A new book by Rutland printmaker and artist Angela Harding is a beautifully illustrated study of the natural world. Here, we find out what the third volume in the series will be about, and what holiday plans the artist has in store for late spring 2023…

In a studio, at the bottom of the garden, all is quiet. Relatively quiet. There’s a sleepy murmur from Oaty the whippet puppy, Radio Four is on in the background, and then there’s a near-silent rasping of a very fine chisel through lino as Angel Harding creates another example of her linocut artwork, celebrating the natural world just beyond her studio window.

“I’ve no digital skills, and there are no short cuts or ways to expedite the process,” says Angela. “But that’s the whole idea. It’s a slower, more considered way to work.”

Having said that though, there’s a gentle but satisfying irony that modern printing techniques are partly responsible for Angela’s traditional printmaking techniques being enjoyed by so many people.

Having signed to a couple of art publishers, Angela is now licensing her work for good quality commercial print purposes as well as satisfying her traditional markets of selling limited edition hand-printed work and working on commissions for publishers of books and magazines.

Speaking of which, you may have seen Angela’s trademark style of print on the cover of an early-November edition of Country Life, or on the covers of Raynor Winn – the long-distance walker and author’s –  series of books. Among these is The Salt Path, which talks about how the natural world can have healing, life-affirming power.

Angela, too, believes there’s something redemptive about the natural world and she only has to look up from the desk in her studio in Wing at the ridge of countryside, beyond which is Manton and Rutland Water, to see the natural world evolving.

Angela was introduced to printmaking as a student of fine art and painting at Leicester Polytechnic, founding the Leicester Print Workshop for fine art printmakers working using silkscreen, lithographic, letterpress, etching and engraving techniques whilst creating a space for those artists to exhibit their work.

Angela’s technique of block printing was practised by the earliest publishers of illustrated books. The technique dates back at least a thousand years but was employed in Europe in the mid-15th century for botanical illustrations and arguably gave way to the engraving of 19th century newspapers and other periodicals prior to the use of printed photographs.

“I combine block printing with silk screen printing,” says Angela. “This is called relief printing, creating a white line as you work rather than a black line. The blocks I cut are usually lino or vinyl. I use a sharp chisel to cut into the surface of my block. Ink is then applied with a roller to the block’s surface.”

“The ink is transferred to paper by means of a press or by hand burnishing. So, when I create a line on the block surface, I am creating a white line – I am letting in light and printing shadows.”

“Once the detailed image is cut into the surface of a block, it is usually printed in black. Silkscreen printing is used to create the colour areas. This is essentially stencil work. Stencils can be made photographically but I cut stencils by hand.”

Moving to Wing with husband Mark in 2006 and has since been joined by her daughter Holly and Angela’s two granddaughters. Holly provides assistance with marketing, internet sales diary planning and office management, which is much-needed now that Angela’s work has been licensed to large retailers such as Waterstones, where you can find her signature style used on notebooks, bookmarks, and more recently an advent calendar which sold over 50,000 copies.

Those bigger clients, though, rely on commercial printing, but still for Angela’s customers of her original prints – typically limited to about 75 copies – the artist produces prints from her vinyl relief-work on her Victorian-style Rochat press, a replica created in 2013 following a renaissance in traditional printing techniques, with prints onto 400gsm traditional Somerset printmaking paper.

Angela’s work has also appeared on covers for many of the volumes published by detective novelists P D James and Val McDermid, and around 50 more books besides. It was during lockdown, though, that Angela was approached by her publisher with the proposition of writing her own book.

“A Year Unfolding was published in 2021 and was a visual perspective on the changing seasons as observed from the window of my studio and beyond,” says Angela. “Autumn 2022 saw the release of Wild Light: A Printmaker’s Night & Day, which details 24-hours in nature over the course of about 70 illustrations.”

“Like many people I find the changing light from early morning and to bright midday and the way dusk turns into twilight – and then into night – really inspiring, but I’m as guilty as anyone of being too preoccupied to stop and look, to really notice it, rather than taking it for granted.”

Running to over 190 pages and with 70 original illustrations, Wild Light is a beautifully presented reminder to slow down and observe nature, and to appreciate the way diurnal and seasonal change is expressed as the days and month evolve.

Already there’s a new book planned, and Angela is looking forward to a trip to the island of Fair Isle in late spring. The 1,900-acre Shetland isle, home to fewer than 70 people, is renowned for its bird life – puffins, terns, guillemots, for example – but also for being a true artists’ retreat.

It’ll provide inspiration for Angela’s forthcoming volume on different bodies of water around the UK, from remote islands to coastlines and inland waterways, and all of the species that live around each of the different environments.

The third volume in the series is not due to be released until November 2024, owing partly to the time it takes to produce a book and partly due to the amount of time it will take to produce the 70 anticipated illustrations that Angela will need to painstakingly chisel, stroke by stroke.

But in publishing, as in relief printing, as in nature itself… the best things come to those who wait.

Find Out More: The second of Angela’s three-part series on the natural world was published in November 2022 and is entitled Wild Light: A Printmaker’s Night & Day, £25. Over 190 pages, with 70 original illustrations, it’s available to purchase alongside limited edition prints, calendars, diaries and teatowels and jigsaws via Angela’s website at www.angelaharding.co.uk.