Dehlia Barnard-Edmunds aka The Merryweather Artist
Dehlia Barnard-Edmunds is a printmaker / creative exploring the diverse and exciting world of print in her cottage in Lincolnshire on the edge of the fens.
Dehlia has always loved print, especially poster art and having dabbled with printmaking during her time as a textile artist, Dehlia rekindled her interest a few years ago.
Dehlia works primarily from her home studio i.e. the dining room and since 2020 has built a portfolio of works inspired by her collection of vintage vessels, gardens, the quirks of allotment life and rural scenes in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire too, where she spends much of her life. Ask her about any of her prints and she will tell you the tale that inspired her to create it.
Over the past couple of years, Dehlia has exhibited and sold her work at various venues across the country, but also enjoys opening her studio to the public as a member of the Peterborough Artists Open Studios. Dehlia is also a member of the Leicester Print Workshop .
Screenprinting, drypoint etching and monoprinting are some of the methods Dehlia is currently exploring, and is excited to extend her printing to textiles in the near future.
Dehlia is an experienced teacher and runs workshops in various printmaking methods.
How a Piece of Work Evolves
A print journey will begin to develop from sketches, either from a still life set up at home or, more often, done when out and about on her bicycle or on her rambles in the countryside.
Dehlia’s designs evolve from these initial observations, sometimes reworked in watercolour to help work out colour layers for her multi plate or reduction lino prints.
More recently, Dehlia has been developing a series of collage works based on her collection of ceramic pots and vases with seasonal flower arrangements.
Collage works were never on her agenda until, after a long day of printmaking, Dehlia noticed what wonderful patterns and textures were created quite by chance, simply by cleaning off her printmaking tools.
She saved these patterned and textured papers in a folder labelled ‘Later’ and now uses them in her beautiful collages which can be purchased as giclee prints in several sizes.
