Each study and song is composed and developed on the press, made from a library of steel plates that will never be retired. The plates are etched with the impressions of plant life collected during my daily commute to the studio along the Thames Path. In the spring, the sidewalks creak and groan as life bursts forth – wild lavender, dandelions, poppies, grasses, weeds, ferns, all reaching up from under the concrete.

Studies are 18cm x 18cm, and produced in small editions; the number of prints I can achieve in a single day. Each study is a combination of four plates, made from a library of drypoint, enviromount, photopolymer and steel. Blossom petals are screenprinted overtop, lightly obscuring the deeply trodden debris.

Songs are 28cm x 28cm, and produced over the course of three days; still very small editions. Each song is made of four plates, also from a reusable library. These images also incorporate the use of stencils to mask, hide, and create shadows, lurking under gently screenprinted layers.

These works represent a shift in my practice to lower toxicity, more sustainable processes within printmaking. Where possible, I reuse substrates, reclaim previously spent materials, deploy acid-free mordants in closed water cycles, reduce or eliminate use of solvents and VOCs. The work is guided as much by material research that focuses on the sustainable future of printmaking, as the subjects themselves. A selection of these works are available to purchase in my shop. For more information, or for enquires about prints not on the shop, please contact me here.