Lin was born in London to an artist mother, Elisabeth Frink, and a French father, Michel Jammet. His parents’ chosen name has indeed turned out to be suiting for his chosen profession; the French term for linen is lin, and it is a French linen onto which the artist often has often selected for printing.

Lin first started printmaking during the 1970s with Julian Trevelyan, not only a family friend but also a printer of vast experience and great gentleness, having employed an ease and naturalness that has informed Lin’s printmaking since that time. As a natural draughtsman, drawing is and always has been the root of Lin’s work, with each piece being vastly refined prior to completion.

During the 1980s, the artist worked in freelance and editorial illustration and for a time painted in mixed media. Then, in 1993, Lin returned to printmaking by producing several lithographs at Curwen Chilford Prints, which relate very closely to his drawings. These, like subsequent colour prints, were drawn onto textured polyester.

Since 1994, Lin has produced a strong body of screenprints at Gresham Studio, near Cambridge. Those prints range from 8 to 14 colours in editions of 50 plus 2 artist’s proofs, and etchings printed on Moulin de Gue in editions of 50 plus 5 artist’s proofs. Lin’s inspirations largely come from both Napoleonic wars as well as the natural surroundings of his upbringing in the south of France.  

In a catalogue of Lin’s work from 1998, it is written:

The final piece, the editioned print, should have a ‘rightness’ about it, a sense that it has always existed and has materialised on the sheet of paper by a kind of alchemy. This magic disguises the hard work, long hours and concentration that were essential to the making of the work.

Solo Exhibitions Prints, Beaux Arts, Bath (1998), Beaux Arts, London (1995), Drawings, The Philip Graham Gallery, London (1993), Eton Contemporary Fine Art (1993), Bohun Gallery, Henley on Thames (1993), Beaux Arts, Bath (1992), Just Art winners’ show, The Barbican, London (1992), Contemporary Fine Art Gallery, Eton (1991), Beaux Arts, Bath (1990), St Jude’s Gallery, London (1990)

Awards Just Art ’92 (1992), Just Art ’91 in association with Prisoners Abroad (1991)

Commissions Book jacket for Nadine Gordimer, Nobel Prize winning author (1990)