Working from nature
The process for making my work is nearly always the same: I get out in nature, walk, look, draw and record. I spend a lot of time looking closely into small areas of hedgerows, in tree branches and edges of rivers. Sometimes if I'm feeling particularly attentive, I take a loupe (magnifying eyeglass thingy) with me and study mosses and lichens in more detail. My focus is usually on representing the most beautiful tangled lines and morphology of plants I can see. I am interested in areas where two ecosystems meet because there is often a strange crossover of species that is more diverse or mysterious than either of the two areas (these particularly diverse edge places are called ecotones). My prints are what I call plantscapes: images built out of the plants that grow in an area.
I have more recently taken more time to think about my connection to nature and what my work says about it. I became dissatisfied with making prettily designed prints of plants and animals and wanted to learn about the context of my work and plenty more technique to achieve what I want to say; this is what my MA study is about. I can't say I've made great headway, but I have spent a lot of time learning printmaking techniques and observing my nature connection and how important it is for me in the creative process.