Suzi Thompson printmaker.....
Although originally trained as a jeweller and goldsmith, print and collage work are now my passion, the manufacturing skills I have gained transferring perfectly into helping me construct my printing plates and layered collages.I find endless sources of inspiration form my local surroundings in Yorkshire and especially from time spent out early mornings walking with my dog around the Wentworth Estate near where I live. It's a time when the rest of the world is fast asleep and the land and local wildlife are waking up or even slowing down through the dawn- boxing hares, rabbits, tiny wrens, red foxes, mists clearing over the fields and hedgerows and pockets of old Oak woodland awash wild garlic and bluebells... the list is endless, a magical time which I cherish.
I work from my converted attic studio at home using a Hawthorne etching press which, after saving hard to buy it, is my most treasured possession, and I am surrounded in my studio by items I have found and collected whilst out walking or on holiday in Norfolk and along the East and North coastline of Yorkshire- seed heads, pebbles, shells, feathers, driftwood-natures little treasures.
Autumn and its colours and structures is a theme I return to time and time again. Natures way of changing and adapting to the season to return itself to sleep through the winter awaiting the spring can provide endless sources of pattern and texture which I try to convey in my work. Seed heads, plant forms and landscapes feature prominently.
Collagraph and relief printing are the perfect mediums for my love of textural elements often using a limited colour palate and with careful burnishing back of the printing ink the image slowly comes to life on the plate, but always that touch of serendipity as you pull the print through the press, never quite knowing how the final print will look. I also enjoy overlapping plates to explore the possibilities of an image without too much concern for achieving a large edition of identical images. In fact my 'editions' are usually created from the same ideas and combinations of plates but each print within the edition may vary slightly from the other as I explore the endless possibilities of inking and wiping the plates. I can never throw anything away and many pieces and sections of my print and sketchbook work find their way into my collages along with other found and hand printed papers and materials, often heavily textured or patterned, or are stored for future use... just in case.
I hope you like and enjoy what you see here, and please feel free to get in touch via email at suzithompson497@gmail.com if you would like to know any more about my current work for sale, exhibitions and any workshops I may be holding.
I ask that you please respect my image rights and do not copy or share any of my images without my permission.
Thank-you for stopping by.
Suzi
