‘The viewpoint I often take is either above, or well below, the rise of the fields. Hedgerows stand out as silhouettes on the top curves. I do not think artists go looking for views, but more likely just see them there anyway. In my designs there is an element of ‘looking through’ into spaces between fences, hedges and briars. I look for anything that will lead me into the far distance of the landscape. Field Visitor, for example, was a linocut inspired by local fields and briars curving and fighting for space.


I see nature as movement in the landscape and changes in the seasons. My linocuts are often about the way farmers have shaped hedges and ploughed fields. These provide the playground for animals and birds in this crow-country of drained marshland. Some rural images are timeless, but villages change. The tractors I used to drive as a boy are now collectable classics and it seems no time now, before another crop is sown. The fields I portray in my linocuts often roll well into the far distance. I like to feel the viewer can walk into the pictures and identify with my interpretation of nature.


I prefer to use some imagination to complete my design so I rarely stick with the original sketches. I want to do more than copy a sketch to the lino and cut it out. I have found that for me, the process of cutting lino needs an element of chance. I leave some decisions until after I have taken the first proof of a new print.’


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