Anna Lansley is a self-taught printmaker from Gloucestershire, working under the name online - Happily Ever Lino.

From an artistic background, her parents met at art college and studied ceramics and graphic design, so creativity has always been in her blood.

Anna originally studied photography at Falmouth university but settled into a desk job after graduating. After 17 years she missed being artistic so much that she left her day job for good in the hopes of discovering something new that involved being creative.

She discovered linocut printmaking completely by accident while on holiday in 2021 and loved it so much that what started as a hobby quickly became a full-time obsession. The name Happily Ever Lino was born from this sense of finally finding the creative outlet that was missing in her life!

Anna had a very successful exhibition as part of Cheltenham Open Studios in June this year which really boosted her confidence in her ability to be seen as an artist.

“Before Open Studios I felt apprehensive about whether I was ‘good enough’, but seeing my work hung in a gallery gave me such a confidence boost as well as receiving such lovely and encouraging feedback from visitors”.

Working in traditional hessian backed lino as well as Japanese vinyl, her inspiration comes predominantly from the natural world.

My photography work was always quite abstract, and I loved taking pictures of architecture and strong shapes. So, it was quite a surprise to me that my printmaking hasn’t followed suit and that I seem to work in a much more delicate style on animals and birds.”

"Whenever I take a photograph whilst out with my family, my children always say, "Are you going to linocut that mummy?""

"Inspiration is everywhere and it is sometimes hard to focus on getting just one idea at a time down onto lino! It’s such a wonderful feeling to be constantly inspired to create”.

Anna works from a small home studio (a table!) and dreams of one day being able to have her own studio space. She has a small modified die cut press but mostly prints completely by hand.

A veritable 'newbie' in the world of printmaking, she admits she still has lots to learn and is constantly experimenting with new techniques.

“I’m excited to see where my printmaking journey takes me, it feels like it has only just begun”.