Whanganui artist exhibiting in four countries this month

Sue Cooke's Icelandic Journey1 is on show Art Gallery Pentimento in Bulgaria this month.

Whanganui artist Sue Cooke's work is on gallery walls in London, Spain and Bulgaria this month.

Her stone lithographic works have been selected for the London Print Studio Summer Members Show, the Miniprint International exhibition hosted by Art Gallery Pentimento in Bulgaria and the Cadaques Miniprint exhibition in Spain.

Some of the works are from the artist's Icelandic Hrisey series, inspired by her residency in Iceland last year.

Hrisey is the name of the Island where she stayed with three other international artists and together they faced the challenges of working with 24-hour daylight, freezing outdoor temperatures (although it was the middle of summer), living and working on an island with only 150 fulltime residents, no art supply store and only a very small general store for food.

"The benefits were a very warm and friendly local community, regular whale sightings, excellent lattes, plentiful birdlife and freshly caught cod and haddock in a stunning mountainous setting."

Cooke's Icelandic Journey Series was inspired by a return bus trip across Iceland from the city of Rekjavik in the far south to Akureyri in the far north.

"I drew in a small format book for the duration of the journeys and these drawings were then translated into lithographs," she says.

"I had set myself a project to draw landscapes in graphite, gouache and chinagraph for the entire month of June."

Cooke says the drawings formed the basis of my work in London where she made lithographs at the London Print Studio as International Artist in Residence in July 2017.

Sue Cooke's Central exhibition can be seen at her gallery at 68a Guyton St, Monday to Friday 1pm to 5pm or by appointment.