Hannah Pugh is a Birmingham‑based contemporary artist working with ink, bleach, acrylic, watercolour, and gilded details to create atmospheric, otherworldly abstract landscapes. Her intuitive mixed‑media process blends memory, imagination, and magical realism, resulting in dreamlike works that drift between reality and daydream.
This piece is from Hannah Pugh’s debut exhibition at Seventh Circle, ‘All Is Not Lost - Crossing Into Elsewhere, a collection exploring transformation and the spaces we move through.
The Keyhole Inklings series takes its name from the Oxford literary group that included J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, writers who met in pubs to read aloud, critique and imagine new worlds together. Hannah was drawn to the word inkling for its double meaning: both a creative circle and “the beginning of an idea.” She describes these works as “small windows to Elsewhere,” assembled from tattoo ink, writing ink, antique etchings and 24ct gold leaf.
Each piece functions like a glimpse through a keyhole, a tiny portal where ink behaves unpredictably, etchings anchor the composition in history, and gold leaf adds a glimmer of the sacred. Hannah calls them “exercises in imagineering,” moments where she lets the materials lead and follows the thread of the unexpected.
Keyhole Inkling I combines writing ink, bleach, tattoo ink, an antique etching of St Michael’s Mount and 24ct gold leaf to create a miniature portal into Elsewhere. The interplay of ink and bleach forms organic shapes that frame the etching like a window. Hannah describes these works as “peeking through a crack in the wall and stumbling across something unexpected.”
Original Artwork
Framed Size and Presentation
Keyhole Inkling II emerges from Hannah’s intuitive ink‑pouring process. She often paints up to fifteen sheets at once, letting tattoo ink, water and bleach create unpredictable patterns. “Bleach doesn’t remove tattoo ink, it pushes the pigments around,” she explains. “You get these strange, beautiful formations.” Paired with an antique etching of Morwenstow Church, the composition becomes a tiny imagined landscape discovered through play.
Original Artwork
Framed Size and Presentation
Keyhole Inkling III features the door motif from one of Hannah’s Relics, linking the two bodies of work. She was reminded of The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix Harrow, a novel about portals hidden in plain sight. Tattoo ink, antique etching and gold leaf combine to create a small but potent threshold, a doorway into Elsewhere. “I love the idea that a door can be more than a door,” she says.
Original Artwork
Framed Size and Presentation
Keyhole Inkling IV is the most minimal of the series, created with writing ink and bleach on scratched cartridge paper. Without collage or gold leaf, the work relies on texture and contrast to evoke the feeling of a fleeting glimpse. Hannah describes it as “the simplest keyhole, just enough to suggest a world beyond.”
Original Artwork
Framed Size 63 cmx 45.5 cm
Presented in a contemporary white bevelled frame with offset, black core window mounts and artglass for clarity.
Shipping
Seventh Circle provides free shipping across the UK and Northern Ireland.
For international orders, please contact us (hello@svnthcrcl.com) for a custom shipping quote outside of the UK and Northern Ireland.
For more information, please see our terms and conditions.
Hannah Pugh is a Birmingham‑based contemporary artist working with ink, bleach, acrylic, watercolour, and gilded details to create atmospheric, otherworldly abstract landscapes. Her intuitive mixed‑media process blends memory, imagination, and magical realism, resulting in dreamlike works that drift between reality and daydream.
This piece is from Hannah Pugh’s debut exhibition at Seventh Circle, ‘All Is Not Lost - Crossing Into Elsewhere, a collection exploring transformation and the spaces we move through.
The Keyhole Inklings series takes its name from the Oxford literary group that included J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, writers who met in pubs to read aloud, critique and imagine new worlds together. Hannah was drawn to the word inkling for its double meaning: both a creative circle and “the beginning of an idea.” She describes these works as “small windows to Elsewhere,” assembled from tattoo ink, writing ink, antique etchings and 24ct gold leaf.
Each piece functions like a glimpse through a keyhole, a tiny portal where ink behaves unpredictably, etchings anchor the composition in history, and gold leaf adds a glimmer of the sacred. Hannah calls them “exercises in imagineering,” moments where she lets the materials lead and follows the thread of the unexpected.
Keyhole Inkling I combines writing ink, bleach, tattoo ink, an antique etching of St Michael’s Mount and 24ct gold leaf to create a miniature portal into Elsewhere. The interplay of ink and bleach forms organic shapes that frame the etching like a window. Hannah describes these works as “peeking through a crack in the wall and stumbling across something unexpected.”
Original Artwork
Framed Size and Presentation
Keyhole Inkling II emerges from Hannah’s intuitive ink‑pouring process. She often paints up to fifteen sheets at once, letting tattoo ink, water and bleach create unpredictable patterns. “Bleach doesn’t remove tattoo ink, it pushes the pigments around,” she explains. “You get these strange, beautiful formations.” Paired with an antique etching of Morwenstow Church, the composition becomes a tiny imagined landscape discovered through play.
Original Artwork
Framed Size and Presentation
Keyhole Inkling III features the door motif from one of Hannah’s Relics, linking the two bodies of work. She was reminded of The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix Harrow, a novel about portals hidden in plain sight. Tattoo ink, antique etching and gold leaf combine to create a small but potent threshold, a doorway into Elsewhere. “I love the idea that a door can be more than a door,” she says.
Original Artwork
Framed Size and Presentation
Keyhole Inkling IV is the most minimal of the series, created with writing ink and bleach on scratched cartridge paper. Without collage or gold leaf, the work relies on texture and contrast to evoke the feeling of a fleeting glimpse. Hannah describes it as “the simplest keyhole, just enough to suggest a world beyond.”
Original Artwork
Framed Size 63 cmx 45.5 cm
Presented in a contemporary white bevelled frame with offset, black core window mounts and artglass for clarity.
Shipping
Seventh Circle provides free shipping across the UK and Northern Ireland.
For international orders, please contact us (hello@svnthcrcl.com) for a custom shipping quote outside of the UK and Northern Ireland.
For more information, please see our terms and conditions.
