancient trees, my fascination with castles and churches, and my joy to making tangible with my hands. Whether I’m carving a lino block or pressing paper against ink, it’s an act that slows me down and holds me back. It gets me away from screen time: tv, computer or phone.
Most of my prints begin outdoors. I’ll walk through Markstakes Common, or around the paths near Lewes Castle, or along Hadrian’s Wall sketchbook in hand. Veteran hornbeams, tangled roots, a horse grazing in a paddock, the play of light through branches — these are my recurring muses. I’ll make bark rubbings, take photographs, or just stand quietly and look.
Later, back at home, those impressions re-emerge through the multiple iterations: sketches, mock-ups and practice runs on tracing paper. The first cut is usually decisive: the moment when idea becomes form. Test prints resulting in further refinements – sometimes in my adopting a different approach.
I work mostly in relief print, often combining lino-cut and chine-collé, layering textures and subtle colours. Payne’s Grey is my anchor — a colour that seems to hold both shadow and light at once. Japanese papers add translucence, a softness that lets the trees breathe. Sometimes I’ll experiment with triptychs or collage, sometimes with overlays that echo the shifting rhythm of woodland or water.
Exhibiting the work, whether at Depot in Lewes for Artwave or at The Forge café gallery in Ringmer, The Rainbow pub and now a Lewes Wine Bar is the final stage. Seeing someone stop, tilt their head, and smile at a print — that’s when I know it’s done its job. The joy isn’t just in the making, but in the sharing. I also sell prints through Etsy.
Printmaking, for me, sits somewhere between art and meditation. Each block holds a record of the moment it was carved — the weather that day, the mood, the thought behind each line. It’s also about patience, repetition, and the willingness to let go of perfection. The ink and papers often surprise.
My best sessions see me working outside. Often I’ll settle into listening to Radio 6 Music or have collections of my favourites modern artistes or songs from the Seventies and Eighties.
I find everything — connection, calm, and a sense of purpose with a record of my efforts.
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