Jane Kendall

1968-2018

Jane was inspired by: tiny things like bugs and bees and moths and spiders; her garden, everything in it and all the visitors to it, especially the birds, Jane had a huge soft spot for birds; sunlight and the way it changes how we see shapes and colours; patterns, Jane loved spotting patterns created by nature and creating patterns using natural forms; transformation, seeing similarities in things and playing with them.

Jane always had a sketch book within reach with as much writing in it as drawing. A lover of list, Jane's ideas were often jotted down in list form, with ‘do the washing’ and ‘don’t forget the milk’ slotted in between ‘try a third colour layer’ and ‘overlay outline like a Japanese woodcut’, not forgetting odd phrases like ‘a perfect apple’ or ‘sea tree’ or ‘continuous flow’. A mixture of sketching and doodling filled up the pages in among the words, a lot of which will never be transformed into a print, because Jane's head worked a little faster than her hands were able to keep up with, so often she moved on before an idea came to fruition.

Jane printed everything by hand using a couple of rollers and some paintbrushes, and loved to play with the colours as she went - printing in a very creative and painterly way with no two prints ever exactly the same.  Jane used all sorts of paper to print on. She loved handmade papers, and used paper made from lokta, hemp, jute, cotton and banana leaves. Jane never numbered her prints because she only produced a few at a time, and the next time she printed a design she might change the papers or the colours, so they were never quite the same.

An abiding memory is of the finished prints pegged up to dry on strings that hang above the kitchen table like the most amazing creative bunting that changed every few days.