Wintertide

This print depicts a single tree, surrounded by branches and shrubs, on a cold crisp, bright day in the middle of winter. Appearing both dead and alive at the same time. Wintertide comes from the Old English meaning of Winter Time. I like to think these ancient trees could have been around long ago, or are from a long line of old trees. The Domesday Oak nearby is thought to be about 700 years old.

In the small period of time I had left at the end of my MA, I wanted to create a lithograph on stone just using the textures of tusche washes. It was a fairly loose experiment, letting the tusche drip over the print and layering over and over to get reticulation in the images. The final print as a whole doesn’t show the textures as well as the close ups, but as an experimental piece, it helped me to understand tusche a bit better for future work.

In some areas I overestimated the strength needed of the acid, but it created some beautiful tones. I enjoyed the spontaneous qualities and the looseness after working so precisely with drypoint etchings.

About the artist:

Fiona Hamilton is a Bristol based printmaker. Her work explores the ecological sublime and an appreciation of the majesty of nature. She uses detailed intaglio etching, drypoint, lithography and chine collé to draw the viewer into an ethereal landscape that has an impact on our sense of place in relation to the natural world. She uses primarily black and white with natural tones of chine collé and sometimes layers of lithographic texture to introduce warmth to the stark palette and to invoke a sublime emotional connection. She works from sketches, photographs, notes and memory to create her prints.

Fiona has an MA in Multi-Disciplinary Printmaking from The University of the West of England (2023). Previously she studied Graphic Fine Art at Canterbury (2002) and established Soma Gallery in 2004.