Laine Tomkinson

I explore the emotional attributes of experience and sensation though colour, depth and form. I’d describe my practice as lyrical abstraction. My prints begin as large screen-prints on Fabriano paper, often incorporating elements of monoprint or collage.  I frequently refer to the print process itself by collaging cut up elements, such as the registration acetates of the print.

I orchestrate my personal array of marks within the frame and energetically pushing out of the edges. Repeatedly the shapes are dancing, reacting, hitting on each other, accordingly they are given movement based titles: Roundabout, Tumble, All fall down and Hoky-Koky.

Increasingly, I make one-off prints and, other than an idea of essence of the piece, I don’t have a fully formed idea of the final state until it’s completed – it’s a process of looking, thinking and improvisation, though a difficult/playful dialogue with the work.

I concur with Patrick Heron “The picture is not the vehicle of the meaning, the picture is the meaning” in that, though I make prints that are inspired by specific preoccupations, in truth the heart of my work is as much about the process/ endeavor of making it.

OVERVIEW

Laine is a fine art painter and mixed media artist based in Nottingham. Her practice has developed over forty years, experimenting with all aspects of printmaking and painting. In recent times, she has shown in Part of the process - The Tarpey Gallery, Castle Donnington, April 2017, The Hepworth Print Fair, Wakefield, March 2017; Sea; Land- The Lotte Inch gallery, York, December 2016; and Printfest Selects at The Northern Print Biennale, Newcastle 2014. She is represented by several British independent commercial galleries.

She also curated and participated in Make Colour sing - Abstraction now, May 2018 NSA Gallery Nottingham showcasing colour and collage inspired artworks from thirteen British and International artists also How soon is now? Review of Contemporary Abstraction Nottingham, 2016, featuring a selection artworks from 12 leading contemporary British abstract artists.

A longstanding member of the Printmaking Council, known for showcasing contemporary British printmaking nationally and worldwide, Laine was the featured printmaker in the Printmakers Council’s magazine Imprint, which featured an interview and a selection of recent work.

She says of her work “I’m consistently experimenting to keep my work fresh.

My artwork is a response to everything I love, the natural world, music and the sensation of being human.

I approach each series of work without a definitive blueprint, orchestrating my personal array of shapes and marks,building up layers of screenprinted and painted marks to develop an image that is true to the initial inspiration."

Recently I’ve been merging different disciplines; a significant part of my work's development is the purposeful obscuring / revealing the history of the work. Sometimes this is achived by cutting up and overprinting an existing work,adding monoprint or partially painting over an already colour saturated print- constantly experimenting with the boundaries of processes.