Having developed a love of art at school, I completed a foundation course in Art & Design followed by a BA Hons degree in Information Graphics which led to 20 years working as a designer in magazine publishing. However, after two decades spent glued to a computer I decided to get out of the office environment and moved to a village near Ely in Cambridgeshire where I became a self-employed gardener.

Although I continued to do occasional design work I was looking for an artistic outlet outside of gardening and so, in 2016, I attended a 2-day Introduction to Solar-plate course at the Curwen Print Study Centre, led by Susie Turner MA. At the time I had little more purpose than re-introducing a hands-on element to my photography, having left the darkroom behind and gone over to digital. But as time passed, and with encouragement from the Curwen’s tutor and technician Anne Marike Pit, I became more experimental with my solar plates and discovered a whole new world of creativity.

In 2022 I became a Curwen member and a year later, intrigued by work made by other artists I met in the Open Access studio, decided to embark on their Certificate Course in Fine Art Printmaking in order to learn new techniques and develop my ideas. Not long after completing the course in 2024, with a level 9 qualification, I attended Ross Loveday’s Pushing the Barriers using Collagraph with Carborundum masterclass and instantly knew I had found the medium for me.

My work in carborundum has allowed me to become more expressive and painterly with my printmaking, driving me forward and inspiring me to explore its creative possibilities. In terms of inspiration, a common thread runs throughout my printmaking – whatever technique I am using, I am constantly drawn to the obscure and imperfect, finding beauty in things faded and weathered, tarnished or distressed.