I originally wrote this entry in early June, but global climate events made this contribution seem so small, meaningless, and frankly, a bit stupid and naive. Maybe it is all those things, but I’m publishing it anyway.

If there was one approach I could recommend to everyone looking to become more sustainable, it would be this: use less.

Not less energy, passion, or even Prussian Blue. Start with less water.

Water is the resource we all share, that most essential, and limited thing. It is limited.

Printmaking can be a water hungry practice – screens need blasting, acids need neutralising, hands need constant washing. Making paper is water intensive labour. I am working with the understanding that these activities must happen, but consciousness of water as a limited resource is enough to start that change.

Two examples that have worked for me, are based on behavioural economics approaches – the ‘nudge’ and ‘make it easy’.

1. This is above my studio sink. I see it every time I wash my hands, rinse water running into a bucket if I know that I’ll be neutralising acids or cleaning plates on the same day. I see it when I make my coffee, in my kettle that only makes enough for me.

2. This is the size of my bucket for screenprinting. It encourages me to print more cleanly, and to reclaim more excess ink back into the pot so there is less to clean. It is easier for me to do this, than to walk back and forth to the sink, emptying and refilling my comically small bucket.

I also keep several old, large misprints to hand, and I will print out as much ink as I can from the screens before cleaning. These sheets are used over and over, a record of process, and a reminder of purpose.

This way of approaching studio practice is based on health and safety risk assessing. Not the sexiest way to live, but tried, tested and very true. Assess a task. Ask if it is necessary, ask if you could do with alternatives, or less. Ask what you need to do to control use, when use is unavoidable.

Once you begin to assess how much water you don’t need to use, you can start to apply it to other areas of your practice: electricity, consumables, solvents – start with the stuff that is secondary to practice, and then move towards the middle. Use less, be more.

Next post: an example from the middle – reconsidering the printmaker’s edition.