I was so keen to gain some experience in woodblock printing after seeing Laura's work at Art in Action in Oxford, during the summer of 2016 that I travelled to Winslow (no joke from Cornwall).
After driving for 7 hours, I rested ready for my hectic day ahead. Arriving at the studio, Laura led me through her lovely garden to the peaceful wooden studio under the trees.
Inside, everything was tidy and welcoming. Brushes hung from the ceiling, woodblocks were carefully stacked, and a tempting row of new prints hung up on the drying racks.
Laura was a wonderful and generous host, offering me mind boggling insight into the ancient Japanese art of woodblock. Laura's prints look so effortlessly beautiful, but I found out just how much work, focus and sheer hard graft is invested into each of these elegant prints. Laura taught me to cut the woodblocks from birch ply, and use watercolour pigment and rice paste to blend gorgeous translucent layers of colour, to be printed onto damp washi paper.
