Printmaking by Gunning Etching Press Owners – Featuring Eric Gaskell

Eric purchased a No 2 press from us a few years ago, Eric is a very meticulous printmaker and his technical and artistic ability is just excellent!

His website link is here.

Eric writes… I have been making and exhibiting since 1980 and believe good draftsmanship to be a prerequisite of good art. I always have a drawing book in use, drawing from life and experience, the “life” helps to realise form and structure, while the “experience” lets me move ideas forward.

Although my work is relatively figurative it is about the making process. I am interested in how a picture develops so I let shape and colour, texture and mark suggest the next, letting the image dictate and change the form. I like swapping ideas between works, from drawing to paint to print. If a mark or a colour works on one, I use it on others. When I paint (which is rare these days) I use acrylics to form the base, then oil to develop textures, pattern and line. These paintings tend to either influence or have been influenced by printmaking and it is linocut that has become an important part of my life. The graphic, immediate mark-making coupled with the slow development of the print process so far suits the way I think.