FOUR of Tynedale’s own have got their work in the largest printmakers’ exhibition of its kind in the UK.

Carol Nunan, Rebecca Vincent, Susan Dobson and Cat Moore were selected to take part in this year’s Great Print Exhibition, held at the Rheged Centre, near Penrith.

Providing a platform for more than 60 printmakers from all over Britain, it attracts some of the best in the business.

“It’s probably the most high-profile exhibition of its type,” said Carol, “because people such as Brenda Harthill, Rebecca Payn and Alan Stones are represented.

“They are all people who set the standards I aspire to, so to be in an exhibition alongside them is really quite something for me!”

Besides burnishing their respective reputations, there’s another bonus – the calibre of the ‘visitors’ attracted.

“The collectors of Brenda Harthill’s and Alan Stones’ work are not far behind them,” she said, “people who wouldn’t otherwise see my work.

“It gives all of us a certain level of prestige to be in the same exhibition as them.”

There are 750 works of art in this year’s exhibition, of which 350 are hung salon-style on Rheged’s walls and the other 400 available to look at in digital browsers.

Between them they celebrate a wide range of styles and techniques.

Carol draws inspiration from the rich flora, fauna and history of Northumberland, often to combined effect. Real plants are often inked up to become part of a print featuring, say, Bamburgh Castle or Sycamore Gap.

“My work is constantly evolving to reflect the changing landscape and seasons,” she said.

The earthy tones of the African continent she was brought up on are reflected in the subtle hues she uses in making her monotypes and collagraphs.

Rebecca Vincent’s work, by way of contrast, is a bright, vibrant palette of colour. She is always on the lookout for a dramatic landscapes she can interpret through either etching or monotype.

“The agricultural patterns of Northumberland are an ideal starting point for my patchwork landscapes,” said Rebecca. “Sometimes people walk into my studio and recognise the landscape they have just visited.

“However, the majority of my images are not views as such, but imagined landscapes constructed from elements that are strongly reminiscent of a particular place.”

Her etchings are printed from two copper plates in a rainbow of colours – up to 16 at a time.

Cat Moore is a self-taught linocut printmaker who is also inspired by the Northumbrian landscape.

Much of her work stems from her own sense of place, as well as a fascination with the ever-changing weather and light bathing these northern lands.

“A landscape speaks of the pleasures and the hardships of the everyday: incoming bad weather, sunshine on a distant spot on the hills,” she said. “It all tells a story, which I capture in print.”

The passion driving Susan Dobson is more specific – a walker and a climber, she loves mountains and all they stand for.

She draws and paints in the remotest of locations, capturing the hard edges and the ephemeral alike: the rock, the snow and ice, the mist, the light and the far horizons.

An inveterate traveller, her subjects one month could be the accessible hills of the Lake District, the next the towering and aloof Himalayas.

The Great Print Exhibition runs until 3 February 2019.