Bernard Cheese RCA, RE (1925-2013) was married to the artist, Sheila Robinson, and their daughter, Chloe Cheese, is also a printmaker.
Bernard Cheese lived in Great Bardfield in the 1950s. He studied at the Royal College of Art, where he was influenced by Edwin La Dell, and his work often contains the same quirky humour that is also discernible in Edward Bawden’s work (source: Fry Art Gallery, Saffron Walden).
Shona Branigan discovered the possibility of relief printing wood itself by seeing the work of Brian Nash Gill and she followed his technique of burning the wood.
It is known as Shou Sugi Ban and is used in Japan as a method of preserving wood. Charring burns away the softer wood and leaves a raised surface which makes it relief printable. She clears out all the ash with wire brushes, seals it with shellac and is then able to ink it and print it. The prints are all hand burnished as the pieces are too large and uneven to go through her printing press.
She uses Fine Art Heritage Rag paper which is 100% cotton and archival, and if you look closely you will be able to see the ‘embossing’ which the hand printing produces. Each millimetre of the wood needs to be pressed into the paper to achieve a good print. It takes time and energy! Prints are made to order and as the wood itself dries subtle changes and cracks will appear which will allow the limited edition to reflect the continuing story of the wood.
Shona Branigan knows the provenance of the wood she prints so that you will be able to know its area of origin, and in many cases visit the site where the tree fell.
Shona demonstrates wood engraving and traditional printing at Cherryburn, the National Trust Birthplace Museum to Thomas Bewick, at Mickey Square, Northumberland. She has been featured in Flog It when they visited Cherryburn and Further Tales from Northumberland where she gave Robson Green the opportunity to engrave for the first time.
Janine Baldwin PS was born in Leeds, West Yorkshire, and now lives in Scarborough on the North Yorkshire coast. Creating paintings, collages and works on paper inspired by land and sea, her work has a strong focus on mark-making and texture, with influences from Cy Twombly, Abstract Expressionism and Joan Eardley. Janine has exhibited extensively across the UK, including with the Royal Academy of Arts, and the Society of Women Artists, London, and her work has received several prestigious awards, most recently The Artist Magazine Award in January 2021. In 2017 Janine was elected a member of the Pastel Society, London, and she is also an Associate Artist of Unison Colour pastels.
Janine feels passionately about the protection of our landscape and since 2006 she has been a conservation volunteer for the North York Moors National Park, working on projects such as the creation of butterfly habitats, and tree and hedgerow planting. This experience has allowed a deeper understanding of the landscape, in turn enriching the artwork she creates.
In 2023 Janine had a solo exhibition called Wild Nature on in our Harrogate gallery.
Read more about Janine’s work as a volunteer for the North Yorks National Park in this article here.
You can find out more about Janine Baldwin here.
Originally from Newbury, Berkshire, Richard Allen gained a degree in Graphic Illustration at Kingston Polytechnic (1987). After graduating he became a freelance illustrator working mainly in scraperboard for advertising, publishing, packaging and newspapers. Richard’s work slowly drifted towards his main interest of birds and wildlife, especially after winning ‘British Birds – Bird Illustrator of the Year’ in 1993.
Following a move to Essex in 1988, and more recently to Wivenhoe, the bird rich estuaries and marshes of the Essex coast have provided an endless source of inspiration, fuelling a passion for field-sketching. Richard Allen enjoys the immediacy of working directly from nature, trying to capture the life and vitality of wild birds, and the patterns of plumage, light, water and foliage.
This essential field experience has proven invaluable when working on paintings in the studio, illustrating bird identification guides and producing wildlife interpretation illustrations for nature reserves and visitor centres.
Richard lives in Wivenhoe, on the Colne estuary, with his wife Sally and his dog Buster.
In May 2011 he was featured in Country Living Magazine.
Richard Allen is currently exhibiting in our Small Painting Show 2023.
