Pride Of Yorkshire, paintings, plates and prints...

 Hi there

As always there has been a lot going on at Printworks HQ, including some non-print activity! I've had some great events over the last few months, Open Up Sheffield, Saltaire Makers Fair, Sunny Bank Mills Print Festival, Endless Love Summer Festival and The Hepworth Wakefield Print Fair! phew...The Pride Of Yorkshire sculpture trail has also been launched this month, which is very exciting, as 150 lions and lionesses have been let loose all around Sheffield, Rotherham, Doncaster and Barnsley!

Amongst all of this, I have found some time to make some new prints, which I'll tell you about below.

I have one more event coming up before the summer break, being the Spike Print Fair in Bristol! This is their first print fair at Spike Print Studios (surprisingly) at what is a fab large open access facility and gallery for all sorts of print methods. It is on 24 to 26 July 2026 (Fri preview 6-9pm, Sat/Sun 10am - 5pm). I've never done any events in Bristol and I'm a big fan of the city, so can't wait!

PRIDE OF YORKSHIRE

The Pride Of Yorkshire sculpture trail was launched on 8th June 2026! 150 lions and lionesses, transformed by artists from near and far will be placed all around Sheffield and South Yorkshire. The project has been organised by the Sheffield Childrens Hospital Charity in order to raise money for the emergency department, and they're hoping to raise £2.8m.

It was great fun taking part in this project earlier this year, and then see all the creations at the Sheffield Arena earlier this month (top pic). I transformed my lion/lioness into donkey worlds (obviously!) and they will be located at Charter Square in Sheffield and the Danum Gallery, Library and Museum in Doncaster. There are so many great artists involved with this project, including Ryan Mosley, Sarah Abbott, Kid Acne, Jonathan Wilkinson, Pete Mckee, Sam Groom, Liah Edwards and many more. You can see which artists are taking part here.

NEW PAINTINGS

Donkey Paintings

I have also been working on a series of paintings over the last few months. I'm not normally a painter, and have done very little since specialising in print over 18 years ago. However, since being involved in the Pride Of Yorkshire charity project, I felt very inspired to try some paintings on a slightly easier canvas! I have made six donkey paintings using emulsion paint on board, all 30cm square, framed and varnished (the one missing in the pic above is currently being displayed at the Millennium Gallery until July). They are £400 each, and in my Folksy shop.

NEW CERAMICS

I have been beavering away alongside my prints creating a new batch of sgraffito stoneware donkey plates, this time with potter Elham Hessavi, who was a finalist in this year's Great Pottery Throw Down TV series. I love making the plates, and she is great fun to work with, as well as being a very talented ceramicist! The sgraffito process is extremely therapeutic and does feel a lot like making a linocut. I have 8 new plates which are 22cm in diameter and in red, blue, green and black. They are £50 each and available at upcoming in-person events. However if you'd like to come and collect one from my studio, drop me a line.

NEW PRINTS

Magic Donkey No.12 (Moon Edition No.7)

I hadn't intend to create any more versions of this print, until I had a conversation with my sister, and she asked why I hadn't done a green version. I couldn't think of a reason, and rather liked the idea, so here it is! A lone donkey contemplating a mighty circle. Is it a moon, a solid dot, a passage to another place? They will find out soon enough.

Apple green System 3 ink on A2 size Seawhite antique white 290gsm acid-free paper. From an edition of only 7, signed, titled and numbered. £50 in my Folksy shop.

The Orchard of Puzzlement

I created this print whilst taking part in Open Up Artists' Studios a few of weeks ago. The title was suggest by the winner of a competition I set (to come up with an interesting title) and it seems pretty fitting!

I only created a tiny edition of this print, 4(!), of which three are available. It is an A5 size linocut print on 220gsm Daler Rowney paper, signed titled and numbered. £20 in my Folksy shop.

Donkey Abstract No.3

This large-scale print started out as an experiment in mark-making, using charcoal, pens and markers. I soon knew that this was the perfect environment for a new abstract environment for a donkey to explore! I created the edition at Hunk Print in Sheffield.

Blue and black System 3 inks on A2 size Seawhite antique white 290gsm acid-free paper. From an edition of 20, signed, titled and numbered. £60 in my Folksy shop.

Donkey Abstract No.4 and No.5

After doing quite a few large prints recently, I decided to go small for a change. I have created two A5 size two-colour screenprints. Both were made by experimenting with mark-making and loosely based on tree patterns. This is also the first time I have used fluorescent inks too. I love how bright they are, but they are really tricky to photograph. Believe me they are pretty bright! Unusually for me, I have tried to print right up to the edges of the paper, so that when they are framed, you can't see the edges of the paper, except for at the bottom where the edition, title and signature are.

These bright little donkeys have two new strange landscapes to explore.

Donkey Abstract No.4: Fluorescent pink and grey System 3 inks on A5 size Munken Pure off-white 260gsm acid-free paper. From an edition of 24, signed, titled and numbered. £20 in my Folksy shop.

Donkey Abstract No.5: Fluorescent orange and grey System 3 inks on A5 size Munken Pure off-white 260gsm acid-free paper. From an edition of 24, signed, titled and numbered. £20 in my Folksy shop.

Alternative you can buy both prints as a bundle for £35 in my Folksy shop.

Happenings In Donkey World No.17

This is the seventeenth print in the donkey-world series, a continuation of my surreal donkey theme.

In this print, several donkeys have found on their adventures that gravity seems to have redefined itself, mysterious beacons have appeared, and a bunch of 'helping hands' have gathered, intending on being of some assistance to them. 

Pink, orange and dark grey System 3 inks on A3 size Antique White Seawhite 290gsm acid-free paper. From an edition of 34, signed, titled and numbered.

The print is now in my Folksy shop and costs £40 plus p&p.

Donkey Puzzle No.4

This is fourth print in the 'donkey puzzle' series, a continuation of my theme showing a donkey or donkeys figuring out a tricky puzzle made of strange and mysterious shapes, on their adventures in donkey-world. This here donkey is taking their time. There is no rushing this puzzle!

It is an A3 size three-colour screenprint, printed on 300gsm white Seawhite paper, in an edition of 34. The print is now in my Folksy shop and costs £40 plus p&p.

Lions, lionesses, pin-badges, scarves, prints and a mended kidney...

Hello there

An awful lot has happened since I last posted. Health-wise, I've been in and out of hospital a fair bit, and had a few operations to sort out one of my kidneys. Thankfully, all is now sorted. I have been thoroughly impressed with the treatment I was given by the doctors, nurses, surgeons, dinner-ladies, porters and everyone else at the Urology dept of Royal Hallamshire Hospital in Sheffield. We are truly lucky to have the NHS in the UK. x

NEW THINGS

Work-wise, this spanner in the works  thankfully doesn't seem to have affected my creative output at all, in fact it has been a really busy creative time! I think I have created over 12 new prints, plus some pin badges and also worked on a range of scarves and cowls with Glaswegian knitting wiz Olive Pearson.

The scarves idea started out as a chat when we were both at the Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair in Manchester a couple of years ago. We finally found some space to think about the project early in 2025, and worked on a repeating donkey pattern to be turned into a range of merino lambswool scarves and cowls. I'm so happy with the result. They are really beautiful garments, and so soft. 

There are still some left on my website, and you can even contact Olive to create a bespoke colour combination if you so wish!

JG/OP Donkey scarves/cowls on Folksy

Olive Pearson website

New prints...as I said, I have created a whole load of new prints, mostly donkey ones. I'm not going to post here about all of them. you can see them in my Folksy shop, but I shall mention a couple of recent favourites.

Donkey Puzzle No.4 - A3 three-colour screenprint

This is fourth print in the 'donkey puzzle' series, a continuation of my theme showing a donkey or donkeys figuring out a tricky puzzle made of strange shapes, on their adventures in donkey-world. This here donkey is taking their time. There is no rushing this puzzle!

It is an A3 size three-colour screenprint, printed on 300gsm white Seawhite paper, in an edition of 34. The print is now in my Folksy shop and costs £40 plus p&p.

Starling A2 screen-print and A3 poster-print

I find starlings fascinating. Not only do they do those crazy murmurations, but their coats have this magical sheen to them with all sorts of colours going on. In the print I have tried to reflect that, and create a very mini-murmuration at the same time.

I have created two versions, an A2 4-colour screenprint, and an A3 poster-print too. The screen-print is in an edition of 24, printed on 300gsm acid-free Seawhite paper, and the poster-print is not limited, and on 160gsm acid-free paper. Both are in my Folksy shop now. The screen-print is £80 and poster-print £15, plus p&p.

Pin Badges!

The last badges I created (for my 2023 'Donkey Nonsense' exhibition) came and went in a flash, so I thought it was about time I made some more. This time, there is a blue and a red version, made from silver-colour nickel and soft enamel, with a rubber clutch at the back. They are 30mm tall and 28mm wide, and £8 each in my Folksy shop. Hope you like them!

Blue pin-badge

Red pin-badge

Pride Of Yorkshire - Sculpture Trail

I have spent the first month of this year working on the Pride Of Yorkshire sculpture/art project, which is an animal sculpture trail around the whole of South Yorkshire, featuring lions and lionesses! 2026 is the 150th anniversary of Sheffield Children's Hospital, and the project is happening to raise money for it, via the trial and the auctioning of the lions/lionesses. I have worked with the SCH charity several times over the last few years, on exhibitions, commissions and the elephant/bear trails, so it has been an honour to be involved in this too! I can't share too much info or too many images, but the trials looks likely to be the biggest and most spectacular so far, with a really exciting range of artists and artwork. 

The trail happens June to September 2026, and I'll be posting on social media and hopefully here too about it, with more pics and details!

That is all for now.. x