Different processes and techniques require specific spaces, equipment , materials and technicians. I have been printmaking since the age of 16 and aged 20,  set up a fully equipped private printmaking studio in Camberwell and taught students from St Martin’s there also.

I work out of studios in London and across the UK. I can book into the screen studios if I have a project, others, like the etching studios are like old friends – I can nip in and out 24 hrs a day. It can sometimes be lonely being an artist so I especially love being part of a busy studio, where one idea flows into another very quickly.

Juggling studios is key to my unique style and techniques. It gives me thinking time away from the work and if I get stuck I don’t have the pressure of finishing a piece before I can move on.

Mixed Inks in a screenprinting studio

Hand wiping an etching plate Camberwell College of Art 2000

I also think it is important to make time to step back and to just really look and question what you are doing. I have a fully equipped  intaglio studio with a Hunter Penrose Press I have had since I was 21 and has moved with me everywhere. More recently I purchased an enormous etching press from the Royal Academy Schools – that has a few stories to tell! There is a glorious painting studio in a rural farmhouse  – it’s a wonderful space where time stops and I can take a breath. 

I always have multiple works on the go in a variety of techniques. Sometimes pieces are not touched for months or years but I look and think about them. I frequently get asked how long a piece has taken and I can genuinely say, 20 years or more! 

Paper drying under boards, etching studio