Anita Reynolds is a British landscape printmaker & painter living and working in Devon. She works across many printing practices including Collograph, Dry Point, Monoprint, Intaglio and Linocut/ Relief. Anita will be hosting a talk at Print in Action Festival, sharing how she combines printmaking with working and walking in the landscape. She will talk about her large scale projects, past and present, and how her outdoor and studio practice have merged. We caught up with Anita to find out more about her practice.
Anita is best known for undertaking large scale immersive projects that often involve walking long distances. In 2012/13 she walked the 630 mile South West Coast Path and made a series of prints that combined the techniques of collagraph, drypoint, carborundum and monoprinting. With the aid of an Arts Council award, the exhibition went on tour along with community workshops and artist collaborations. In 2023 she intends to walk the Cornish coastline again, this time making mixed media work incorporating printmaking techniques without a press whilst on the path. Ten years on she will undoubtedly see many changes in the landscape as well as in her own practice.
Anita divides her time between her own practice and tutoring for Newlyn School of Art, she is an enthusiastic and insightful teacher who generously shares her passion for landscape and sense of place. She has collaborated with poets, writers, visual artists and makers and has published two books.
Her current work includes a collection of 365 small monotypes that were made in response to a series of personal and world events and is currently on show at MAKE Southwest in Bovey Tracy until 7th Jan 2023.
“I use many different processes in my work, predominantly monotype, direct draw carborundum and collagraph and enjoy combining all of these as hybrid work that I also use in combination with painting.” Anita is inspired by “Katsushika Hokusai, he worked in large series such as “53 stations on the road to Tokaido” I thought of this work as I walked the 630 mile coastal path, it felt great to think I was achieving something similar today. Current inspiration would be Hughie O’Donoghue, his carborundum series of prints are stunning, seeing his work gave me the desire to go deeper into my reasons for making.”
When asked what her favourtite tool to use is, Anita said “A piece of thin plastic from an old school folder, I cut it up into strips and use it to move ink around on the plate. Its flexible, lightweight, cheap (it was free actually) and I also use it in my paintings to achieve similar marks.” Somerset textured white 300gsm is her favourite type of paper, ” I love this paper, it is great wet or dry and is very forgiving of rough treatment. I love the fact that when printed the texture is flattened and therefore you get areas of smooth against textured. The black is very luscious too.” She is also a fan of Hawthorn stay open inks, “They are beautiful and never skin in the tubs. When extended they give stunning tones. Fav’ colours would be Charcoal black that looks like liquid graphite and Cadmium Yellow Deep Hue.”
We can’t wait to hear more about Anita’s work at Print in Action Festival- you can find out more and buy your tickets here. Follow Anita on Instagram @anitareynoldsartist and find out more on her website here.