Create your own Botanical Prints in full colour, linocut for beginners and intermediates, with Laura Sowerby

Create your own Botanical Prints in full colour, linocut for beginners and intermediates, with Laura Sowerby

 

9.30am – 4.30pm
£85 Lunch included, fresh coffee cream tea etc
Material Charges £20

 

Create your own Botanical Prints in full colour, linocut for beginners and intermediates with Laura Sowerby

Spend a lovely day creating your own original botanical lino print in full colour, under the careful guidance of lovely artist and printer Laura Sowerby. Using professional quality materials and and some clever carving, you will turn your seed of an idea into a print to be proud of.
 
Laura Sowerby creates intricate botanical prints and handmade wallpaper in linocut at her picturesque studio in the Langdale Fells. Her evocative designs on cushions, lampshades and gift-ware have recently been widely featured has been featured in Country Living, Gardens Illustrated, Country Homes & Interiors and The English Home magazines and shown in galleries both locally and nationally.
 
‘Discovering that I am a direct descendant of James Sowerby, famous 18th-century botanical illustrator is a delight.’ she smiles.
 
Over the day you will learn how to plan your original design, the principles of lino cut and master various cutting techniques with the goal of producing your own multi-coloured linocut print by the end of the day. (up to A4 in size) All abilities are welcome. The print blocks you create can be taken home and also could be used to print onto fabrics and soft furnishings such as cushion covers etc.

Dates for this course - see the table below to book:

Sunday 7th June 2026   ~   Saturday 29th August *  new date 

Kindly note that there will be an additional charge of £20 to cover the ink and materials. Typically this course runs with around 8 students. Suitable for Beginners

Please bring:  Gloves and materials are provided. Wear old clothes and comfortable shoes. If you prefer you can bring your own images for inspiration however, there will be plenty available on the iPad.

About the Artist    Laura Sowerby creates intricate botanical prints and handmade wallpaper in linocut at her picturesque studio in the Langdale Fells. She is author of a new book on ‘botanical prints in linocut’. Her work has been featured in Country Living, Gardens Illustrated, Country Homes & Interiors and The English Home magazines and shown in shops and galleries both locally and nationally – including her solo exhibition at Brantwood , home of John Ruskin , at Rheged’s  Great Print Exhibition , and 2025’s ‘Bud and Bloom’ Exhitition. Her work is stocked in prestigious arts institutions including Abbot Hall art gallery and Blackwell Arts and Crafts House, Windermere. 

Using traditional methods, the craftsmanship involved in the creation her large works for wallpaper is painstaking. After weeks of hand cutting , the large-scale linoleum blocks are inked up in a lively and considered palette of colour and hand printed using a manual press onto paper.

 

As a child my mother was a huge fan of Colfax & Fowler and I remember regularly making the pilgrimage together to ogle the window of their Brook Street showroom.  The simple and fresh floral chinzs delighted me. Likewise Josef Frank’s  playful and exuberant designs for fabric dating from 1930s Denmark are a great reminder to be unafraid when it comes to design. The exploration of linocut as a print medium for wallpaper  came about as a direct response to the highly original work of the wonderful, celebrated wallpaper makers Marthe Armitage and Peggie Angus. 

 

Artisanal, block print making techniques for print as well as  wallpapers have a long history. ‘I so enjoy taking my prints out of the frame and onto a new exciting canvas . Once the motifs are repeated the designs take on a whole new life of rhythm and scale.

 

Laura's home is a 17th century cottage in the part of the Lake District that is incredibly special. Her tiny cottage in the Langdales , once owned by Beatrix Potter and now in National Trust hands, is also home to her husband and their two children.