Originally from Wales, but having travelled extensively and lived in North London for a long time, Venessa’s printmaking practice is informed by her interest in her current and remembered surroundings and the extensive use of her watercolour diaries. Her subject matter varies but is always based on a close engagement with  the natural world.

Venessa’s approach is experimental and involves combining different printmaking processes and plates. She makes extensive use of found materials and uses offsetting to make layered work.

She writes that printmaking appeals to people who like to mess about and enjoy exploring new techniques and processes and who are happy to find that the resulting print can be something of a surprise.

She enjoys the way that the material she is working with interacts with the artist’s intention  during the process of making. A particular knot in a grain of wood or a scratch on an aquatint means that the original design becomes  adapted in unpredictable ways. The result can be exciting and infuriating in equal measure.

The artist spent happy years making prints at Morley College and would like to thank Michelle Avison, Rob White, Paul Dewis, Richenda Court and the late Frank Conelly for their stimulating and helpful guidance.

Working from home during lockdown has enabled  Venessa to explore the possibilities of collograph which she likes to combine with mono printing and other relief processes. Thanks to Katherine Jones and Charles Shearer for their invaluable short courses.