Lynne Blackburn

My practice has revolved around printmaking since completing my BA in Fine Art Printmaking at Maidstone College of Art in 1987. I went back to college, to gain an MA in Printmaking at Camberwell University of the Arts, in 2009 and then set up my own screen print editioning business – Hippo Screenprinters – where I print editions for other artists. Working mostly with screen printing, and perhaps as a response to the precision required to edition other artists prints, my work has evolved into an abstract, spontaneous and painterly approach to the technique. I paint directly onto blank screens to create series’ of multi-layered, unique, monoprints – printing a succession of layers of semi-transparent ink to build up colour and texture. I work on a series of pieces at once, moving between each piece as they develop, leaving one piece to breathe as I add layers, or marks, to another. The colours and mark making I use are inspired by life – my life – the process of aging; the constantly changing landscape of the city where I live and the countryside where my studio is; the passing of time and the traces of human activity on the land and on buildings. Often I add handwritten or screenprinted text to my prints. The words and phrases explore my lived experience of being a female artist, the frustrations and tribulations of aging and of trying to maintain an artistic practice whilst also running a business. I exhibit my work regularly at Art Fairs including The Affordable Art Fairs in Hampstead and Battersea, and annually with a group of fellow Printmakers – LOOP Artists – at Bankside Gallery in London.