INSPIRE: With an eye for detail, a love of process and perfection as her goal, Merry Robertson is a cut above

Artist Merry Robertson is a woman who loves doing her homework. This should come as no surprise, for as well as being the creator of beautiful linocut pictures, she has a past as a lecturer and a present as a teacher of drawing and printing. A resume which includes spells as a graphic designer, TAFE lecturer, fitness instructor and workplace trainer, she’s as much at home with the academic as she is with the artistic. Her familiarity with preparation and organisation holds her in good stead and even her aerobic fitness helps as she moves from spot to spot, rarely sitting down, in her large studio with its view of Princess Royal Harbour. Her Little Grove studio is an airy space which houses her giant roller and book press, tools of a trade which involves as much dedication to process as it requires imagination, talent and skill. A piece can take months to complete from start to finish. Research, photographs, drawing, carving, pressing, printing, inking and drying are all on the to-do list for an artist who has an eye for detail and always seeks perfection. Even preparing the paper is part of the procedure as she is experimenting with base colours on which she will overlay and press botanicals. It’s a slight change of direction for someone who has switched her focus from endangered species to flowers and bush. Last year her pieces were built around three threatened species: Baudin’s black cockatoos, the numbat and the ring-tailed possum. Robertson said she sought to find that tricky balance between highlighting their plight and not leaving her audience in discomfort. “I want to tell a story,” she said. “My inspiration for content comes from a keen interest in my natural surroundings, conservation and the endangered flora and fauna of the region. “Our landscape burns and threatens animals who try to come back but the landscape, the trees and the fauna are all entwined. “I want my work to be beautiful because, if people have a positive feeling about an image, it resonates, and they get the message. “It doesn’t make them feel vulnerable but it leaves an impression, especially if they ask about the way it’s made, and they hear about the time and effort involved.” It seems just right that she donates a percentage of her art sales to environmental protection organisations. Creating a linocut, and bringing an idea to life, starts usually with research — for her numbats, for example, she read about their habitat and their food so they could be drawn with accuracy — and then a photograph, which Robertson traces onto a black lino plate. She has to simplify the drawing to make it possible to cut into the plate, transferring a section at a time and marking areas with which she’s unhappy in red biro. Once she’s satisfied, the key phase comes next — carving the shape into the plate. “Carving can take 30 hours — you can’t undo a cut,” she said. “You need a sense of detail, and it intrigues me to make it the very best I can. “I take my time; it just might take months.” She takes proofs, prints for real, inks over areas of the cut for extra detail and to add her own flair, and then waits up to a week for the finished work to dry. The wait is worth it. Her new path is taking her to landscapes reminiscent of the Pilbara and includes another piece of kit, an old Scoop magazine pressed between the pages of which are a dozen flowers and slim twigs. “I want to work with botanicals,” Robertson said. “I’ve done my homework on what’s up in the Pilbara, so I’ve gathered flora and am pressing it ready to paint and press on paper.” The paper is a work in itself as she has experimented with copper sulphate, rust and tea to produce a dye which evokes the dry, red dirt of the State’s north – but that’s just the start of things. There’s more pressing, more colouring and more inking but she is enjoying the feeling of adventure which comes with trying something new. As someone who has always taken part in the region’s flagship creative events like the Southern Art and Craft Trail and been a volunteer with ArtSouth WA, she is passionate about showcasing the best of the area’s artistic talent. She also loves exhibiting her work and taking part in competitions, opening her studio for the Art and Craft Trail, often sharing her space with another artist working in a different medium to double the interest for potential visitors. Twice a winner of a Great Southern Art Award for her printing, she reaches into her training background to set herself goals, so she is always improving – and always learning. For all her keenness on detail and goal-setting, the good news for anyone signing up for her drawing and linocut printing workshops next month is that the two-day classes culminate in participants creating their own pieces. There’s no homework and no waiting for months, just instant gratification. It’s not the Robertson way, but if it encourages more artists and printers, it’s a winning one.