Toni Watts

TONI WATTS is an internationally-recognised illuminator, and one of the few artists still using traditional manuscript gilding skills. She creates new work using age-old techniques and hand-prepared, natural materials. These include mineral and earth pigments, plant pigments from her garden, traditional handcrafted inks, vellum, 24-carat gold leaf and gemstones such as sapphires and emeralds. She specialises in manuscript illumination, but also draws with metalpoint and paints in egg tempera....See more

TONI WATTS is an internationally-recognised illuminator, and one of the few artists still using traditional manuscript gilding skills. She creates new work using age-old techniques and hand-prepared, natural materials. These include mineral and earth pigments, plant pigments from her garden, traditional handcrafted inks, vellum, 24-carat gold leaf and gemstones such as sapphires and emeralds. She specialises in manuscript illumination, but also draws with metalpoint and paints in egg tempera. Toni has had a diverse career - she worked for over twenty years as a doctor while pursuing a career as an award-winning wildlife artist. She then gained a master's degree in art history, which sparked an interest in medieval manuscripts and the trade in pigments. This led to a year (2015-16) as artist-in-residence at Lincoln Cathedral, where she had the opportunity both to study its collection of manuscripts and create a new body of work. She now runs national and international workshops on manuscript illumination. See less