Adventures in Linocut: Nicky Browne & Tessa Charles at Hampton Court

Yesterday I went to see a show by two specialist lino-cutters, Nicky Browne and Tessa Charles. It is at the Fountain Gallery just across the bridge from Hampton Court Palace and runs Tuesday to Sunday until the 4th of August.

They were having a "Meet the artists" afternoon so mostly I went to steal their knowledge but I had a good look at their work as well and interestingly the only thing the two bodies of work had in common was an interest in the craft and the process.

 Nicky's work is often quite architectural in subject and very much related to drawing; indeed there were several drawings on display as well. It emphasised line making. The ones that fascinated me most use the trick of printing white ink on a dark background. This means that when she carves she takes away where the lines will be in the finished work and effectively prints the background. This enables her to use standard drawing techniques like cross hatching and helps keep lines flowing, relaxed and of a consistent width. This uniform width is the key to her work. It is as if it has been drawn with a technical pen and the end result is that some of her work has a curious feel like a very free and loose engraving - which I suppose it is.

Tessa by contrast is all about simple blocks of colour (some flat, some textured), arranged to form complex images. Her themes and subjects were often about nature - plants, feathers and animals all made an appearance. She seems to take particular delight in using more than one colour on each block. Sometimes these are areas of two colours blending into each other, sometimes one is overlaid onto another and sometimes they are kept entirely separate. On one level this is pragmatic as it allows multi-coloured prints without worrying about registration but it also allows an extra level of creativity and interest and must require some serious skill and experience with a roller.

The contrast between the two makes the show all the more fascinating and it's well worth a look if you're in the area.