PROFILE FEATURE
Dehlia - The Merryweather Artist As the world moves back into something like we remember as normal, it is easy to forget the haunting quiet of last spring – when the world took a breather. When the air was filled with bird song, when fumes from passing traffic were replaced with the delicious scents of the garden and hedgerow and, just for once, wildlife reclaimed the countryside. As she took her daily exercise during lockdown, it was these sights and sounds that fuelled the imagination of artist Dehlia Barnard-Edmunds. Originally a textile artist for many years at her old studio, Montcoffer, in Northumberland, Dehlia felt that lockdown provided the ideal opportunity to explore a different medium that had always intrigued her – linoleum print-making. Comfortably ensconced in her cottage in Market Deeping during the first wave of the pandemic, Dehlia began developing the skills and expertise to turn her sketches and paintings into lino prints. And so the Merryweather Artist was born. Dehlia started out working at the kitchen table with nothing more sophisticated than a few carving tools and a good old wooden spoon. These initial forays into the art of lino printing produced small-scale studies of her local pastoral scenes, including pumpkin fields and allotments, as well as still life studies of vintage vessels. Those first sales of cards and prints meant that an upgrade from a wooden spoon to a small etching press was now possible! Armed with the new press, Dehlia could expand her working canvas to encompass larger and more complex studies of local
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scenes around Market Deeping and her favourite places from across the UK. Just as Dehlia was looking forward to broadening her portfolio through travels in the camper van – sketch book in tow – further waves of tight COVID restrictions meant that inspiration for her artwork became ever more concentrated close to home in her own garden, or on her local walks with her working cocker spaniel, Merry. During this period, Dehlia composed the piece ‘By The Bridge’ (2021), the much admired linocut print that featured on the cover of the May issue of this magazine. Dehlia had heard chatter of otter sightings on the banks of the River Welland, and so adjusted her usual walking route in the hopes of catching the otters at play. She fell in love with
‘the much admired linocut print that featured on the cover of the May issue of this magazine’ this serene corner of the Deepings where the swans, herons and other wildlife went about hunting, nesting and playing by the bridge. The countryside and scenes around her home are a never-ending source of subject matter for Dehlia, who is currently working on a series of studies inspired by her father in the workshop of his business at Tinwell Road Garage, Stamford – she never thought she’d return to Lincolnshire. Her thoughts turned away from the open landscape and big skies of the fens toward the busy city of London where she was pursuing a career in teaching. But, here she is, years on, comfortable around the calm familiar towns and villages of Lincolnshire, with subject matter for her artwork never far from her doorstep. Now that the world is opening up again, Dehlia is planning to showcase her work at various venues and hopes to stage an open studio when the time is right. In the meantime, her work is available to purchase online via her social media (‘@themerryweatherartist’ on Instagram and Facebook). Being conscious about her carbon footprint, Dehlia makes deliveries to local patrons either on foot or by bicycle.
