My Work

As a printmaker, there are many techniques to choose from, but I’ve always gravitated towards screen printing and, more recently, risograph printing.

Read on to discover more about how I make my work, and explore the gallery to see a selection of past and present pieces.

Drawing

It all begins with a drawing.

For me, I need to be outdoors, in the landscape, observing the subject to make my sketches feel authentic.

I love drawing from life; it gives my linear style a loose, illustrative quality and allows me to capture the feeling of a moment in time.

Even when I work from a photograph I’ve taken, I like to include a drawn element in the image to keep it true to my artistic practice.

Screenprinting

Very simply put, Screen printing is the process of pressing ink through a stencilled mesh screen to create a printed image onto any flat surface.

If only it were that simple! In fact, it's a very technical process with many variables, and can be challenging to master. With every print I'm constantly trying to hone my skills and learn more.

I'm lucky to have my own vacuum screen bed at home, which means I can print work in my studio once I've prepared the stencilled screens at Peacock Visual Arts in Aberdeen.

I typically make my work in editions of 10 and work on high-quality Snowdon 300gsm cartridge paper.

Risograph

What's that, I hear you say?

A Risograph machine is a digital duplicator from Japan, manufactured by the Riso Kagaku Corporation. It was launched in 1986 and was designed for high-volume photocopying and printing.

The technology used by the Risograph is similar to that of a screenprint and automates several processes that are normally carried out manually.

The Risograph creates a master of the original image using a thermal plate; tiny heat spots burn voids onto a thermal, rice-based paper sheet. This process is similar to making a stencil during screenprinting but requires a lot less preparation.

Once the stencil is on the drum and the ink has been applied, the paper is then fed through the machine whilst the drum itself rotates at high speed to apply ink to the image. Each colour layer is applied separately, also comparable to screenprinting.