At school I had to decide whether to take a route into art or science. How would life have evolved if I had chosen the latter? To me art is not a wayward, eccentric, ivory tower experience, nor is suffering obligatory. Creativity is not owned by the artist any more than logic and reasoning are the preserve of the scientist. My personal practice is about expressing my truths in my way in my world. When that resonates with others that is a delight. It is about observation, simplification, recognition, topsy turvy thoughts, vibrant and delightful images, emotive colour, rhythmical construction.

 

Printing with a hand press is a fascinating world full of skills and techniques, planning and organisation which is invariably overtaken by the characters of materials and the way we use them. It is wonderfully unpredictable and requires patience (that is a problem for me). Unlike a painting, the image once created can be used in a variety of ways to change the energy, mood and meaning of the piece. I tend to create individual and varied versions of my prints rather than an edition of identical pieces. I usually print onto high quality Somerset paper of 300 grams using Caligo relief inks.

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I first made pots when I was 17 and my North Devon tutor was Harry Juniper. I was picking his brains the other day. In fact the day before his 90th birthday. My pots are handmade and share decorative themes with my linocuts. Cutting lino and sgraffito decorating pots have a lot in common not least that the materials seem to have a will of their own.