About me

    

Hi, I'm Darby Smith, the artist at Thimbleberry Studios. You'll usually find me working in my studio, walking the streets and public trails of my sweet little town Port Townsend, WA or exploring the beaches, woods, and mountains of the Olympic Peninsula.

I first started learned printmaking, specifically lithography and woodcuts, back in 1990 at the University of Oregon. Although I loved it, I didn't have the time or energy to devote to it until 2018. During those intervening years, I tried my hand at many pursuits - apple picking, tree planting, cooking in restaurants, interpreting sign language, training teachers, and teaching ESL and linguistics - while seeing as much of the world as possible. Finally I am ready to settle down and focus on artmaking, and it turns out that I still love printmaking: the process of printing itself, all the preparation that happens ahead of time, and the results, including the fact that creating multiples of an image means I can charge less for each one than I would for a painting.

I have a lot to learn about printmaking, and I like to share my mistakes along the way because that's how we learn. I'm also getting to know as much as I can about this beautiful place that I now call home. I'm especially interested in learning about all the plant and animal species that inhabit this environment and telling their stories. I look forward to sharing with you my experience and the art it inspires. If any of it makes you feel more curious about the natural world around you or wanting to try your hand at something artistic, well then, all the better. Thanks for joining me!

Thimbleberry Studios is located on the traditional territory of many Coast Salish Tribes, including the S'klallam, Makah, and Chemakum peoples.