Why wildflowers?

At the very beginning on 2023, I embarked on a new monthly creative challenge: To create a new Lino print every month, based on a different seasonal wildflower.

Today, I'm taking you on a deep dive into the hows and whys of this challenge and we'll take look at some of the work I produced as part of it, and the products and collaborations it has spawned!.

I suppose the first question is: Why do artists take part in, or set themselves, these creative challenges? They're an increasingly common way for artists and designers from around the globe to come together, while working independently from the same starting point or brief. There is much to be learned from how your fellow artists interpret a theme differently or in how they render their subject matter. Challenges are also a great way to add a lot of new work to your portfolio and are a great way to stretch yourself creatively and perhaps produce work you usually wouldn't consider. Participants of organised challenges such as these usually post their results on Instagram, using a specific #. Examples are #inktober for graphic artists; #coloricombo for surface designers and artists interested in colour, and #jehanestwelvedays for illustrators who want to add more Christmas themed work to their portfolio. Another very popular challenge for fabric designers is the Spoonflower weekly design challenge which is a weekly challenge, with a variety of trend and seasonally driven themes for printed fabrics. Sometimes artists will also set themselves challenges such as #100daysofpattern

In the past, I have attempted almost all of these challenges. I often find them too intense - requiring a lot of work in a short space of time. Due to the way I work, I am very much part of the 'slow design' movement! All of my designs originate as hand drawings, and are carefully researched and practised in my sketchbook, before being digitised, coloured and assembled into compositions or repeat patterns. I work hard to retain the hand-drawn or printed nature of my drawings in my digital work, and that takes time. I have often found myself rushed and panicking during these challenges, and I don't mind admitting I have abandoned some challenges midway through, when they became more stressful than fun!

So what changed? By January 23 I realised although I was still routinely drawing by hand, it was mostly using a pencil or pen. The rest of my design process was digital. I was not often getting my hands dirty with printing ink or paint anymore. I was missing the craft element of making things by hand. It also finally dawned on me that I didn't need to follow an existing challenge #. If the ones out there didn't suit me in terms of pace or theme, I could invent my own. One new piece a month felt much more achievable to me, and more sustainable long term. And so, my monthly Lino print challenge was born!

But why Lino printing? I've always been drawn to print making. I enjoy the process and discipline required, and that you can easily make multiples of an image. Sadly, now that my studio is at home, I don't have easy access to screen printing facilities, but Lino is possible on a small scale, at relatively low cost, and without too much specialised equipment. Again, it felt achievable and sustainable. I also really like the stylised and simplified look of Lino prints, and had been using a digitised 'block printed look' in my fabric designs for a while. It made sense to tie the challenge in with work I was already making.

Here is a 'Lino look' design from my portfolio. This is 'abundance' and was created around 2021 before my Lino challenge began. Here I had deliberately drawn pumpkins to appear as though block printed, but in reality, these motifs were never created as block prints. This is the step I felt my work was often missing, and was one of the catalysts of the challenge.

But why wildflowers? I knew that I needed an overarching theme for my challenge, one that would sustain me throughout the year. Those who have followed me for a while will know that my work often centres around the British countryside, and I love to work seasonally. A monthly challenge gave me the opportunity to do just that. Flowers seemed the obvious choice. I was very familiar with a lot of summer wild flowers, but the flowers that bloom the rest of the year, not so much. I thought this would give me the opportunity to research and learn more, as I selected a different wildflower for each month. And so it has proved. I have learnt that Hellebores, although rare, can grow wild on the fringes of deciduous woodland; that Common Ragwort, although poisonous to cattle, is essential to many of our pollinators, and the sole food source of the caterpillar of the Cinnabar moth. I have learnt that wildflowers growing on roadside verges attract less pollinators that those in wildflower meadows, due to the fumes and vehicle emissions drowning out their scent. I have learnt you can make a beautiful sweet syrup from Rose Bay willow herb, and I now know the difference between Autumn Hawkbit and a common Dandelion. Here's my Rose Bay Willow herb print.

And so the list of prints from the year looks like this: (from top left to right)

January: Hellebore. February: Snowdrops. March: daffodils

April: Bluebells . May: Cow Parsley. June: foxgloves

July: Rosebay Willow herb August: Ragwort September: bindweed

October: Autumn Hawkbit . November: poppies December: Winter aconites

The prints were all around 10.5 cm wide by 15 cm tall, and fit into an A4 mount and frame. Some are still avaialble to purchase from my etsy shop, either framed or framed, while stocks last.

Completing a body of work over a year in this way has been an interesting exercise. I can see my printing style has evolved. I have acquired some better, finer cutting tools. I have developed a better way of registering my prints so the colours are in the right places every time. I have experimented with applying chine colle ( collage, underneath the print) and tried watercolour painting on the top of prints. My compositions are becoming more complex and sophisticated. There is more attention to the negative space, and more detail and pattern and repetition inherent in the work.

One of things I hadn't anticipated when I began the challenge, as how many of these prints would also become repeating patterns, or products. I enjoying scanning the finished prints into my computer and returning to work on them digitally, changing the colours and experimenting with the layout and scale and rotation to complete seamlessly repeating patterns.

Many of these lino prints, once digitally adjustesd,went onto become greetings cards, and bookmarks. I also published a Wildflower calanedarin 2024 using these designs .

Also with a little bit of further tweaking, and the addition of some text, I am proud to say that some of these designs are now also licensed to the northern line shop.

In short then, this challenge has made me produce more work, turn it into more products, improve my printmaking skills, and embark on collaborations I would never have expected when I began. If you are even slightly considering whether a cretive challenge is right for you, I would say, go for it! And remember, it's YOUR challenge - you can write your own rules and make it achievable for you. You never know where it will take you!