A window onto winter

THROUGH HER WORK, PRINTMAKER ANGELA HARDING ENCOURAGES US TO SEE THE NATURAL BEAUTY OF THE SEASON, AT EVERY TIME OF YEAR

Angela Harding shows the British countryside at its best – hedgerows, fields and waterways teeming with life; humans and nature in a careful, harmonious balance – her printmaking known to many through cards and calendars, from book covers, such as The Salt Path, and magazines, as seen on our own beautiful cover this issue. Her new book, A Year Unfolding: A Printmaker's

View, gives us the opportunity to watch the seasons gently shifting through her eyes. Bringing together around eight years’ of work, it’s testament to her attention to the minutiae of natural change that the book is divided into six seasons, rather than the conventional four (it includes early spring and early summer). Come winter, bold, bare branches droop with rich red berries; hares and foxes leave their imprint on the snow, while houses emit a cosy glow.

As with all of the seasons, much of her work is inspired by the view from her garden studio, over the fields of Wing, Rutland. But it’s also drawn from exploring the countryside, on bike where possible,

– “We’ve returned to our hippy roots” – and on her husband Mark’s small wooden sailing boat. Wherever she travels, Angela is always drawing, describing her sketchbook as a “studio in my pocket.” But, although drawn from life, it’s not accuracy she strives for in the finished work. “My prints are not realistic anatomically,” she explains. “They’re more about mood and feeling.”

When Angela returns to her studio, she draws onto her lino sheet with chalk. “I think it makes my work seem more immediate,” she explains, beginning the painful process of getting the composition just as she wants it, before she picks up the chisel to begin carving into its surface. “I can be very scatty and undecided when drawing – with chisel in hand you are committed.” Although the timescale varies project to project – for The Salt Path cover, Angela says that carving alone took four to six weeks. The next part of the process is working out the pattern and tonal values that help make the print uniquely recognisable as hers: “that bit is quite satisfying and calming,” before the actual printing takes place. “I always find that part a bit like Christmas!” she laughs.

Making has always been at the core of what Angela has done, adapting how she’s been able to do it to circumstance. Relief printing proved an accessible and affordable medium to fit around the demands of family

life. “At home I had a little press, with one set of gloves for babies and one for inking!” When she reached her late forties, however, she realised she’d “reached the point when I needed to really focus on what I do,” and began working alone from her studio. Now, aged 61, she finally feels she’s reached where she wanted to be. “It’s been a long time coming, so I am determined to enjoy it! “As ever, the balance is tricky. I do suffer a bit from ‘granny guilt’,” she admits, “but I’m really enjoying all these opportunities.” Part of the pleasure is being able to work every day – adapting her rhythm to the season.

Each morning she usually takes the short walk across the garden to her studio at 8ish then “stops when it gets dark really. I’d rather work when the light is creeping up, than going down.” A self-confessed lover of all the seasons, she especially enjoys the opportunity for cosiness and togetherness offered by winter. “I love our ritual of sitting by the fire at the end of the day.”

And that’s not forgetting the artistic inspiration offered by the season. “I love the softness of light in winter. Grey skies, occasionally the sharp, bright frosts.” As with her prints, Angela’s words encourage you to see the wonder in what can sometimes feel like a bleak time of year. “From my studio I watch the fields in their beautiful winter bareness – you can see the forms of the tree branches so much better in the winter. Last year, the snowfall outside the studio was so beautiful. I feel very lucky.”

A Year Unfolding: A Printmaker's View by Angela Harding (Sphere)

WINTER WALK Angela sees the arrival of fieldfares and redwings as a sign of the year coming full circle, a marker of the shortening days

WE THREE HARES In her winter prints, Angela shares her excitement about snowfall. She recalls how last year, it transformed her village into "a place of true magic"

WINTER COTTAGE The cottage pictured was where Angela’s father lived for more than 40 years, on the Wales/Shropshire border with what she describes as an amazing view of both

WINTER DOG AND CHURCH A dog walk always punctuates Angela’s day – a lover of whippets, she’s never bought one, rather “they always find us”