Edmund Blampied (1886 – 1966)

Blampied was known as a painter, etcher, illustrator and cartoonist. Born in Jersey, he studied at Lambeth School of Art and later worked for a time as an artist for the Daily Chronicle newspaper. Apart from a few early lithographs most of his work was drypoint. He described his technique thus: “I do not trace on to the copper, but copy a few important lines on to the bare metal with litho-chalk. I then sketch over this with an ordinary sewing needle and rub in a little black oil-colour... From the first my efforts are to improve on the sketch until I consider the plate finished... In very few cases do I touch a plate after the first proof, so the majority have but one state. If I am dissatisfied with either the composition or details, I prefer to start afresh upon another plate rather than make radical alterations.”