Laine Tomkinson
I explore the emotional attributes of experience though colour, depth and form. I’d describe my practice as lyrical abstraction. My artworks begin as large screen-prints on Fabriano paper, often incorporating elements of monoprint or collage.
I frequently refer to the print process itself by collaging cut up elements, such as the registration acetates of the print.
I orchestrate my personal array of marks within the frame, they are dancing, reacting, moving, accordingly they are given movement based titles: Roundabout, Tumble and Hoky-Koky.
Increasingly, I make one-off prints and, other than an idea of essence of the piece, I don’t have a fully formed idea of the final state until it’s completed – it’s a process of looking, thinking and improvisation, though a playful dialogue with the work.
I concur with Patrick Heron “The picture is not the vehicle of the meaning, the picture is the meaning” in that, though I make prints that are inspired by specific preoccupations, in truth the heart of my work is as much about the process/ endeavor of making it.
OVERVIEW
Laine is a fine art painter and mixed media artist based in Nottingham. Her practice has developed over forty five years, experimenting with all aspects of printmaking and painting. In recent times, she has shown in Inprin- A Celebration of Printmaking The OPG Scarborough,2024, The Open exhibition Tarpey Gallery, Castle Donnington, 2025 The Hepworth Print Fair, Wakefield, 2023; Sea; Land- The Lotte Inch gallery, York,2016; and Printfest Selects at The Northern Print Biennale, Newcastle 2014. Laine is represented by several British independent commercial galleries.
She also curated and participated in Make Colour sing - Abstraction now, May 2018 NSA Gallery Nottingham showcasing colour and collage inspired artworks from thirteen British and International artists also How soon is now? Review of Contemporary Abstraction Nottingham, 2016, featuring a selection artworks from 12 leading contemporary British abstract artists.
A longstanding member of the Printmaking Council, known for showcasing contemporary British printmaking nationally and worldwide, Laine was the featured printmaker in the Printmakers Council’s magazine Imprint, which featured an interview and a selection of recent work.
She says of her work “I’m consistently experimenting to keep my work fresh.
My artwork is a response to everything I love, the natural world, music and the sensation of being human.
I approach each series of work without a definitive blueprint, orchestrating my personal array of shapes and marks,building up layers of screenprinted and painted marks to develop an image that is true to the initial inspiration."
