Following early success as a teenager exhibiting oil paintings at the prestigious Mall Galleries in London, Margaret Mallows found her aspirations to pursue art thwarted by a busy work and family life. Four years ago, after deciding to retire early from work, she found the time to once again create art.
Having always had a love of all types of print and a growing collection bought over the years, Margaret decided to teach herself lino printing; armed with a book and basic kit, her very first attempt had her hooked. Despite no training in the printing method, within a few months her confidence in her work had grown and she began exhibiting locally and selling online. Margaret’s work has again been exhibited at The Mall galleries as well as local exhibitions, won competitions and awards, and can be found in 21 countries worldwide.
“Being self-taught has been an extremely steep learning curve for me; I can truthfully say that each and every print I make has taught me something new. The thrill of peeling back the paper to see the next colour layer never tires.”
Inspiration is often found from her surroundings in the Fens in East Anglia, and her garden and home. She also often brings a twist of humour to her prints. Most of her works are multi-colour reduction prints; just one sheet of lino is used for an entire print, with more cutting away of the lino after each colour is printed. By the time the print is finished, there may be very little of the lino sheet left. This type of printmaking leaves no room for error; if at any stage a mistake is made, it will ruin the entire edition. “Adrenaline runs high throughout the whole process! It’s a slow, methodical process of building the print one layer at a time” describes Margaret.
Her favoured materials are Japanese vinyl, Pfeil cutting tools, Somerset satin paper and Schmincke inks. Margaret doesn’t have a studio, instead working from home; her study being the place to sit and draw and carve lino, often accompanied by her ‘supervisor’, a Ragdoll cat called Phoebe, who has a bed on the desk. Also in the study is an indoor drying line for hanging prints, with pegs with holes drilled through the tops and threaded through the line to maximise space. Her kitchen/diner serves well as a place to ink and print, and the dining table holds a large table top press.
“I’m astonished by the success I’ve achieved so far; with plenty of mistakes made along my printmaking journey, there is a real ‘rush’ when a print is exactly as I hope it will be, and the icing on the cake is having people love my work enough to buy and display it in their homes. My goal is to carry on improving and experimenting. I will never tire of the process.”
www.artfinder.com/margaret-mallows
@margaret.mallows
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