Meet the Maker : Tushka Illustrates
Hello, I’m Tushka (otherwise known as Chrissy Mouncey) and I’m a screen printer with a love of the great outdoors and getting in water. I work in my little home studio in North Devon, but also at Double Elephant Print Studio in Exeter.
Describe your printmaking process.
I have developed a way of screen printing that allows me to be as detailed and complicated as I need! I draw or paint onto drafting film or true grain using chinagraph pencils, ink, acrylic, lithography crayons and Rotring drafting pens for different marks, lines and effects. Once these are exposed to my screens, I work a lot with gradient colour-blend backgrounds then layer colour and mark-making over the top, painting into the artwork on my screens for some of the layers.
How and where did you learn to print?
I studied Fine Art and English for my degree, but found justifying my work exhausting and didn’t do anything creative for a good few years after I graduated. I do remember trying screen printing as part of a graphic design foundation course and enjoying it though.
Then my dad bought me a course at the East London Printmakers as a birthday present, which was an introduction to all types of printing. After which, I was hooked and I especially loved screen printing as I could do a lot of the prep at home and get the most out of studio for printing time.
When I moved from London to Devon, about 10 years ago, I did a course at Double Elephant Print Workshop with the talented and enthusiastic George Barron and properly got the hang of screen printing. I then attended the supported sessions at the studio and learnt loads from the brilliant, patient and knowledgeable Esme Cooper. Two years of a screen printing portfolio course with the fantastic Anna Marrow at Spike Print Studio in Bristol, introduced me to loads of different techniques and encouraged me to experiment more and I got to nose at all the incredible work on the print racks there!
Why printmaking?
I love the hands on process, and the layering of colour and marks or lines. Screen printing is so mechanical and scientific in a way but so delicate and creative as well and the magic of layering up artwork makes me really happy. I also like that you can be experimental and controlled at the same time.
Where do you work?
Mostly I work in my little home print studio where I sketch and paint (I’ve just got really into charcoal drawings in the past year, thanks to a great course by the brilliant Kate Boucher) and I print here as well on a simple table-top print set up.
As a member of Double Elephant Print Studio, I can use the space to clean, coat and expose my screens which I can’t do at home. However it a lovely place to be creative and with so many talented artists using this space, I am trying to work there more as the social-artist connection keeps me motivated and stops me feeling so isolated which I feel sometimes in my own studio.
Describe a typical day in your studio.
Hmmm, that’s not easy as there is no typical day. I juggle screen printing alongside working a mix of jobs, so typical is very untypical!
My arty days usually start with a cycle or a swim outdoors to wake my body and my brain up and also to take photos and get inspired for the day. Sketching and painting from my ever expanding library of photos I’ve taken to get my mind and hand-eye coordination in gear is working well for me at the moment after that. Then I move onto working up new prints, exploring ideas, drawing up layers for exposing to screens, mixing colours and printing.
I also squeeze in time for the admin side of being a printmaking, including applications for exhibitions and markets, social media, framing finished prints and packaging artwork, as well as running some stencil screen printing workshops in North Devon so I can convert other people to the joys of screen printing!
How long have you been printmaking?
I have been print making since a year or so after I moved to Devon, so for about 10 years.
What inspires you?
Being outdoors inspires me and I am always trying to recreate and hold onto the feeling of wonder or awe I get from seeing and being in nature. I am obsessed with light, shadow, water, reflections, colour, contrast and the feeling of being in the elements. My prints, drawings and paintings are an attempt to hold onto how it feels to be surrounded by little moments or experiences of beauty that can be too easily forgotten. My aim is to make prints that pass on that feeling to other people, so they can feel what I felt and have a little dose of positivity.
Working for Chill CIC as a cold water therapy coach and volunteering for Wave Project (a charity providing surf therapy) reminds me of the good that being in the sea does for people and this also inspires my prints.
Reading books that put into words how it feels to be outdoors and the power of nature by authors like Robert Macfarlane, Roger Deakin, Nan Shepherd and Lynne Roper also inspires my art. I’ve started to name my prints with quotes from books I’ve read and with words of my own that explain what the print has meant to me and hopefully will mean for others.
What is your favourite printmaking product?
My screens! I am strangely proud of my collection of different sized screens and that they hang out in my studio with bits of my artwork exposed on them. Also, although it’s not exactly a printmaking product, my waterproof camera which allows me to take images when I’m in water to work from.
What have you made that you are most proud of?
I like creating prints where there are layers to the finished print so light and shadow become a real part of the artwork by printing onto glass overlays. I recently finished a piece where screen printed marks on acetate visualising the sounds I heard sitting by the sea overlays a tissue paper screen print of the light and colour of a view of the water from an incredible swim in the Outer Hebrides. This was displayed alongside a series of charcoal sketches showing light, shade and water in an exhibition for the end of a year long project bringing together a group of rural artists in the South West organised by Camp (Contemporary Art Membership Platform). The whole exhibition looked amazing, I was so proud of my work but also to be part of such a talented group.
Another creative experience that I am really proud of was being invited to be the featured artist in Barnstaple library last year. My installation in the library illustrated the story of the prints I’ve made, using my sketches, quotes from books, and photographs of the natural world alongside my finished prints. I hoped to encourage other people to get making by showing my process and ideas. Alongside the installation, I ran a series of workshops where I took people cold water swimming in collaboration with Chill CIC, followed by creative sessions at the location of the dips. For the final session, I ran a screen printing workshop in the library where the participants created prints from their cold water dip experiences. The way the group bonded with each other and were open to being creatively experimental really blew my mind and the feedback they gave from the whole experience was so positive, one participant said that it was the first time she had enjoyed doing art!
Where can we see your work? Where do you sell?
I currently have work in an exhibition celebrating 30 years of Double Elephant print studio at the Thelma Hulbert Gallery which runs until 29 August 2026. I also have a solo show at the Landmark Theatre in Ilfracombe opening on the 19 August 2026, running until the end of the year. My work is in some lovely independent art shops in North Devon - Hand:Plant in Ilfracombe and the London House Studio Gallery in Bideford. If you are in Croyde on a Sunday you might find me and my prints at the Croyde Village Sunday market alongside other talented makers. My online shop has all my prints and I try to keep my Instagram up to date with what I’m up to.
What will we be seeing from you next?
I’m currently in the middle of two new screen prints focused on water, light and the feeling of being in the sea as part of a collection of work around the theme of ‘we escaped into the sea and let our troubles wash ashore’.
I’m also really keen to experiment more with printing onto different surfaces to bring more light, shade and movement into the finished artwork, so more printing onto perspex to layer up the light and shade from the marks and lines and also onto really light weight fabric. I’d love to learn to print with natural dyes too.
I hope to complete a full alphabet for my 'A to Z of the Great Outdoors' print series. I find it useful to have this series of prints to work on to keep me being creative when I am feeling a bit of artists block.
Do you have any advice for other printmakers and creatives?
I have a very loud inner critical voice, so have found ways to sneak creativity past it without it being able to comment! Regular sketching from photographs I’ve taken of moments which catch my eye when outdoors and make me feel happy inside, really help with this and trying to find something I can do that is creative, but not under any pressure to be good also quietens my inner voice.
I’d also advise to try and keep enjoying what you do and prioritise time for doing. I guess that’s as much advice for me as for other printmakers and creatives.
Also, for me, taking courses keeps me moving forward with my prints and stops me doing the same thing on repeat. It’s also a great way to spend time with other creative people and to be inspired.
To see more from Tushka, follow her on Instagram!
Feeling inspired? Come on down to Bognor Regis to take part in one of our screen printing courses/workshops!
Alternatively, if you want to try screen printing at home, visit our website where you can get everything you need to get started!