Annie’s latest work focuses on an old stone barn on Kendal Fell in Cumbria. It’s easy to walk past and not see the elaborate 16th century windows which have been long since filled in. Looking into the history of this place reveals it as Helsfell Hall, the home of the Briggs family who fought their cousins in the English Civil War. They lost and the house was taken from them. Now it sits unseen but commanding on the fell and is a refuge for the sheep in the winter months.

"Through my practice I hope to convey something of our relationship to the natural world and our experiences within it. I find wood to be a fascinating medium. It offers unending complexities often hidden secretly below the surface. As I work the pieces unfold like a good conversation; back and forth, always with an open mind and always an intent to listen."

Inspired by the landscapes and everyday details of my surroundings, I explore how environment shapes emotion and how texture can evoke memory. Each piece I create is a quiet conversation between hand and fibre, where the rhythm of making becomes a meditative process. I am drawn to the organic irregularities of handmade work—the subtle imperfections that give textiles their soul.

"I highlight architectural details in the urban environment and celebrate manmade incursions in the rural environment. All my work starts with a real place, which I alter, abstract and exaggerate in a drawing. This drawing becomes my reference image to make prints. I mainly make prints using the aquatint etching technique. In these works I etch strong, controlled lines and add texture and tone by applying a rough aquatint, leaving in many of the scratches and marks which are picked up by the process."

'In 2016 Routledge published my book Field Sketching and the Experience of Landscape and my main arts practice is as a sketchbook artist, with subjects found mostly close to home, along with sketching trips further afield, including most recently Scotland, Arctic Norway and Greece.  I am also an artist printmaker and studied and worked at the Edinburgh Printmakers, Marburg University (Germany), Taigh Chearsabhagh Art and Heritage Centre (North Uist), and now Incubate Experimental Printmaking in Newcastle.  I use the layering potential of print and mixed media to interpret the landscape.’

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At Witherslack Janet will be exhibiting field sketches and prints inspired by the northern fells and dales where limestone makes a contribution to the character of the cultural and natural landscapes, especially the outcrops and pavements of the rock itself and the woodlands and flowers that grow there.