It’s Relief Printing week here in the gallery so we’re celebrating all things Wood Cut, Lino Cut and Etching. Pop on over and have a read of our Relief Printing Special, to find out more about this great printing process and lots of our artists that like to get messy with ink.
This weeks maker is one of those lovely artists and new to us here at The Red Door. Introducing the wonderful Anna of Thundercliffe Press. Anna works in a variety of print processes which include Linocut, Screen Printing and Risograph.
Let’s find out a little bit more about Anna and her process.
Hi Anna, Introduce yourself to our lovely Red Door Customers and let them know what you do?
My name is Anna and I run The Thundercliffe Press from my home in Glasgow. I am an illustrator and printmaker, and I mostly make prints and cards based on my drawings of people, birds and animals. I work across a range of printmaking techniques, although mostly in Risograph and Lino Cut.
What do you love most about what you do?
I really love drawing, so getting to do that and make things and have people want to buy them is amazing for me.
Where did you study and why?
I studied Illustration at Glasgow School of Art, partly because I visited Glasgow as a teenager and loved it, and partly because they had a great course which included life drawing and printmaking. I actually ended up making short films for my degree show, but that’s a different story!
We love this little Badger Linocut 🙂
Where do you base yourself and why?
I am based in Glasgow and at the moment I work out of my spare room/studio, because it is affordable. I would like to get a studio outside my flat soon though!
What do you like to do when you escape work? Where’s Your Favourite Coffee Spot?
In my free time I like to meet friends for coffee, and there are loads of great places in Glasgow’s Southside just now. Grain and Grind in Battlefield is good. (ah one of our favourites when we head west. Try the waffles 😍)
What Do you love about the print processes that you use?
I really like Riso print as it reproduces line quality really well and is very environmentally friendly and economical, whilst looking great, so I use that a lot if I want to reproduce a drawing. Screen print is the same and really lovely, but I don’t have a screen printing setup at the moment so it’s less accessible for me just now.
I love lino printing too and have a press at home, which is great because it means I can experiment and I love that I can make prints without leaving the house! I recently got an Adana 8×5 which is a tabletop Letterpress printing press, and I made my first Letterpress greetings card on that recently and loved it, so I am going to be doing lots more Letterpress printing soon.
What’s been your favourite piece to make so far?
I think my favourite print I have done so far is my portrait of Mark E Smith, just because it was a bit of a breakthrough for me. I did a drawing of him as I was waiting for a plumber to arrive one morning, and then I decided to work at it and tweak it and I spent a few weeks on it, making tiny changes. Then I got it riso printed at Risotto Studio in Glasgow and didn’t really know how it would come out, and I loved it when I got it back, they did a great job. And because that one came out well and people liked it, I ended up doing other riso prints that I am really pleased with.
What advice would you give your younger self?
I think if I could give my younger self advice, it would be to just do what you love doing. I spent quite a lot of time worrying about what kind of work I ‘should’ be making, and making work in a way that I didn’t enjoy, and it showed in the work. Plus, you just won’t be happy if you’re not enjoying yourself
Who’s your favourite artist at The Red Door and what would be your top purchase?
If I could buy anything in the Red Door Gallery, at the moment I think it would be Susie Wright’s screen print Edinburgh Blue Buildings. I actually met Susie at a fair a month or so ago and I really wanted to buy this print, it is lovely. It really captures Edinburgh’s architecture nicely. I am saving up for it!
We’d like to thank Anna for taking the time to let us get to know her and her work a little bit more. Have you been following our social media posts? It’s a great place to find out what’s new behind our Red Doors. This week we share some of our favourite artists specialising in relief printing. Don’t forget to check out our stories and Highlight Reel too 😉
