In spring 2022, I foraged and collected plant matter that bloomed and burst forth unbidden along Thames Path. From daisies to weeds, to grasses, poppies, and lavender, the route between my home and studio came alive with colour and life.

These plants were then pressed and deeply etched into steel plates, creating the first of nine large plates to form this new library. Each measuring 50cm x 50cm, this new body of work encompasses the research I have undertaken the last two years, investigating more sustainable, lower toxicity methods and materials, with a practice that creates ‘libraries’ of plates that will never be retired or cast aside. These first nine plates are as below, and available in small editions from my online store:

From here, I began to improvise with the first nine, layering them together, exploring colour, surface and harmonies. I combined the steel plates with monoprint elements, and large flat areas of colour created using enviromount drypoint card. Each improvisation is practiced again and again, as a song on an instrument, the instrument being the press. Each time the improvisation is performed, there are changes. Some are subtle, slight shifts in colour, or tone; others are significant, radically rethinking the balance of voices, the mood, the position of the plates themselves. The result is a series of improvisations, and the variations within; each print is unique, the result of the one that came before, the trigger for the one that comes after.