MegaLilyDesign is Alexandra Owen; a linocut printmaker from Hove, UK. Alexandra creates original, hand-printed works, ranging from tiny open edition prints and complex reduction prints, to limited edition larger prints, all of which are based upon nature and nurture.
She is predominantly self-taught artist, and has previously worked as Stage Manager in the Theatre, as well as a paediatric nurse. Although she has always drawn and painted, it wasn’t until 2018 when she took a weekly fine art course at Phoenix Arts in Brighton that she was introduced to printmaking and fell in love with the process of linocut printing. Since then, Alexandra has developed her practice and gently changed her work life to become a full-time printmaker. Today, she works from her home studio in Hove and travels around Sussex, Surrey, Kent, and Wiltshire sharing and selling her work at a number of events, as well as online.
Nature and Nurture are the two key themes within Alexandra’s linocut prints. Her nature prints feature plants and animals that she witnesses out and about in both town and country in Sussex and further afield. For example, Poisoner’s Garden was inspired by the The Poison Garden in Alnwick. On the other hand, her nurture prints are all small editions born out of doing Inner Child work in therapy, and exploring the attachment between parent and child. “These prints are very personal and evoke many emotions in the viewer as well as me the artist,” says the printmaker.
All of her prints begin as a drawing. Alexandra tells us; “This is the very core of my creative process and is how I work out the basic structure of the print”. Once the drawing is complete, she transfers the reversed image onto the lino block. Having completed the cutting, she then prints using oil-based relief ink onto a range of beautiful printmaking papers. Alexandra hand burnishes her larger, limited edition prints with her trusty silver tablespoon, and for her open edition prints she uses her Ironbridge Etching press. She comments; “The choice of paper is so important to the final print. Nepalese Lokta paper is a favourite of mine for my organic prints whereas Somerset Velvet and Awagami washi paper are perfect for my more graphic prints.”
This is only the second year that Alexandra has been working full time as a printmaker, and she continues to expand the size and skill of her prints. This year, she is taking part in two Artist Open Houses in Brighton throughout May as well as an Art Trail in Steyning. Looking further to the future, she hopes to explore creating larger editioned prints, and participate in bigger art events. But for now, as she concludes; “I love my life and my printmaking and feel lucky to be able to make this my job”.
All details of workshops and sales events are listed on her website www.MegaLilyDesign.com
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