The promise in Linda Beadle's work

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Linda sent me a high standard of work in her portfolio for Print One, Assignment One. Already having completed Textiles One, Linda wrote, “ I have chosen to study An Introduction to Printmaking, as part of a Textiles Degree although I am very interested in this medium in its own right, having spent a very interesting time on a course at West Dean College, Chichester. I admire the work of Angie Lewin and her relationship with nature. I hope to use this Print course to expand my skills base, develop a better eye for design and gain a greater appreciation of the print based world. Where this will lead I have no strong idea at present but I am content to immerse myself in the work and enjoy it!”

Linda worked very thoroughly through the whole of Assignment One with both precision and enthusiasm. At this early entry stage her work is already confident, inquisitive and shows a personal style. The whole portfolio showed that each part of the process of the work was equally important and equally worked upon; preparation, research into monoprints, artist context, techniques, log of work in progress, sketches, observations, print in development, final prints and reflecting. Quite often, it is easy for Level One students to neglect the preparatory work and research and get involved straight away with the more final works. Here, Linda showed an understanding for the process as a whole. Therefore, all her studying and efforts prior to the actual printing consequently led to a higher standard of output. She started the exercises understanding what was being asked, reflected on this and planned what she needed to do in her sketchbook through writing and drawing.

Linda has a sensitive and inquisitive drawing style, not being overly precise but using drawing as a tool. It is easy to understand her thinking in observations and what she is focusing on to then translate them into 2D Print. There was a good range of experimentation and different mark-making tools used in the portfolio, including cotton buds, feathers and grasses; all developing knowledge which was used towards the end tasks.
You can clearly see she learnt a lot through the making process, for example, stipulating her addition of tack reducer enabled her to print a more even density of colour or ground. She was consistently challenging herself and her reflections were not always positive with frustration about both quantity of ink and registration being her biggest ongoing problems. Linda is also clearly building on previous experiences on her OCA Textiles course and Printmaking weekend at West Dean.

Rebecca in red The most successful element of this image is choosing to make the left arm a negative which is simple yet cleverly done in context with the exercise ‘Positive and negative masked monoprints’. It transforms a silhouetted static pose into a movement full of character.

Grasses is a sophisticated print. It reflects a lot of learning and is a development of both the landscapes which she did simplifications of in her sketchbook and the textures she is interested in. The colours are muted which is interesting against a block of blue. The prints are partially made from gathered grasses which have a strong presence and are playful in scale.

Beach scene with children is a personal and fun print. It combines most of the learning through Part One and also has a few different motifs worked through. It is clear to see Linda is already developing a personal style and using differing techniques to create a new language. Within this single final print she used block colour to create a horizon, which she initially worked out in her A4 sketchbook in both drawings and simple photoshop images. Choosing to create solid objects out of the sand castle and bucket in block colours, then over-layering the figures sensitively, using back-drawing as a technique, gives the figures and dog a ghostly quality producing the effect of the overall image being one of memory; recollecting a past in a vivid image.
Looking through the subject matter of Linda’s portfolio it is interesting to identify that a large factor in why she chooses particular images, photos or objects could be because of their relationship with childhood and memories. This is perhaps something Linda will continue to develop or research now that this has been highlighted.