Artist Outlook / Lucille Clerc
We are loving hearing about our artist’s outlook for the year and we hope you do too! Next up it’s one of our best-selling artists Lucille Clerc, scroll down to read the Q + A and check out some of Lucille’s beautiful art!
Night Flowers by Lucille Clerc
Edition of 30, £120
I’m an illustrator and printmaker. I live between London and the French countryside.
I grew up in my grandparents carpentry, surrounded by craftsmen and raised by an English teacher passionate about botany and an architect teaching landscape drawing, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree!
I’ve been lucky to work at very different scale from tiny packagings to large scale immersive murals, and from big brands to museums, publishers and magazines. In the work I create as a printmaker I develop the narrative side, I hide details for the viewer to discover. It takes you on a longer journey and hopefully makes you escape reality for a little longer.
London has been a great source of inspiration, it isn’t like other capitals, it’s much greener. There is a tradition of small gardens inside estates, squares, allotments, botanical gardens, flower markets, and people have a real interest and appetite for these. I like to explore the relation between architecture and Nature in my work this is why you will find a lot of botanical gardens inspired prints, from Kew Gardens where I worked on the renovation project of the Great Pagoda, to the Barbican conservatory to other botanical gardens that I was lucky to visit prior to the pandemic.
I’m feeling positive about the idea of printing again, even if I’ll have to wait to be fully healed to go back to a normal rhythm, the prospect of creating new prints and being around the studio surrounded by all kinds of passionate people is really exciting, and kept me going in these darker days. I can’t wait to be back! And I miss my studio friends!
City Of Trees by Lucille Clerc
Edition of 50, £180
I would say, switch off that computer and trust your instinct! Go look at things in the flesh and always carry a sketchbook. Don’t pay too much attention to trends, they pass, if you copy the current trends you’re already too late. Building a career and finding your own style takes time and work. Find your own themes, your own source of inspiration. Just make sure you do something that truly has meaning for you, there will always be someone out there who shares the same interests as you and will be touched by what you do. Believe in yourself but also trust others, because they are the ones that will carry you and your work further than you could ever imagine. Value each chance you are given to make a living out of what you love, we are extremely lucky people, so if you want to last, don’t take things for granted and be loyal to the people you work with.
Pocket Garden #1 by Lucille Clerc
Edition of 30, £65
I’ve designed large scale hand-drawn decorative panels for the newly refurbished Burrell Collection in Scotland, a museum that has been really dear to me since childhood and I can’t wait to see it in the flesh this year (fingers crossed).
More recently, I’ve illustrated a book by Jon Drori Around the world in 80 Plants, sequel to our Around the World in 80 Trees published by Laurence King which will be released on April 15th this year. It has even more illustrations than in the first one and we are super excited to finally be able to share it!
| I feel unbelievably lucky and grateful for being alive and able to do what I love for a living again. Last year I’ve managed to get through a potentially lethal lung surgery and avoid being infected by covid, and life feels even more precious. I had a lot of time immobilized to think about it. And I had to learn all the basics again, breathing, walking, holding a pen again, etc, It’s been a very long and painful process but somehow an interesting one too and very moving one with the support of my loved ones. I have of course even more admiration for surgeons and medical staff and had to let go of a lot of fears to put my life in the hands of other people. This kind of events is life changing, it’s a good opportunity to re-evaluate what you have done with your life, who you surround yourself with and where you’d like to go, moving forward. |
Day At Kew – 2nd Edition by Lucille Clerc
Edition of 30, £180
Staying home and chill? No, I think I had enough of that!
When it’s safe and allowed I’d love to travel and hug some family members and friends I haven’t seen for a year. It’s been a rocky road and just like everyone else, I guess I have a few family meals and friends bbq to catch up with. Otherwise I’ll keep taking care of the garden (which has been a great source of inspiration during the different lockdowns) and I’ll be preparing for a solo show that will happen before 2025 hopefully!
London Night by Lucille Clerc
Edition of 30, £120
