Secret Art Auction 2025 Biographies

Julia Abele
Born in Karlsruhe
University of Heidelberg and London (Master of Arts)
Living and working in Heidelberg
Statement:
I am a Sunday painter. I paint figuratively. I don’t have a favourite colour. I like acrylics for their quick results and oils for their smell. I love Old Masters and some modern masters too.
Had I been an Old Master I would probably have painted still lifes, as I am intrigued by the subject of Vanitas, and the momentariness of life.
Nowadays, all varieties of classic still lifes have been painted, so I keep searching for other ways to capture the transitory aspects of modern life without the help of decaying food or dead birds. For my latest series, my sketchbook has become a little battered Japanese camera (Digital Harinezumi). According to its manufacturer it is re-inventing what is around us. With its blurs, distortions and inaccurate colours it enables me to add a snapshot quality to my paintings, while I try to illustrate the melancholia and the inevitability of the constant change around me.
Change seems to be the leitmotiv for the upcoming year, as I am recently moving back and forth between portrait, landscape and still life. Always in search of a new form of expression, I keep switching between a simple freestyle and a more realistic manner.
Acrylics are the perfect medium for what I currently paint as they dry fast, provide immediate results and allow me to stay flexible in terms of style. For the time being I seem to have found my tools and subject, but that will keep changing. Inevitably.
Website: www.julia-abele.de
Instagram: @julia.abele.painter
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Charlotte Aiken
Charlotte is a Gloucestershire-based artist, creating visual impressions of the sky through the use of oil paint. Her practice celebrates the sublimity of the sky and explores her deep fascination with cloud formations and our connection to the natural world. A 2017 graduate of the London Metropolitan School of Art, Architecture and Design, Charlotte went on to win The Graduate Art Prize with Artiq. She has since been longlisted for several prestigious awards, including the Jackson’s Painting Prize in 2017, the VAA Professional Artists Award in 2023, and The Women in Art Emerging Artist Prize in 2024. Charlotte’s paintings are featured in collections and curations across London, Canada and Germany, and she has exhibited widely throughout the UK, including at the Royal Academy’s Summer Exhibition, ‘Only Connect’ and most recently in ‘Rituals of Perception’ at D Contemporary, Mayfair.
Website: www.charlotteaiken.co.uk
Email: charlotte@charlotteaiken.co.uk
Instagram: @charlotteaikenart
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Carole Areskog Jones
Caroline AreskogJones’ practice is grounded in the contingency of drawing, a speculative enquiry to pursue an interest in articulating something unsaid and unearthing something unknown, just out of reach. It is considered a method of archeology, a ‘visual listening’.
Evolving through considered and meticulous research, through  processes of ” field work”  a series of responses slowly gathers  through the transformative potential of materials and considerations of absorbed learning :::  a  shift back and forth, sifting, folding, unfolding, enfolding, emerging and pausing.
The outcomes are an attempt to offer a  ‘perforated space’ of fragility, echoing the uncertainty of ecology, deep rooted and hovering at the intersection of human states of being across an arc of time.
The dialogue between what emerges as a series of works – on paper, from print or projection, 3D forms, natural materials or ceramics – widens as the placement and interaction of site creates further relational perspectives and wider aspects of  dialogue.
​After gaining a BA (1st class) Hons Fine Art at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design and MA (Print) from The Royal College of Art in 2019, opportunities to grow a practice continue, including exhibitions, residencies, artist talks, writing and interdisciplinary collaborations.
Caroline has a knowledge base  from both contemporary dance and physical therapy, and this intimate knowledge of the interconnectedness between body and mind influences the decision making within her practice forming a fertile place of enquiry.
Website: www.carolineareskogjones.com
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Tony Barrell
Tony is a widely published writer and artist who often illustrates his own written work, which explores subjects including art, music, language, celebrities and the unexplained. Much of his work has appeared in The Sunday Times, and he has contributed artworks to the Habitats & Heritage Secret Art event every year since 2021. He lives in Teddington.
Email: tonybarrell@msn.com
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Holly Bazett
Holly is an artist primarily working with oils. She currently resides in Sussex, England.
Website: www.hollybazett.com
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Rana Begum RA
The work of London-based artist Rana Begum distils spatial and visual experience into ordered form. Through her refined language of Minimalist abstraction, Begum blurs the boundaries between sculpture, painting and architecture. Her visual language draws from the urban landscape as well as geometric patterns from traditional Islamic art and architecture. Light is fundamental to her process. Begum’s works absorb and reflect varied densities of light to produce an experience for the viewer that is both temporal and sensorial. In 1999, Begum graduated with a BA in Fine Art from Chelsea College of Art and Design and, in 2002, gained an MFA in Painting from Slade School of Fine Art. Rana Begum lives and works in London.
Website: www.ranabegum.com
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Christine Bintcliffe
Christine is a mixed media collage artist whose self taught journey is fuelled by her passion for music, mark making and vibrant colour. Her work explores the connection between music and nostalgic memories as she draws inspiration from song lyrics and blends the rhythmic energy of music with the expressive nature of collage. Through her abstract approach, she transforms songs and emotions into vivid imagery on canvas and on paper, inviting viewers to embark on a nostalgic journey, evoking memories and connections across time.
Website: www.stardustacrylicart.com
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Anastasia Borodina
Growing up in the North Caucasus, Anastasia Borodina graduated with honours from Ilya Repin’s Academy of Arts in Saint-Petersburg, where she had learned from the best representatives of the Russian classical school of painting in the workshop of renowned artist Yuri Kalyuta. Since 2019, Anastasia has been living and working in Manchester (UK), mastering her artistic vision and adapting the language of the classical school of painting to the contemporary artistic perception of the modern lifestyle and people. In 2024, she was elected associate member of the Manchester Academy of Fine Arts (AMAFA).

Website: www.anastart.myportfolio.com
Instagram: @_anastasia.borodina
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Nick Bridson Baker
Nick has worked as a freelance cartoonist and humorous illustrator for over forty years.
He now draws fewer cartoons and produces drawings, paintings and monotype prints.
His work falls into these categories:
On-the-spot drawings of places, people and events. Published in The Oldie and national newspapers. Nick has a large ‘on-the-spot’ archive, drawn for publication.
Drawings from memory and imagination.
Paintings also from memory, imagination and from drawings.
Monotype prints one-off prints in colour and black and white.
Cartoon drawings published in Punch, Private Eye, The Spectator, The Oldie, The Financial Times and national press and magazines.
Poetry He has been writing poetry for over twenty years and has been published in various poetry magazines.
Website: www.nickbridsonbaker.co.uk
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Amanda Bulunden
Amanda is a contemporary artist living and working in South-West London where she has her studio. She trained at Leeds Polytechnic where she gained her Fine Art BA Hons Degree.
Amanda is represented by The Art Buyer in Surrey, Murus Art, Hicks Gallery and Dalloz Contemporary in London.
Her work is sold both nationally and internationally.
Amanda’s paintings are emotional sanctuaries, driven by a quest for solitude—places where she can clear her mind of ‘noise.’
Each piece is inspired by memory – memories of travels, dreams, and often, childhood.
Amanda strives to create a mood of silent drama; evoking feelings of calm and sometimes pathos, yet also portraying joy and beauty.
This semi-abstract approach is both purposeful and exploratory. It often features small, recognizable motifs that range from figurative references to mark-making. These elements sometimes feel naïve and intuitive, while they appear more considered at other times.  A tree, a goalpost, a bridge, or a figure might emerge from these motifs. Delicate, almost tenuous strands of pastel or pencil can suggest frailty or vulnerability, which Amanda likes to contrast with stronger, darker, opaque forms.
Pattern too, can be a recurring motif – creating a harmonious rhythm in the work.
The creative process behind Amanda’s work involves a ‘push-me’/’pull-me’ dynamic: stripping away and adding back in again, constantly reacting to colours, forms, and marks. This layering approach adds to the intrigue and underlying story of the painting, where memory can be just out of reach.
Colour too plays a crucial role in setting the mood of each piece. Shades of pink are a persistent visual reference in the work—a colour that can feel nurturing and comforting and is therefore associated with optimism and the maternal.
Website: www.amandablundenart.com
Instagram: @amandablundenart
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Christy Burdock

Christy studied at the Royal College of Art in Kensington and lives in the City of London. She is interested in people and how they live and work together and her work takes her across Britain and sometimes the USA.
Christy has won awards and her work is exhibited in museums and galleries across the United Kingdom and New York.
Website: www.christyburdock.com
Instagram: @christyburdock

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Jon Burgerman
Jon is a New York-based British artist whose works have been acquired by prestigious public collections such as London’s Victoria and Albert Museum and the OÖ-Kultur museum in Linz, Austria. His art has been described as “bright, and intuitive, focused on the visceral energy of play as a tenet of communication” (Cate McQuaid, The Boston Globe, July 2021). In recent years he has exhibited at WOAW Gallery (Hong Kong), Chengdu Times Art Museum (China), MISA Art fair Berlin and Cologne, Ojiri Gallery (London), L21 Gallery (Spain), Dopeness Art Lab (Taipei) and Jane Lombard Gallery (New York).
Burgerman’s highly distinctive fuzzy-edged characters epitomise the paradoxes of contemporary life. Their seemingly simple googly eyes betray a range of emotional complexities and anxieties, with comically distressed expressions and collapsing forms underlined by titles such as Xanax, Dualist, Lexapro and Chameleon (2022).
Expressing creativity and having fun is key to Burgerman’s practice. It’s his belief that simple creative acts can allow people to change not only their world but the world around them.
Burgerman’s artistic influences include early 20th century animation, Abstract Expressionism, the CoBrA movement, Art Brut and Pop Art. He encourages the viewer to look at the world in new and unexpected ways. It’s his belief that simple creative acts can allow people to change not only their world but the world around them.
Website: www.jonburgerman.com
Instagram: @jonburgerman
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Lee Campbell
Lee is a British artist presently living and working in London who has studied art both in practice with a degree in Fine Art, and academically, graduating from the University of Kent with a MA in the History of Art.
British and New Zealand Inspirations
Most of Campbell’s recent work is a combination of working on an island in the River Thames in London, where she has based her studio for the past 20 years, and growing up in New Zealand which has informed the colour and clarity of the landscape work, now diffused with the history and atmosphere of England
Campbell has established herself as an artist with international appeal, having shown work at the Florence Biennale, Italy; Stockholm Arts Centre, Sweden; the Baxter Gallery, London and the International Art Fair, London. She has work in collections worldwide and welcomes commissions and visitors to her study on Eel Pie Island Twickenham.
Website: www.leecampbell.co.uk
Email: info@leecampbell.co.uk
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Liz Chaderton
Liz creates art to remind us of the wonder in the world—the quiet resilience of nature, the deep connection we share with animals, and the endless possibilities for renewal. Her work is a moment of joy in a busy, overwhelming world, offering a fresh perspective that turns concern into hope and hope into action. It’s an invitation to see world not as it is, but as it could be.
Website: www.lizchaderton.co.uk
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Leigh Clarke
Leigh has been Print Tutor at the RA Schools since 2012 and is also Senior Lecturer in Illustration and Visual Media at the University of the Arts London. He studied Printmaking at the RCA and has exhibited his work around the UK and internationally.
Website: www.leighclarkeworks.com
Instagram: @leighclarkeartist
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Nigel Coates RA
Ideas-driven architect, designer and artist.
Website: www.nigelcoates.com
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Lucina S. Della-Rocca
Lucia is a multi-media artist and sculptor, working in oils, watercolour, pastel, graphite, ink, clay and mixed media. With a technique honed by years of observational discipline, her figurative paintings explore the boundaries between seen and unseen worlds. Emphasizing hope and the power of the heart, Della Rocca’s practice is informed at once by decades of her devotional meditation practice and her commitment to reflecting upon current events concerning social and environmental justice.

Her work belongs in the permanent collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK and the War Remnant Museum, Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam, as well as private collections in the UK and overseas.
Website: www.artlucina.com
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Anna Dyson
Anna (b. 1965) is a British painter who lives and works in London and was educated in Fine Arts at Kingston College. Dyson reaches for unexpected colour as she works quickly and “intuitively” on multiple canvases at once, covering them in swirling, flowing, vibrating forms. Her pieces are vibrant, colourful, textured and are created using vegan friendly acrylic paints. She enjoys the conversations around the things people in her paintings see which are important to them.

Dyson’s neurodiversity is the touchstone of her practice, and her work carries with it the translation of her experience navigating a world wired for others. Dyson’s work foregrounds her experience living with ADHD and Autism while at the same time surrendering to the vibrant, electric intuitive condition her subconscious rests in. “I leave everything at the door and paint,” says Dyson.

Website:  https://www.annadyson-intuitiveart.co.uk/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/annadyson_intuitiveart

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Susan Flockhart
Susan is a watercolour artist based in Twickenham, UK. She takes much of her inspiration from nature and loves to paint the weather. Susan’s style can be slightly whimsical and owes a lot to a childhood spent poring over illustrated children’s books, long past bedtime.
Website: www.susanflockhart.com
Instagram: @susie.flo
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Johan Gerrard
Jahan is a contemporary painter based in the UK. She creates paintings in response to colour and surfaces, with an attempt to capture the moment and emotion, drawing inspirations from the internal and the external world and on references as broad as from Baroque to Abstract Expressionist art.
Jahan incorporates the use of line and manipulation of colour, which she applies aggressively and in vividly contrasting combinations to her paintings. Jahan has exhibited in several group shows in the UK, France, Spain, and USA. She was included in the John Moores Painting Prize in 2018. Her recent show was held at The Other Art Fair at The Old Truman Brewery in London, 2021.
Website: https://www.jahangerrard.co.uk/
Instagram: @ jahangerrard
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Oliver Gosling
Oliver Gosling’s paintings are about the conundrums of surface and depth, and the material embodiment of space that is peculiar to the medium of painting. Space, both physical and psychological, is at a premium as never before. Population expansion, information technology, social media and all the accompanying distractions, expectations and pressures evoke an urgent need for interval, pause, for slowing the eye, for the gaps, the between-worlds, and the edges. The landscape space in the paintings is neutral and is not topographic. Its mood ranges from liberating to dystopian. The texture of the paint and the frequent use of graphite and pearlescent pigments has the twofold function of drawing the viewer into the space of the painting and at the same time projecting that space onto, and addressing that space in, the viewer; a breathing space.
In the Anthropocene era, nature is either messed up or inaccessible. So, in the paintings an unmediated, virgin space is sought, a needed space, a recognition of the disinterested neutrality of nature which trumps our homo-centrism. However, our perception can never be free or neutral. There are usually single objects in the space; a chair, a hut, a fence, a mountain, some steps. They are not symbolic or pertain to specific meanings or narratives. They are there to hold the space and give focus and dignity to acknowledged feelings of isolation, of prevailing uncertainties, unknowns and loss. Being engulphed within the larger space, space in this context is a healer.
The paradox of a painting, two-dimensional and bounded by four sides, wanting to talk about space, is akin to infinities of space being sensed within the confines of the body, and the function of material metaphor is crucial in every aspect of painting.
The paintings explore the world of being and non-being in a language of form, surface, void and space particular to the practice of painting. Where do we belong? how do we find a personal space, a refuge in an alien, disinterested space? how do we traverse that space? are obstacles real or illusory? is our presence, our absence, a non-reality in the greater space? Oliver’s work has been influenced by Japanese and Chinese landscape ink monochrome painting, where space is an active force in which nature appears as a sign, an in-between world, whose essence and life force are transient and conditioned by space.
He lived and exhibited in Japan for two years and in China for seven and a half years, where he held several exhibitions, each one an occasion to open up dialogues through talks and workshops, demonstrating that deeply held perceptions and sensibilities originating in very different cultures have the capacity to address our common humanity across time and space and, in terms of Chinese and Japanese concepts of space, have particular resonance today.
Website: www.olivergosling.com

Instagram: @ogosling27
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Oona Grimes RA
Oona Grimes is a London based artist working with drawing, clay making & film. These disciplines – on one hand, flattist collage, print and painting, and on the other, sculptural objects and filmed performance – combine to create an alternative and highly personal world.
Her non-linear library of narratives testifies to an obsession with language – the beginnings & ends of it, learning & losing it, slippage & misinterpretation. Her cast of characters features those who have fallen through the cracks – the unseen and the unlovely. The fuzzy felt drawings wrap violent lives in Commedia del arte slapstick & comic strip.
During Grimes’ 2018 Bridget Riley Fellowship at The British School at Rome she segued from thieving Lorenzetti tartans and cartoon detail from Etruscan paintings, to the appropriation of Neorealist cinema. By means of mis-remembered re-enactments, she physically draws herself into the film frame.
She graduated from Norwich School of Art with a BA in 1986 & The Slade School of Fine Art 1988. She was a Bridget Riley Fellow at the British School at Rome 2018 & was awarded the Bryan Robertson Award in 2022. Grimes has taught widely at key colleges and universities. She was recently an Associate Lecturer at the Royal College of Art, Ruskin School of Art Oxford University & University of the Arts.
Website: www.oonagrimes.com
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Imogen Hartridge
My artistic career began when I decided, at the age of four, to use my mum’s brand new face flannel as a painting rag. Needless to say she was unimpressed by my actions but quite impressed by the outcomes.
After A Levels I undertook a Diploma in Foundation Studies at Winchester School of Art before completing a degree in Product Design at Central Saint Martins. I began my working career as a freelance designer before going on to complete a PGCE in Art & Design. I worked as a teacher of Art in secondary schools for 15 years, moving to Surrey with my husband over 10 years ago.
After our twins were born I returned to my first passion of painting and now exhibit as a member of the Dorking Group of Artists and The Studio, Leatherhead.
I frequently work in oil paint often capturing the beauty of the Surrey Hills and surrounding areas. Preservation of natural wildlife habitats is of great importance to me which is why I also volunteer at a wildlife hospital once a week. I tend to work in a more expressive style using palette knives and rich colours. When the kids are at school you’ll often find me walking in the Surrey Hills with my camera, rescue dogs and a rubbish bag to collect any litter.
I won Bronze at the Bacchus Art Prize in 2019 and was awarded Highly Commended in the Wild Surrey Exhibition 2019. I have taken part in The Society Of Women Artists Exhibition at The Mall Galleries, London in 2019 and 2024.
Website: www.imogenhartridgeart.com

Instagram: @imogen_hartridge

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Marianne Hendriks
Marianne Hendriks started working as an artist in 2017. The artist is a self taught artist.
Marianne Hendriks was born and raised in Amsterdam and has her current atelier in central Amsterdam. Because of spending ten years in London pursuing a degree and career, she is deeply rooted in both Amsterdam and London.
Marianne Hendriks completed the foundation year in Art and Design and graduated with a BA degree in Architecture at St.Martins London. After graduating she has worked in the creative industry for seven years in London. Starting off as an assistant set builder and costume maker for theatre, film and events. Because of her love for storytelling, she also attended evening classes in method acting and dance. She then proceeded to work as a creative director, illustrator and graphic designer working for a diverse large client base. She worked with clients such as Liberty, Nike, Uniqlo, Dr.Martins, TFL transport, ASOS, D&AD event, SohoHouse, Guardian news paper, and Goodwood estate events.
During student years because of having very little money she practised as much as possible on pieces of decorating wall paper working with ink and chalk. Exploring through the act of drawing and painting is a crucial part of Marianne’s process and developing and testing ideas and allowing playful exploration.
Marianne has her own very distinctive approach and style and works in the tradition of fine art. She approaches traditional techniques as a contemporary artist. She treats traditions with great admiration. She operates in her own right and is incredibly focussed on realising projects that run over several years to get realised. She considers herself as much of an insider artist as an outsider artist. Marianne works independently and operates in a very self-directive path and has a clear vision of what she wants to achieve creatively.
Marianne Hendriks spends a lot of time in nature and cities, she takes long walks to be receptive to what is happening around her, finding inspiration. Something that Van.Gogh practised as part of his creative process. Marianne’s ambition is to tell the story of nature. Within the core of her work is the heritage of fine art, architectural geometric structures and patterns and optical illusion. Marianne does constant extensive research, visiting botanical gardens, gardening, visits museums, exhibitions, archives, theatres, attends lectures and reads literature to inform her work.
Aged thirty Marianne Hendriks stepped into the art world with the Botanicus collection, her first collection in oil painting. The artist has had the privilege to be recognised quickly and was able to collaborate on many projects. Marianne Hendriks is part of a network of artists that are entrepreneurial, organising and operating on a very professional level. Collaborating on projects with art directors, fashion houses and architects all over the world. The largest recent project displayed at Design week in Milan and Lake Como. Marianne exhibits in Amsterdam, London and New York. Marianne’s art is published in the New York Times, Time out London, Vogue Living NL. Marianne has been awarded to be one of the best selling artists at Saatchi art, five times participated at The Other Art Fair,  twice awarded as Fair favourite at The Other Art Fair and twice winner of the Kate Brayn award. Marianne also has been in depth interviewed by Phaidon Press and Art space. Recently Marianne took part in the Royal Academy London contemporary art summer intensive course to further challenge and reflect ideas in her work.
Alongside establishing her career for four years she trained at Atelier Wildschut to learn traditional oil painting techniques and to seek a deeper understanding of her heritage and to master the Dutch Golden Age techniques. Marianne creates replica paintings of master pieces to learn and embody the techniques. She obsessively explores methods and techniques and keeps extensive log books of each painting with a historic and almost scientific approach, by testing and sampling. Marianne is fascinated by the idealist manor of painting that the Renaissance masters and Dutch masters applied. The art has a sense of mystery because of often lost meaning and  secret lost techniques. The artist describes the art as incredibly powerful and captivating. There is an element of ceremony and theatre involved that makes it magical. Marianne uses the techniques and methods in her work and allows herself to use the techniques in her own way. Marianne has practised and has enjoyed drawing from a young age and draws on a daily basis in sketchbooks.
Marianne Hendriks works in fine art quality standards. All materials in the atelier are responsibly sourced and archival and acid free, plastic free, chemical free and recyclable. The frames and crates are bespoke made in the artists workshop. Marianne collaborates with the renowned digital print House Re-Art to insure the highest quality in digital imaging for licence agreements and the highest quality in limited editions.
Website: www.mariannehendriks.com
Instagram: @mariannehendriksart
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Julian Hicks
Julian is a digital photographic artist His work has been included in major London art exhibitions, online digital gallery’s and auctions for charity.
Website: www.julianhicksart.com
Instagram: @julianhicksart
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Jo Hudson
Jo is a part time artist, working in Collage & Mixed Media.
Originally from Lancashire, Jo now based in Somerset. She mainly uses vintage ephemera and photographs in her collage work. Jo also works with found objects and natural materials.
Often surreal, with a dash of dark humour, Jo’s work addresses social and global issues, but sometimes it’s just for fun.
Instagram: @jo_collage
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Vanessa Jackson RA
Vanessa Jackson, on first reading, appears to take the most formal approach to painting, but her use of geometry and its three dimensional function deny the supposed flatness of modernist space. Jackson’s work explores the contradiction of a fully realised space at once pertaining to logic and completeness and uncertainty and unease. The ornamental and optical play of colour acts to both confirm and confuse our sense of perception, constantly shifting between concrete presence and the ambiguity of space beyond our grasp.
Jackson destabilises the very ‘ground’ we most desire, a sense of security and belonging.
Website: www.vanessajackson.co.uk
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Karen Keogh RE
Training
In the late 1970’s, I trained as an artist, primarily as a potter at Roehampton University in London. Whilst teaching ceramics, I developed an interest in printmaking. Some years later, I studied it at Morley College in London. I consider the excitement of opening the kiln door to be a similar experience to peeling back the press blankets to reveal a new print. Both can be equally thrilling.
Achievements
I was elected as an Associate Member of the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers in January 2008. In 2011, I became a full member (RE). I regularly show work at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. My work is held in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, The University of Aberystwyth print collection, the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, and the Parliamentary Art Collection.
Approach
My 3 plate colour etchings are primarily concerned with exploring the landscape or cityscape. I make visual sense of the scene before me by finding natural patterns and rhythms within it. I describe the colour, using my own interpretation. Using a combination of warm and cool colours, I  create visual depth. Intense colour helps in representing mood, light and space. Within the finished work, I hope to create an atmospheric and individual response.
Etching process
I begin by making sketches of the landscape, mostly from life, and usually in pastels. I then simplify the shapes and explore the patterns until I am satisfied that the image can be developed into a print. I often use three zinc plates (one per colour) to make the finished etching. The technique I use is called ‘intaglio’, meaning below the surface of the metal. The ink is trapped in the etched area and the uncut part remains white.
Starting with the plate for the darkest colour, and using a method known as ‘sugar lift’, I paint directly on the plate with a sugar solution. I then pour varnish over the whole plate, wait for it to dry and immerse it in hot water, where the sugar dissolves and ‘lifts off’ to reveal the image as exposed areas of zinc.
Next, the plate goes into a bath of nitric acid, where the exposed metal is etched away to create the first part of the image. I then add tone or texture known as ‘aquatint’, where the exposed areas are sprinkled with a fine layer of rosin dust, and the plate is put back in the acid. The dust particles resist the bite of the acid, producing a range of tones as a series of tiny dots. The plates for the other colours follow the same procedure.
When I have made all three plates, the exciting stage of printing can begin. Each plate is inked-up with a different colour and passed through the press to transfer the ink to the dampened paper; building-up the final image in a series of overlapping layers. This is where I see the complete image for the very first time. Before this, it had only ever existed in my head.
Using 3 metal plates for each print is labour intensive, technically difficult, and requires a great deal of foresight. But for me, there is no other way to achieve the exciting hues and colour combinations I’m looking for.
Colour is to me the most thrilling element of the printmaking process. It has remained my passion from my early days of making a print.
Website: www.karen-keogh.co.uk
Instagram: @keogh.karen
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Janette Kerr PPEWA HRSA
Janette is a painter deeply embedded in place, working at the interface between land, sea and historical experience. She writes, ‘My paintings represent immediate responses to sound and silences within the landscape around me; they are about movement and the rhythms of sea and wind, swelling and breaking waves, the merging of spray with air, advancing rain and mist, glancing sunlight – elements that seem to be about something intangible.’
Called ‘the best painter of the sea in these islands’ by Brian Fallon, Chief Critic of the Irish Times, Kerr delights in foul weather. Drawn to the perimeters of land, her work is an index of edges and ledges, exposed headlands and wind-swept seas. She writes: ‘My process of making paintings involves extremes and instabilities: peripheries and promontories – places of rapid change and shifts, both physically and meteorologically’.
Kerr is not somebody who makes meticulous studies of landscape. Beyond mere topography, but with a nod towards the Northern Romantic tradition in landscape painting, her practice remains contemporary and experimental. For the last 12 years, her work has focussed on Shetland, where she has a studio and house on the west side, close to the sea.
She travels extensively – always to wild sea and weather-scoured places that look northwards. Working alongside Norwegian oceanographers at the Meteorological Institute in Bergen in 2015, studying the unpredictability of waves and wind, had a profound influence on her work. In 2016 she sailed along the coast of Svalbard in the High Arctic on board a tall ship called the Antigua with a group of international artists. During 2020 she walked in snow storms on an international residency in Skagastrond, NW Iceland.
Kerr has a strong track record of initiating/working collaboratively, in 2017 working with film and sound artist Jo Millett and sound artist Rob Gawthrop to develop Confusing Shadow with Substance, a film and sound installation based on an 18th century haaf fishing station in Shetland, which toured during 2021/22. During covid, they set up the Stenness Sound Walk using GPS technology on the beach at Stenness, Northmavine, in collaboration with the art collective, Satsymph (see also a review by Alastair Hamilton: sound walk technology).
More recently, in 2022, she received funding from Creative Scotland which enabled her to spend 2 months in Greenland, living in a remote settlement called Oqaatsut, and to initiate a solargraphic community project linking Shetland and Greenland through images and field recordings.
Kerr has a PhD in Fine Art, is an Hon Royal Scottish Academician, RWA Academician, and Past President of the Royal West of England Academy of Art.
Exhibiting regularly across the UK and abroad, her work is held in national and international collections.
Website: www.janettekerr.co.uk
Instagram: @ janettekerrstudio
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Geraldine Leal
BA (Hons) Fine Art: Sculpture
Based in Arundel, West Sussex
My artwork is concerned with materialism, climate change and the human destruction of our planet. It’s often set in a dystopian world.
Website: https://geraldineleal.artweb.com/
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Lukas Leisinger
Lukas is a painter living and working in London. He graduated with a BA in Fine Art from Chelsea College of Arts in 2024. That same year, he won the BTA Young Artist of the Year prize and was selected and chosen for the LSM Art Award. He was also selected as a resident of the Muse Gallery 2025.
Lukas is fascinated by the idea of nostalgia and its veiled and uneasy nature. Primarily working in oil paint, Lukas is known for figurative painting, that he weaves together using personal and found archival imagery, which blur the line between authenticity and artificiality. He aims to create an atmosphere of uneasiness and ambiguity. This goes hand in hand with the uncanniness of altered memory, which has become more relevant in the age of digital manipulation.
Lukas explores these concepts using different techniques in oil paint, that blur, distort and haze the figurative elements of his work. This creates an uncertainty to the scene that leaves the viewer to question their own relationship with nostalgia and perception of imagery.
Website:www.lukasleisinger.com
Instagram: @lukasleisingerart
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Stephen Ling
Steven graduated from The Surrey Institute of Art and Design , University College in 2000 with a BA (Hons) degree in fine art.
He describes his works as a distillation of his feelings, thoughts and experiences. Steven completed a Year Of The Artist commission to design the planting for three flowerbeds in Jubilee Gardens, Bracknell, Berkshire in 2001.
Steven has work in the collections of Frimley Park Hospital , Bracknell Forest Borough Council and in private collections in the UK , USA , UAE , and the Republic of Ireland.
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Sir Richard Long CBE, RA
Sir Richard Long studied at the West of England College of Art from 1962 to 1965 and at St. Martin’s School of Art, London from 1966 to 1967. Long wanted to make nature the subject of his work, but in new ways. His first walk-based work was a straight line in a field (1967). Subsequent walks took Long across Dartmoor and Exmoor and enabled him to explore the relationships between time, distance, geography and measurement. These walks were recorded in maps, photographs and text works. Throughout his career Long has explored sculpture as a medium concerned with place as well as material and form. He was knighted in 2018.
Of his own work, the artist has said: “Over the years these sculptures have explored transience, permanence, visibility and recognition. A sculpture may be moved, dispersed or carried. Stones can be used as markers of time or distance, or exist as parts of a huge, yet anonymous, sculpture. On a mountain walk a sculpture could be made above the clouds, perhaps in a remote region, bringing an imaginative freedom about how, or where, art can be made in the world.”
Website: www.richardlong.org
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Debbie Lush
Debbie began working life as a professional illustrator after studying at Harrow School of Art and then at The Royal College of Art. After 15 years she left London in 2003 to renovate a country pub in Somerset with the intention of painting the landscape she loved. However, running a pub left little time to paint! It was 13 years and a further move to Devon before she fulfilled her ambition to paint full time. Returning to paint after an extended break gave Debbie a fresh perspective on her art, resulting in renewed excitement and fascination.
Debbie’s paintings are assembled from the landscapes she encounters on her walks with her dog in Devon. Her joy in the simple process of painting, the act of brushing blobs of varying thickness paints on a surface, one over the other, shines through in her work. She makes brilliant use of vivid colour organised around points of interest, usually the details of her muddy treks on coastal footpaths. Trees, gates, vertiginous rolling fields, white painted houses and farm animals all feature.
Debbie’s work offers a fresh and enthralling take on the Devon countryside which is thoroughly contemporary and endlessly engaging.
Instagram: @debslush
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Elaine Woo MacGregor
Elaine is a Scottish-born Chinese artist trained in the Glasgow School of Art. She graduated with a Bachelors Degree with honours, acquired a studio and began working as a full-time artist. MacGregor began to be noticed as a serious and thoughtful painter and her first solo exhibition was ‘Portraits’ in Glasgow.
Elaine Woo MacGregor’s work encapsulates the world seen through the eyes of a cross cultural artist. She uses eclectic mark making and imagery to create atmospheric and theatrical scenes. Although her painted stories are often fictitious, elements of the picture are based on real people, places and things.
She has exhibited in galleries in Edinburgh, Glasgow, London, Cambridge and abroad. One of her works – ‘Hotel No.4’ – is in the public galleries collection, the Atkinson Art Gallery, Southport. MacGregor’s work has been shown in the U.K, U.S.A, Australia and Thailand and critically recognised by virtue of the Dewar Arts Award, the James Torrance Memorial Award, the Hope Scott Trust Award and the Cross Trust Fund. In 2022, she was a finalist in the Jackson’s Painting Prize, received Art Paisley Prize for outstanding work, and Velvet Easel Award from Paisley Art Institute.
Website: www.elainewoomacgregor.com
Instagram: @elaine_w_macgregor
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Lorna Mackay
Lorna is a Scottish based contemporary landscape artist inspired by her immediate surroundings and her personal response to them. It is Lorna’s intention to capture the feelings that wild and natural places can evoke when we have the chance to spend time in them.
Webiste: www.lornamackaystudio.co.uk
Instagram: @lornamackayartist
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Clare Mackie
Clare is a highly accomplished and well established illustrator who has been based in Brighton for the last decade, after 30 years carving a successful career in London.
Her clients have been many and varied including Harvey Nichols, Tatler, Chanel, Trish McEvoy, The New Yorker, Country Life, Good Housekeeping, IBM and BBC to name but a few. She has illustrated over 20 books and was shortlisted for the Greenaway Award for her collaboration with Michael Rosen on his Book of Nonsense. Her portfolio also includes illustrations for adverts, greeting cards, magazines, kitchenware and stationery.
Website: https://www.claremackie.co.uk/
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David Mackintosh
David designs books and other objects, but mostly he enjoys making things and having them printed. He has worked widely in book publishing as a designer and art director, collaborating with authors, illustrators and photographers. David writes and illustrates his own picture books, and illustrates other texts too. His picture books are published in the UK and Europe by HarperCollins, PenguinRandomhouse, and in the US by Abrams.
Website: www.profuselyillustrated.com
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Michelle Maddox
Michelle Maddox was born in Cambridge, England in 1968 . She has exhibited nationally and internationally, and recent exhibitions include the Royal Academy Summer exhibition, the New English Art Club at the Mall Galleries, The Gallery at Green & Stone, Hampstead Art Society Anual exhibtion, Wells Art Contemporary, Royal Society of British Artists, Helmhaus Zurich, Kunsthaus Zofingen and a successful solo exhibition at the Kunstraum Melanie and Albert Ruegg Stiftung, Zurich. Her work is in private collections in Switzerland, England, France, Luxembourg, Holland, Sweden, Australia, The British Virgin Islands and Canada. Currently she has work in galleries in Cornwall (Tregony), Zurich(Python) and Paris(Galerie Mercier). In August 2025 she won the Gallery at Green & Stone award which means she will have a solo show in London in 2026. In 2023 she finished a postgraduate drawing developement year at the Royal Drawing School London, which lead to a residency in Dumfries House where an artwork is held in the Royal collection. She has a MA in Fine Art (Distinction) from UCA England, a BA in the
History of Art from Birkbeck, University of London, a Certificate of Advanced studies in Artistic development from the University of the Arts in Zurich ZHdK. In March 2025 she was awarded a residency in Paris at the Cite internationale des Arts by Visarte Zurich for 4 months.
Artist Statement:
The importance of my subject is dependant on the resonance between subject and object which moves me. Although the ordinary object has always fascinated me – I am not necessarily looking for the most beautiful subject, but rather a subject which allows me to be challenged both artistically and emotionally. My painting practice is not normally driven by subject matter but by light, colour, and composition. When something resonates, my response in paint is about expressing an experience, and not trying to copy or create a photo realistic image. Often paintings are left fairly simplified from the image that inspired me, as ultimately, it’s about capturing the essence of my subject. After reading such authors as George Perec about their observations of the everyday as opposed to the sensational which we are bombarded with in the media, I began a deep visual study of the disregarded and the everyday. Many of my still lifes are about looking at the everyday object beyond its daily role and seeing it as shapes and colours. I am currently exploring this further on the Visarte Zurich residency in Paris where Perec lived.
Website: www.michellemaddoxart.com
Instagram: @michellemaddoxart
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Sasa Marinkov
Artist’s statement:
My preferred method of making images is through Relief Printmaking using wood or lino. I like exploring an expressive language in a dialogue between between positive and negative (most often printing in black ink on white paper), representation and abstraction, control and accident. I search for subjects with a camera or draw, sometimes using nature symbolically or a city in construction or destruction. Exploring ideas and teaching a variety of skills have been an important and absorbing part of my creative life.
Website: www.sasamarinkov.co.uk
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David Nash OBE RA
David is a British sculptor based in Blaenau Ffestiniog. Nash has worked worldwide with wood, trees and the natural environment.
He studied at Kingston College of Art from 1963 to 1967 and at Chelsea School of Art (Postgraduate) from 1969 to 1970. Nash’s first solo exhibitions were held in 1973 at Queen Elizabeth Hall, York and at Oriel, Bangor, Wales. These rapidly led to a series of solo exhibitions throughout the UK and his international reputation was established after his first solo shows overseas were held in 1980 at Elise Meyer Gallery, New York and at Galleria Cavallino, Venice, Italy. Since then, he has continued to hold solo shows on an annual basis throughout the world.
Nash’s work has also been included in numerous international key group exhibitions since 1970. These include The Condition of Sculpture, at the Hayward Gallery, London (1975), British Art Now: An American Perspective, at the Soloman R Guggenheim Museum, New York and tour (1980), British Sculpture in the Twentieth Century, Part II, at the Whitechapel Art Gallery, London (1981) and Aspects of British Art Today, at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum in (1982).
More recently his work was included in Here and Now, at the Serpentine Gallery, London (1995), Sculptors’ Drawings 1945-90, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and The Shape of the Century: 100 Years of Sculpture in Britain, at Salisbury Cathedral and Canary Wharf, London (1999). In 2000 his work Cube, Sphere, Pyramid was purchased by the Chantrey Bequest for the nation.
David Nash is represented by Annely Juda Fine Art, London; Galerie LeLong in Paris, Zurich and New York; Galerij S65, Aalst, Belgium; Nishimura Gallery, Tokyo and the Haines Gallery, San Francisco. Nash was elected a Royal Academician in 1999, the same year in which he was appointed a Research Fellow, University of Northumbria, Newcastle and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Art & Design by Kingston University. Nash lives and works in North Wales.
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Diana Nicholls
Diana is an abstract artist and firmly believes that everything happens for a reason.  She sees her art as a soul-searching journey, expressing emotions, dreams and inner reflections. She loves working on large canvases with acrylics and she also enjoys drawing with black ink or metallic pens. Many of her paintings have found homes in private collections in London.
She is a member of the Art & Soul group and some of her artworks have been exhibited in various local exhibitions. Since 2016, she has supported “The Secret Art Auction” by donating her artworks.
Instagram: @diananichollsart
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