Mary Collett

More recently my work was accepted for the Bristol Art Show '07 at the Centrespace Gallery and for the 2007 RWA Autumn Exhibition. I was also nominated by Venue magazine as one of the 6 'emerging artists' from the RWA exhibition.

My print making is all taken from images that inspire me. Once I’ve seen an image I like - normally an animal or bird (and I have always been attracted to expressions on faces) - I decide on the size of image and draw it roughly onto the lino. I then start to cut out the image, but I don’t like to have my image too carefully drawn at this point as the image looses ‘life’ if it doesn’t have a certain degree of spontaneity. For me the cutting of the lino can become quite absorbing and it is sometimes difficult to know when to stop!

Using sharp tools I carve pieces of lino to create one or two plates which can be used to print different colours. The first plate will usually be the colour of the background whilst the second plate usually shows the image. The areas to be left light are where lino is cut away and black / coloured areas are where the lino is left to be printed. The plate is then rolled with ink and printed using thick, damp paper, which I roll through an etching press. This gives the print an embossed finish where the paper has been pressed into the lino. The ink only rolls onto the flat top surface of the lino – any lino cut away doesn’t print and so leaves the paper white. Each print is hand-printed by me and is therefore unique – no two prints are exactly the same.