ARTIST & PRINTMAKER
Printmaking
I have been drawing & painting for as long as I can remember and printmaking since the age of eight when I completed a series of two-colour linocuts of ‘Zoo Animals’ for a local children’s competition back home in Northern Ireland. Under my dad’s guidance I used to carve out lots of little portrait blocks and print them in simple black and white with a wooden spoon on the living room table.
Since then I have been hooked on Printmaking. In 1996 I moved to Dundee to study Illustration & Printmaking at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art. Since graduating in 1999 with a Bachelor of Design (honours), I have been making a living both as an artist and art workshop tutor for children and adults. I have lived in Bristol for 8 years and have dedicated much of my time to creating impressions of local scenes using intaglio, relief and screen print techniques. More recently I have begun integrating machine stitch with collaged etching and relief prints. This way I can enjoy creating scenes from Bristol and from my own imagination. The stitching is quite subtle but enough to give the piece quite a tactile and unique ‘look’.
I produce most of my prints at the Spike Island Print Studio on Cumberland Basin, Bristol.
Life Drawing
I like to work quickly and freely in the life room and to explore different techniques and materials that can help direct this more spontaneous approach. I love drawing with long nibbed sticks; the varied quality of line is always surprising and that slight out of control feeling creates an energy in both you and the picture. I sometimes omit line in my paintings and break the body down into simplified shapes using generous splashes of colour or ink.
To me, it is important to keep the drawing or painting alive and moving – the only way to enjoy the final outcome is to enjoy the process of doing.
Printmaking
I have been drawing & painting for as long as I can remember and printmaking since the age of eight when I completed a series of two-colour linocuts of ‘Zoo Animals’ for a local children’s competition back home in Northern Ireland. Under my dad’s guidance I used to carve out lots of little portrait blocks and print them in simple black and white with a wooden spoon on the living room table.
Since then I have been hooked on Printmaking. In 1996 I moved to Dundee to study Illustration & Printmaking at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art. Since graduating in 1999 with a Bachelor of Design (honours), I have been making a living both as an artist and art workshop tutor for children and adults. I have lived in Bristol for 8 years and have dedicated much of my time to creating impressions of local scenes using intaglio, relief and screen print techniques. More recently I have begun integrating machine stitch with collaged etching and relief prints. This way I can enjoy creating scenes from Bristol and from my own imagination. The stitching is quite subtle but enough to give the piece quite a tactile and unique ‘look’.
I produce most of my prints at the Spike Island Print Studio on Cumberland Basin, Bristol.
Life Drawing
I like to work quickly and freely in the life room and to explore different techniques and materials that can help direct this more spontaneous approach. I love drawing with long nibbed sticks; the varied quality of line is always surprising and that slight out of control feeling creates an energy in both you and the picture. I sometimes omit line in my paintings and break the body down into simplified shapes using generous splashes of colour or ink.
To me, it is important to keep the drawing or painting alive and moving – the only way to enjoy the final outcome is to enjoy the process of doing.