Page 31 - ALG Issue 1 2016 No social share

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Artists Corner: Pamela Grace
I am an artist and printmaker living and working in Galloway.
My fascination with gardens and
allotments as subjects for my work has developed
into something of a continuing project which sometimes involves spending time at speci c allotments such as the Lions Allotment
in Berwick on Tweed or the Inverleith Allotments in Edinburgh or nding new allotments like St Margaret’s in Durham or Stokesley,
or Stoops Loaning in Dumfries, a bit closer to home. I like to return at different times of year where possible to document the various stages of growth, decay and renewal, which in turn create a different response and mood in my work. I always enjoy seeing the different ways allotment holders have used their pots and the overall patterns of their huts. Greenhouses and water butts amongst the plants and vegetables form a fascinating, irregular tapestry.
My work is based on drawing. I prefer to work outdoors, drawing ‘on location’ in pencil, pen and ink and if the weather is poor, returning home to work in ink and watercolour. I like to build up images in layers, nding patterns within the structures of plants and their sometimes haphazard arrangements in the wider context of garden or plot. I select a restricted palette to work with, emphasising selected areas of light and texture, often leaving areas of the underlying drawing undeveloped as black and white space.
I make some subjects into solar-plate etchings, both monotone prints and hand-coloured and lithographs, working in both the Grace eld Print studio Dumfries and the Edinburgh Print Studio. I have created a series from Inverleith, Edinburgh and the hens prints come from a series I made in association with poet Jean Atkin.
www.pamelagrace.co.uk
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