Wolverhampton artist's paintings are expressions of joy and pleasure

When a stunning scene catches her eye, the fine artist and printmaker gets out her sketchbook, taking care to record the shapes, forms, colours and textures in front of her.

Then, back in her Wolverhampton studio, she works with these drawings and memories of the day to create a finishing piece of artwork.

Linda, who for many years taught art at Bilston Community College and at City of Wolverhampton College,describes her prints and paintings as "expressions of joy and pleasure".

She works in pastel and oil and also uses a range of printmaking techniques such as etching monotype, collograph and lino to create pieces using her Gunning press.

Linda took her first step towards a career in art after she was encouraged to attend university as a mature student while working at Sussex University in Brighton.

"I left school at 15 and did a secretarial course. The best person I worked for was Asa Briggs, who was Vice-Chancellor at Sussex University.

"It was one of the first universities to have mature students. One day he said to me: you don't want to be doing this job, you should be a student.

"I wanted to study History of Art and there were three courses where I could do study full-time but I needed two languages. I looked for jobs in Europe and decided on Brussels. I lived there for two years and I managed to pick up enough French and a bit of Italian.

"I did a four-year History of Art (MA Hons) degree at the University of Edinburgh. After I graduated I decided to do a course in teaching English as a foreign language and taught history of art and England in Sweden.

"I would teach in the mornings and evenings and ski in the afternoon. I had to come back to Britain because at the time Sweden wasn't in the UK, but we were, and I couldn't have a work permit for longer than three years.

"In 1986, I moved to Wolverhampton. The art scene here gets better and better. I got to know so many people and it's the people that have kept me here," Linda tells Weekend.

While working as a college tutor, Linda studied for a BA Hons degree in Fine Art Printmaking at the University of Wolverhampton.

In 2007, she also studied printmaking at New Grounds in Albuquerque, New Mexico, which was part of an Arts Council funded study trip photographing the motels, trading posts, often deserted petrol stations as well as the scenery along Route 66.

"The new road was put in parallel to Route 66 so people no longer needed to go on Route 66 so all of the way along there are these old gas stations and shops, it's like time has stood still. You can drive along Route 66 and not see anybody else, which is a bit odd, and then you come across an old gas station," explains Linda, who is a member of the Wolverhampton Society of Artists.

Since 2013, she has been a full-time artist, exhibiting in the UK and internationally and selling work from her website and accepting commissions.

In 2017 she had an etching ‘On bare mountain’ selected by the Victoria and Albert Museum for their permanent collection.

Her drypoint print ‘From here to there’ is held in the Printmakers Council archives and it was chosen to appear on the artuk.org site’s database for UK public art collections.

In 2018, one of Linda's etchings was on show at the Mall Galleries, London as a shortlisted artist for A & I Artist of the Year Award and during the same year she was elected an Associate Member of the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists (RBSA).

Although she has a passion for landscapes and seascapes such as those in the Lake District, Shropshire countryside and Cannock Chase forest, she is also drawn to social issues such as homelessness.

An etching titled Homed and Homeless shows a number of blue tents set up in front of a block of flats by the canalside in Wolverhampton city centre.

"It was the contrast between the homes where people has heating, lighting, fridges and warm beds and the tents where people probably only had a sleeping bag. It was actually snowing and it was very cold. There was the lack of safety and the tents could be moved on any time. The following week the tents had gone," explains Linda.

Linda donated profits from the sale of her homelessness prints to a local food bank. "It's good for me to sell some pieces and I do so quite regularly, but it's not what drives me," she says.

Currently, she is exhibiting an etching of a Lake District fell in the society's Print Prize exhibition, which runs until February 26, at the RBSA Gallery.

Fifteen of Linda's landscapes created in vibrant pastels will also be on display at Ironbridge Fine Arts Gallery from March to May and she will also have four etchings in the Birmingham Art Circle exhibition at Weston Park Granary Gallery during March.

"I enjoy the excitement of developing an idea, whether that's the light on a landscape or how to depict that contract between homeless people and homed people.

"With each piece I want to convey what I felt about the landscape or felt about the issue," explains Linda.

See www.lindanevill.com