Printmaker Ellie, who is one of the country’s youngest wood engravers, has had ‘Snowshill Manor’ accepted by the Royal Academy of Art for their famous Summer Exhibition, selected by a committee of leading British artists from 16,500 hopefuls.
Ellie said: “I’m so excited to have been accepted and can’t wait to see my work hanging in London”.
Ellie, who has lived in Shropshire all her life, studied at the Cambridge School of Art, and was lucky enough to discover the old art of wood engraving when she was at university. It’s a painstaking art form, “It takes me an hour or so just to produce a centimetre of work” she said.
The scale is incredibly small and she creates the prints by using tiny metal engraving tools with fantastic names like Spitsticker and Scorper to chip away at a glass-like block of wood, working in reverse so that when it’s printed the image comes out the right way round.
Ellie is always inspired by lovely Shropshire gardens, such as Attingham or Wollerton Old Hall, and her work is owned by collectors around the world.
The Royal Academy Summer Exhibition will run from June 18 to August 18 at Burlington House in London.
Ellie’s work can be seen at: elliecliftlands.co.uk.
By Donna Cliftlands – Contributor
