Born in 1935 in Southampton, Hampshire, Fay Watson studied at Bournemouth College of Art, receiving a National Diploma of Design in illustration and calligraphy in 1955. It was here she learned to make wood engravings, studying under Cynthia Nolan, the estranged wife of the Australian painter Sidney Nolan.
She made her first career in graphic design, working in TV advertising and later specialising in typographic design.
She broke her career from 1959 to 1971 to raise her children. During this period, she continued to make sketches and designs with a strong sense of pattern and contrast. She also made several brass-rubbings, discovering in them the fascination of the incised line which had always attracted her. Wood engraving remained a special interest, although it was not until after her retirement in 2000 that she was able to return to her favourite medium. She is now enjoying a second career as a print-maker, making wood engravings and lino-cuts. She has twice worked as Artist-in Residence at Burton Agnes Hall, a stately home in East Yorkshire, in 2004 and again in 2007, and exhibits in arts festivals in SE London, where she lives. In 2009 and 2011 she had engravings accepted for the annual exhibitions of the Society of Wood Engravers, at the Bankside Gallery and subsequently on tour around the UK.
Fay lived in Sydenham from 1961 until 1982, moving to Crystal Palace and later to South Norwood. She has taken part in the last three Sydenham Arts Festivals, exhibiting her prints at the homes of Sydenham friends.
She is interested in the use of formal patterns and textures to convey aspects of her designs, and in the way the characteristics of the engraved line can influence and alter the original concept.
All images © 2011 Fay Watson. All rights reserved.