Welcome to printmaking! Something I've always been passionate about!
My printmaking journey began as an illustration student at UoG in 2008, when I spent many hours in the print room, experimenting with all types of printing. Since 2020, I've facilitated printmaking workshops at UoG and Worcester University. This year, I worked with the Polish community. Through various printmaking workshops, we produced a patchwork of experiences and stories of migrations. You can see it exhibited at Gloucester Cathedral until the end of this month.
Commercially, I also paint murals in public spaces, and some of you might know me from the work I've done at Kibou Japanese Kitchen and Bar, which started in Cheltenham in 2013, and with whom I've been working since.
This year, to expand my printmaking skills, I went to JAPAN, to learn beautiful MOKUHANGA!
It's the beginning of September, and I can’t stop thinking about the magical time I spent there, learning traditional Mokuhanga skills. I only returned two weeks ago, and my mind still drifts away through the green woodlands, parks and gardens I visited, listening to cicadas and nature, drawing, sketching in blistering heat, hiding in shadows, and enjoying the silence far away from home. But it felt like home for six weeks, which I thoroughly enjoyed and explored. I'm back with new energy and ideas and want to focus on printing and sharing with it you through series of small and affordable workshops.
MOKUHANGA is a traditional Japanese water-based woodblock printing technique, which is much more eco-friendly than its Western tradition, doesn't require heavy machinery for printing, and can produce a very delicate, watercolour-like imagery. Below, you can see some examples.
