Shona Branigan is a wood engraver, printmaker and photographer and has always been drawn to trees. Shona discovered Brain Nash Gill’s tree printing work recently and was delighted to find that it is possible to relief print wood itself.

Shona has long worked with the Nation Trust, most recently to create a series of prints of the famous Sycamore Gap tree after it was felled in 2023. Shona creates relief prints of wood by using the Shou Sugi Ban technique; charring it which raises the grain, removing all the ash with a wire brush, sealing with shellac and then finally inking and hand burnishing. Each millimetre of the paper is rubbed against the wood which also creates an intaglio ‘feel’ as the paper becomes an physical ‘imprint’ of the wood as well as a relief print. The paper is then wet and stretched for framing.