Jan Dingle

Jan Dingle originally studied Graphic Design at Hornsey College of Art, turning to etching almost by chance several years later whilst raising a family. Her landscape etchings are mainly based on the Norfolk Broads where for the last twenty years she has cruised regularly with her husband and dogs on their old Windboat. Originally from North London, Jan seeks to portray that sense of peace and tranquility the area emits, and to capture the flavour of the place in minutely detailed images of rivers and dykes, fields and hedgerows, fens and grazing meadows, footpaths and cornfields that together make up the balanced ecology of the area. Etching into metal was originally devised by the crusaders to decorate their weapons and was adapted for printing onto paper by artists such as Durer and Rembrandt; the techniques Jan uses have changed little since. To produce an etching a thin layer of wax is laid onto a metal plate and the artist draws through this with a tool like needle; this is then immersed in a bath of acid and the exposed metal is bitten away to the required depth. This process is the Etch Broad layers of colour are produced into the plate through an aquatint - a resin dust sprinkled onto the plate, adhered by heat and blocked out and bitten to different depths. By using two plates, linked in the same areas for each colour the prints on show are created. All the stages of these etchings are done by hand by Jan. Etching is the only printed image that cannot be reproduced to full effect either by lithography or photography. Jan’s work is mainly inspired by over twenty years of cruising on the Norfolk Broads in the old wooden wind boat originally bought as an old banger for family holidays and now an acknowledged classic registered with the Vintage Wooden Boat Association. Jan has watched keenly the subtle changes in the landscape that Man has sought to harness it first for intensive farming and now the intensive conservation of what is originally a Man-Made landscape derived from ancient peat diggings. The ever changing seasons and broad open skies for which Norfolk is renowned provide an endless source of inspiration for Jan. Recently Jan has extended her Inland Waterway subject matter to include the odd canal and even the Nile Feluccan area which seems to have had a long affinity with Norfolk Broads lovers. Jan has exhibited with several major societies including the summer exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts, London.