How does the local scenery in Galloway feature in your drawings?  

The local scenery provides a constantly changing set of visual opportunities as the hedgerows grow across the seasons along with the birds that live in them. I like to capture the starker shapes of the trees in winter, while in the spring I tend to focus on the wildflowers in the hedgerows and verges .

In summer I like to find back gardens, usually of a slightly wilder nature. One of my friends has a wonderful garden surrounded by beech trees where she hangs her family’s washing out, which is a favourite subject of mine.

How do you think your background as a textile designer influences your work now?   

As a textile designer, I was always drawing and working with detailed pattern and texture and following the design process through to a finished fabric. Printmaking has allowed me to continue this and take it in a new direction.i enjoy the many stages in the process from the initial drawing and preparation to the craft techniques involved in actually pulling a print on the etching press.

Foxgloves & Valerian | £120

Backyard Washing | £145

Murmuration | £85

Pamela in the Studio

How do you get from sketch to finished print?

I am constantly sketching and building up resources and ideas, some of which I then develop into etchings. I prepare artwork using tinkering pens of various sizes to create a rich range of halftones.

Then I make a “positive” or transparent acetate which is laid over a metal plate coated in light-sensitive film. This is then exposed to UV rays which protects the dark areas of the drawing while baking the high areas hard. The protected areas wash away leaving an intaglio cut which takes up the ink. I use oil-based etching inks in a range of tones. Ink is wiped over the plate which is then polished to remove the surface ink, while leaving ink in the etched areas.

Pamela's artistic journey unfolds through constant sketching and idea-building, a process that eventually gives rise to her ethereal etchings. With a skilled hand, she prepares her artwork using tinkering pens to achieve a broad spectrum of halftones.

The art of printmaking unfolds as the polished, inked plate meets damp traditional etching paper, expertly pressed to transfer the ink from plate to paper, revealing the meticulously crafted image in all its splendor.