My latest investigation of printmaking techniques took me into the elusive world of etching with soap grounds, of which I have so far barely (pardon me) scratched the surface! Instead of using the traditional waxy, greasy hard ground to cover the plate and then drawing through it with a metal scribe, you mix up a concoction of ivory soap, linseed oil, titanium white and a few drops of water. You spread this on in layers of varying thickness and then, similarly, scratch lines into it to make to make an image; you can also dilute and wipe away parts of it to establish a range of values. Then you plunge it in the acid bath. It’s hard for a beginner to know how well the soap ground will stick to the plate and how legible an image you will end up with. Luckily, I am willing to have most of the things I do in art not turn out exactly the way I expected. This works for me when I paint outdoors and it often provides revelations in the printmaking studio.

Lizards and Chameleons, Green and yellow squares that started out as sachets and, as their numbers grew, morphed into a little collector's quilt