After an initial wobble through etching and finding it rather messily liberating, I embarked on a little Garden Bird project, reinforced by a small local exhibition coming up in March at a local La Poste. Very kindly the post lady has a spare area and monthly allows artists to display work. My friend kindly invited me to share and the month will give us exposure and hopefully some sales. For me it’s getting used to visibility, deadlines and promoting my work.

I take about an hour per etching to finished colouration, with drying time for the damp paper, an excuse for a cup of tea. So far I have a wren, a sparrow, magpie, woodpecker and a blue tit. I use acrylic pens and coloured pencils and to some extent its very nieve and simplistic, blobs of colour, hints of vegetation, but I like them. They translate well into a potential set of fabrics too. Swallows, blackbirds, pigeons and finches to follow and maybe an owl and a hawk as they are regulars to my garden also.

I use zinc sheets. I prefer to the perspex as softer and very easily marked for texture using an array of tools and wire wool. Learning as I go along, a journey without a real destination, just enjoying the moment.