ABOUT ME

Welcome to Claire Gordon Prints...

Thanks for taking the time to check me out.

After completing a dual honours in Japanese Language and Modern History, I spent a couple of years in Sweden learning how to weave. I stayed with textiles for a very long time until further study introduced me to word art and printmaking. And the rest, as they say, is history!

I am currently a member of Greyfriars Art Spaces and West Norfolk Artists and have exhibited in both England and Ireland.

West Norfolk Artists association

Printmaking

Each print is the product of a trip around the local countryside looking at well known landmark buildings or stopping along the way to capture something that has caught my fancy. It could be a pub or building sign, a small moody cottage, an oddly large church in a small coastal village, a windmill or one of the many listed historical buildings. I take my sketchbook and camera and make quick compositional scribbles whilst capturing the details I want with my camera.

After deciding on my composition I'll start thinking in layers for multi block printing and work up detailed drawings often on graph paper before transferring these to lino for carving and hand printing. Registration is key to making my prints align exactly the way I want them to. I print using traditional oil based inks and prefer printing on Japanese printing paper in particular Hosho Select paper produced by Awagami. For more information check out my blog which has a section on work in progress.

Calligraphy and word art

With hindsight, studying working with letters in a creative, rather than a calligraphic sense, was the turning point for me. I had previously been working with textiles, but letter art had a profound effect on my creative direction. Combining font and design acts as a perfect foil for printmaking. Both require a focus for detail and a great deal of patience and therefore offer me two different but complementary creative outlets.

I work word art using traditional nibs in a variety of types and sizes and prefer working with acrylic ink, which can be glazed once the work is dry. I am design led working fonts around an idea for illustration, which gives me the opportunity to try out both classic and modern fonts.