Artist Spotlight: Louise Scammell SWLA

Could you briefly introduce yourself and your artistic background?

I am a printmaker and diver, and have a printmaking studio in the village of South Brent in Devon. I spent years doing graphic art before I discovered Dartington Printmakers where I worked and subsequently taught for many years. I have recently helped set up a printmaking facility in our village where I currently teach. 

My interest in learning to dive stemmed from being around boats and living near the sea on the South Coast. My parents loved sailing and I spent most of my childhood pottering about in small dinghies or sailing with my parents. I learnt to scuba dive in my late forties, but I found using the equipment was prohibitive. I decided to learn how to freedive/snorkel instead, it enabled me to choose when and where I wanted to go at a moment’s notice, I can also go out with my partner (a commercial rod and line fisherman) who drops me off for a dive from his boat. 

Free diving and sketching underwater is such a unique approach. What first inspired you to take your sketchbook beneath the surface?

When I started snorkelling and free diving, I used cameras to capture what I saw. I found it difficult to translate these photographs into prints and I wondered if there was another way. I started making simple waterproof sketch pads using recycled materials and waterproof paper - I experimented with drawing tools and discovered that graphite and chinagraph pencils worked well, as did some oil pastels. When I return to my studio I turn the drawings into Mokulito prints (wood lithographs). It is a direct process of turning a sketch into a print and allows me to make expressive marks showing movement. 

What are some of the challenges and surprises you have faced when drawing underwater, and how do they shape the outcome of your sketches and further work?

One of the challenges I face drawing in the water is that everything is mobile - not only your materials and equipment but your body too! I try to keep still, sometimes holding my breath, and concentrate on the subject in hand. It forces me to consider every mark I make, to look more carefully at my subject, and also to slow down. 

Light and colour can shift so dramatically beneath the surface. How do you go about capturing this sense of movement and change in your prints?

Light plays a strong role when working underwater, sunshine plays tricks on my drawing pad, I find using my body to shape my sketchpad helps. When I see something fleeting I speed up my drawing process and try to avoid getting too involved in the details. 

What impact has being a member of the Society of Wildlife Artists had on your practice?

I love being a member of the Society of Wildlife Artists. It has taught me the importance of working in the field rather than relying on using photographic images as a source for my practice. I have been working since 2021 on an underwater conservation project up in Scotland. The diversity of marine life in this area is unique. I now travel up each year to teach artists attending the 'Hope Spot Snorkelling residency'. 

I visit Skokholm Island annually during the Spring with another member of the SWLA. I try and spend as much time as I can in the water (it's quite cold!). I relish watching Puffins, Razorbills and Guillemots diving for food. I discovered wearing my 'Puffin hat' enabled me to get closer to my subjects. 

Finally, do you have a favourite work you are exhibiting in the SWLA Annual Exhibition? If so, why?

Choosing my favourite work for this year was relatively easy, I observed this Lesser Spotted Catshark gliding through the Kelp and enjoyed watching the sinuous movement of its body. 

'If tropical rainforests should be destroyed in any country, I do not believe so many species of animals would perish, as, under similar circumstances, would happen with the Kelp. Amidst the leaves of this plant numerous species of fish live, which nowhere else would find food and shelter: with their destruction the many Cormorants, Divers and other fishing birds, the Otters, Seals and Porpoises, would soon perish also' - Charles Darwin