INKQ Edition #12

On the front page of our twelfth issue of INKQ we are thrilled to be showcasing the sumptuous and extravagant work of painter and mural artist Claire Basler, whose impressionist, garden-inspired paintings capture the fragility and wonder that envelops the natural spaces within both her garden and her 13th Century châteaux. Claire’s paintings move and breathe with their quivering petals, bowing stems and pulsating colours and are completely immersive.

The mysterious and ghostly mushroom prints made by Canadian artist Alicia Lynn Chaa, echo the fragility of life simmering below the surface of Basler’s brush strokes. In all of her work, Alicia often makes the invisible, visible, and in this edition of INKQ her hypnotic Amanita muscaria spore prints haunt the bottom of page three. On the theme of decay and life’s essence, we are also delighted to be featuring and example of the unusual leaf work of artist Camilla Hannay, whose work explores the theme of time, tradition and nature. Materials are an integral component in all of Camilla’s practice and she carefully selects those that are rich in associations so that she can manipulate and transform them to make new identities and layers of meaning.

INKQ 12 introduces us to the first watercolour painting on vellum with Marina Kiselyova’s exquisite painting of a Rococo tulip. Artist Jane Anashka writes about her work with pressed wild flowers and how she hopes that her delicate images will inspire us to protect natural habitats for a greener future. British ceramic artist Frances Doherty talks about what inspires her large, colourful and highly architectural and intricately designed botanical sculptures from her studio in Brighton and French artist Cyril Lancelin discusses how he uses parametric drawing tools and cacti to create his enticingly dramatic installations that leave us questioning what is real and what is safe and what isn’t.

As promised, issue 12 features the last painting in Jessica Shepherd’s INKQ Blue Flower quadtych with the eagerly anticipated full colour, A1 centrefold reproduction of her Nigella flower painting. Inspired partly by the covid molecule and a dream, this painting was painted during the 2020 lockdown and is now in the Shirley Sherwood Collection of Botanical Art. Subscribers will note that owning copies of issues 9 to 12 of INKQ gives a unique opportunity to own four large, frameable reproductions of Jessica’s work, before the grand Blue Flower exhibition which is expected in 2024.

As with every issue of INKQ, issue 12 is limited in edition.