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Thank you for visiting my site. I hope you will find in my work echoes of the landscapes you yourself enjoy.


Etching excites me because it encourages experimentation. There are so many ways to make marks on a metal plate. It's a journey into the unknown. Even though I attempt to control the action of acid on metal, there is always the possibility, likelihood even, that something will vary during the process and that at least some of the marks will be unexpected. When this happens I go with the flow and let my ideas be influenced by serendipity.


I like to combine a variety of techniques - etched lines, aquatint tones, open bite shapes, soft ground impressions. Sometimes I create an image on a single plate; other times three plates are printed,layering one colour over another and building up texture. I use steel and copper plates, choosing steel for its vigour and for the character of its coarse surface and copper when I want fine lines and a cleaner surface. Ideally I like to take the plates out and begin work on them in the open - making sketches and taking photographs to guide me as I complete the process in my Brighton studio.


Often it is the rhythms,texture and patterns of the South Downs which give me my starting points - plough-lines twisting round the slopes, chalky paths over sheep-grazed hills, wind-gnarled scrub, bleached cliffs and damp,mossy woods. I try to capture the energy created not just by nature but also by our activities. 


All the work shown is available for sale - just click on an image to enlarge it and see the details.