Left to Right: Drawing on a family holiday, self portrait at 12, drawing of my birthday party

With March being Meet the Maker month, and having recently found an essay I wrote for college in 2001 about my influences, I thought it might be interesting to revisit this as I approach my 15th year as a printmaker. It still surprises me how I got here, this was never part of a plan, and in fact the last 14 years have been quite a revelation to me. Over the years I’ve tried to make sense of my own creative journey, so it’s about time I think a little about my background, influences and how I got into this accidental career. One of the main questions I get asked is, “where did you study?”, at uni I studied to be a fashion designer and printmaking came much later through attending an evening class, so I usually mention both…but there’s a seven year gap between the two.

At the start of my printmaking journey a fellow maker told me about their family tradition of her industry, this was the first time I’d made the connection with my own Grandad (who’d died when I was very young), he’d worked at a printers in lithography. His job was to check the fine art reproductions, supposedly due to his meticulous nature. Later in WW2 he was conscripted to the Royal Engineers to a troupe of artists and printers that created escape and evade maps in Burma…but that needs a blog all of its own! Later I discovered artworks by my other Grandad, he was a quiet gentleman who worked on the railway and wrote poems, here’s some examples of their landscapes.

Left to Right: Painting by Bert from Burma, Mixed Media landscape by Vincent found at my Uncle’s house

As the years have gone by I began to see the wider picture of what else may have influenced me creatively. It occurred to me that my parents careers and interests, although not obviously apparent, had probably impacted my own curiosities. My Dad was a surveyor, with a keen interest in architecture, my Mum a teacher who’d studied Geology, which may well explain my own choice of subjects ranging from brutalist buildings to rocky outcrops.

Although not creatives themselves, my parents would go to Leeds art show at the Corn Exchange each year, often buying a new piece of art. This meant I was in the fortunate position to grow up around original artworks, often by local artists, and probably why my own house is the same. One piece my parents bought was an etching by the late Graeme Wilson, who later became one the tutors on my Art Foundation class, you may know him for the mural outside the Corn Exchange or in the entrances to Morrisons supermarkets.

Colour pencil drawing from near where I grew up

I grew up in Shipley in a Victorian house, on the outskirts of post-industrial Bradford, living a stone’s throw from Salts Mill with it’s collection of David Hockney’s work. My parents were from both the North and South, and I grew up visiting both places to see family. In Teeside we’d go to my Grandparents 1960s estate, often visiting Redcar to play in the arcade and get a chip butty. Due to my subject matter I’m often asked if I’m from the North East, and even though I’m not I spent a lot of time there growing up. My uncle also lived in Whitby and Staithes, where I also have family heritage in the area, and I have had family live in Haworth and York. So perhaps this is the reason I’m often drawn to these locations.

The other side of the family was from London, and lived in the heart of Metroland, a 1930s suburban development in North East London with a mix of “Tudorbethan”, Art Deco and Modernist architecture, something that always fascinated me. Whilst there we’d go up to town, visiting museums, markets and the high streets. As someone who is very analytical, being exposed to a wide variety of places gave me a real interest in looking at different environments and a drive to travel.

Top (left to right): Brimham Rocks, Yorkshire Sculpture Park; Bottom (left to right): Shipley Glen, Harewood House

As a family we’d also go on trips to local places, often accompanying my Dad’s brass band, on the drives I would always be looking out the window, evaluating our location by landmarks, the cooling towers in Sheffield or the temple at Allerton House, I would give some places names such as “Big Bridge”, “Kestrel Wall” and “Gates to Nowhere”. Looking for way-markers is something I still do today, and a reason behind my fascination with landmarks and views.

In my family we were sightseers rather than sunbathers, we weren’t an overly outdoorsy family but we would go on trips to towns and villages. Walks would be to places like Shipley Glen, Yorkshire Sculpture Park and Brimham Rocks. This was an interesting realisation when I got older, and started going on walks with friends in my 20s, that actually there’s a lot of places I haven’t really explored even on my own doorstep.

Left to Right: Getting my prize from Wimpy in Bradford aged 5, Card for Bradford Education aged 9, Card for high school and Spencer Dayman Meningitis Laboratories aged 17

In my own time and any opportunity at school, I have always drawn, it was one of my favourite pastimes as a child. I would mainly record daily life, create stories and sometimes enter competitions, which was what you did growing up in the 90s…or may be that was just me! I was very excited when I won a colouring competition at Wimpy where I won an Easter egg, I’ve also had two published Christmas cards at first school and high school.

Left to Right: Primary School career display, fashion design sketch, fashion magazine created for English class in High School

My main drawing themes, which may surprise people seeing my work now, was prominently people. Since the age of five I wanted to be a Fashion Designer, so I was mostly putting ideas on paper rather than aiming to be an artist. I often blame watching House of Elliot for forming such an early life decision, this idea carried on through on until my adult life. I would sketch designs with biro on spiral notepads, I would take these from my Mum’s stationery stash, this use of pen is potentially one of the reasons I’m attracted to black lines. As I’ve being speaking about family connections, my Grandma was a seamstress, but again this wasn’t something I was very aware of growing up.

School Work (left to right): GCSE colour pencil drawing, GCSE ink painting inspired by Cezanne, A-Level Pencil drawing of my Grandad

Fashion was a path I struggled to leave, even though my lowest GCSE was in Art, I loved and was strongest in analytical subjects such as science and geography. My parents were a little disappointed that I then decided to leave to go to art school, but within in a month I had returned to school missing the balance of having academic subjects. I persevered and did better at A-Level and better yet at Art Foundation at Bradford College.

College work all mix media (Clockwise): Picture inspired by the topic Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, Dean Clough, Opera Glasses mark making

College was where I had my first experience of printmaking. I tried linocut, I also spent a chunk of time in the textiles department learning screen print. Our tutor at the time was new to teaching and was very textiles based, she infiltrated the amazing print rooms at the college and taught us the basics, but I confess I never thought about it much afterwards.

College work (left to right): Linocut, top mono screen print, bottom textile screen print

I struggled to get into the university courses I wanted, as I spent a lot of time in the darkroom, I also looked into the photography route and got onto a degree in Bradford as a back-up plan. I’d had my own camera since I was eight, as I was always using the family camera, and whilst at college I even worked at Jessops and would spend a lot of the money I earned on developing paper. I’d always been intrigued by cropping and photography, and this is something that I still use a lot today although in a very different way as the images I use for my work are not always the best composition for a photo.

I felt I’d come too far to not choose the fashion path but I got into my third option for Fashion Design at De Montfort in Leicester. The interviewers thought I was more textile and print based… probably due to my screen print work, but I strongly disagreed. I had a little too much fun in my first two years at uni, so by the third year I had to knuckle down with the realisation I was not happy with my current trajectory. I worked hard, stayed at the studio long days, and got really stuck in creating my final collection. It’s direction was dictated by my first drawing block, to mitigate this issue at such an important time, I did some drawings based on photographs and pattern. These images later became reproduced in knit and print, and became the overall look of the collection. I was jointly awarded the top prize on the course and gained industry press. Ironically, it was very surface design and print (digital) heavy collection…so maybe those interviewers were right all along!

Stepping into the fashion industry didn’t come easily, I enjoyed the design and illustration more than the making. Work experience at Alexander McQueen only highlighted my lack of making skills, the one positive being when they discovered I could actually draw. After uni I struggled to get into the industry. I began working within retail head offices in a variety of roles, at Ponden Mill (the bedding and curtains shop) as a Buyers Assistant, I’d started the process of becoming an Assistant Buyer when I got my first fashion job in that famous fashion capital…Barnsley?! That was good experience but it was brief, so I used the opportunity to go on my first solo backpacking adventure on my return I ended up working at Morrisons in Marketing.

Pattern design for Alexander McQueen work experience

After a few years I went travelling again and came back during the recession. My uni friend who worked at Mothercare mentioned they had a vacancy, I applied never imagining I would get it or even really wanting it, but I was successful (if you can call it that) so off I went to Watford. That was not a good experience, so much so that I was glad to get back North and returned to Morrisons, this time as a Publications Coordinator, working on the magazine, a role I really enjoyed.

Design page produced for my Mothercare interview inspired by my travels in South America

With all this there was a long period of time of doing nothing particularly creative, I include my fashion roles in that. I rediscovered my love of drawing in 2011 through an 8 week evening course at Leeds College of Art (now Leeds Art University), as I decided to draw my own images to print with, which also reintroduced me to printmaking, and since then my work has been very much landscape based. This was something I never intended to be more than a hobby but after the course I continued to use the facilities at the college to explore the mediums further.

Work from Leeds College of Art 8 Week Printmaking Course most based on a trip to Paris. Methods are Monoprinting, Screen Print, Etching and Linocut

Eventually, my job pushed me to my limit and the level of work became so overwhelming that I had to leave for my own well-being. When I became unemployed I tried out some other career paths through volunteering in a school and at an arts charity. I first began to work as an artist later that year with a little push from my brother who initially suggested I sell my work after giving prints to my family for Christmas presents, mainly due to being skint. I resisted the idea for a while as I’d never imagined I would be self-employed, but eventually I went for it with the help and support of my Mum. I was granted the NEA (New Enterprise Allowance), which involved a mentor, creating a business plan and a little money to start my business.

My first independently created screen prints from Leeds College of Art, Top (Left to Right) Peace Lion, Titus, Bottom (Top to Bottom) War Lion, Tram to Shipley Glen

Then all of a sudden I was a printmaker, introducing myself as an artist was something I really struggled with as I’d always been in the mindset that I was a designer and has been working in corporate environments, it was a big shift. Previously I never had a style, I believed this helped me to be adaptable as a designer, but through my journey as a printmaker I was surprised to see a style of working emerged. I began to be recognised for my style of creating screen prints from my drawings, and I have been developing and pushing this technique ever since.

To be continued…

My Printmaking Journey: From Fashion Design to Landscape Screen Prints

Limited edition landscape screen prints, hand printed in West Yorkshire