Ruth Law - Wood Engraving
Ruth is currently based in North Yorkshire, having moved from the Lake District in 2023. She started printmaking around 10 years ago, attending courses with experienced printmakers in Cumbria and Lancaster, and on discovering wood engraving as a form of relief printmaking was immediately ‘hooked’, and attended further courses with professional wood engravers in 2016 and 2017. Using specialised engraving tools to work on end-grain wood blocks, (such as box, cherry, holly, maple), or sometimes a synthetic surface such as engraving plastic, interesting tonal range and the fine detail of tiny images can be achieved.
The medium of wood engraving allows Ruth to explore the details of landscape, carefully observed while out walking; the Lake District continues to be a place of personal significance and inspiration.
Now creating images of the North Yorkshire landscape through the seasons with its fascinating field patterns, trees, hedgerows, dry stone walls, Ruth’s work invites us to look closely and find our own connections to these ancient places. Photographs, sketchbook work, and preparatory paintings and drawings underpin how ideas are developed into the design to be engraved onto a wood-block surface, creating each unique print through hand-printing processes.
Ruth’s work has been exhibited in Cumbria and Lancashire since 2017, and since 2022 she has shared her enthusiasm for wood engraving through leading introductory workshops at
Iron Press Printmaking Studio in Lancaster.
Ruth Law- Engraving
Ruth Law - Dark Tarn