Jennifer Hunt

My artwork is inspired by the landscape and coastline, mostly in Dorset where I have lived all my life. The area between tides is a treasure-trove for beach-combing – from shells and seaweed to driftwood, feathers and stranded sea creatures. I love to draw the detail of my finds and then place them in the setting of the beach amongst pebbles or sand with the sea as a backdrop. I also enjoy sketching fishing boats, lobster pots, nets and buoys. My background is in botanical art so my preferred medium is a fine sepia pen which is perfect for drawing the detail of natural objects. I use a watercolour wash with transparent colours to bring my illustrations to life. Recently I have been etching moths in scraper board creating white moths against dark skies. I sometimes use vintage printing trays to display my detailed drawings. As a writer, I like to annotate my sketches with my response to places and with the names of various plants etc that feature in my work. Sometimes I sew small sketchbooks which I fill with drawings of natural objects like seed-heads, leaves, insects, pebbles and feathers. The sound of the sea and the wind in the trees is like the pulse of nature echoing the rhythm of my pen or pencil.