angela harding
LEFT AND OPPOSITE PAGE Snapshots from Angela’s studio in Wing and (centre) the illustrator tends to her vegetable patch
money to support herself for a year and quit. The gamble paid off and, to her relief, her income has gradually increased. “I do work very hard every day though,” she admits. “I think about work all the time. Because I have had to wait to do it, I appreciate it so much more.” Angela now works in a brand new studio that she had
installed in the bottom of her garden and affectionately calls her ‘shed’. In fact, it’s beautiful: painted white and blue it is evocative of British beach huts (albeit with more windows) and overlooks a shallow valley in England’s smallest county, Rutland. It’s not hard to see where her inspiration comes from,
although she can often be found in Norfolk, where her partner, Mark, keeps his boat. The blue-grey that is prominent in much of her work is inspired by the colour of the East Anglian coast. Angela currently splits her time between printing and
painting. She has regular commissions from Gardens Illustrated magazine and, thanks to representation by no less than 24 galleries across the UK, she is usually working toward one show or another. Angela has been working for the magazine for several
years and has become used to the monthly brief. She has about two weeks to complete each print but works better under pressure. Each month has to be different, not only in terms of subject and composition but in terms of the palette too. The colours have to suit the seasons: “I try to think holistically about what each month especially requires,” she says. Nevertheless, Angela tries to make each commission
ARTIST’S BIO
part of her own body of work, as this makes the time spent on the print financially viable. “Copyright always resides with the artist but what I get is a ‘first use fee’ [from the publisher], after that I can sell editions of the print and use it as a greetings card. Some of the commissions are subjects I would never choose for my own work, like a man in a hammock. That’s not me. I can do it and I enjoy doing it but it doesn’t feel like part of my work that I would sell as editions.” Recently, she was asked by Art Angels – a card
publisher that specialises in work by printmakers – to join their stable of artists: “When I got the letter asking me, I jumped for joy in my kitchen.” Angela puts her commercial success down to her
Name Angela Harding
Born Stoke-on-Trent, 1960
Trained Leicester College; Nottingham Trent University
Next exhibition New Paintings and Prints, 5-25 May, Twenty Twenty Gallery, Shropshire
More info
www.angelaharding.co.uk
14 Artists & Illustrators
dedicated approach – for example, she regularly sends e-newsletters (complete with pictures of her latest work) to her ever-increasing database of potential clients and galleries. “Don’t take it personally if you don’t get in,” she adds. “It might not be the right time.” Her top tips for approaching galleries are get a smart
website and try to meet the gallery staff and owners in person where possible. “Do lots of research and have an aim. Which galleries do you want to be part of? Which galleries are your heroes exhibiting with?” While Angela spends much of her time in her very
neat and tidy vegetable garden, she continues to attend the Leicester Print Workshop a couple of times a month to use its Albion press, as Angela only has a smaller intaglio press in her studio which is very slow. She clearly doesn’t mind working in solitude (especially given that at the age of 25 she cycled the British
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