There is a crack in everything (sold) - Leonard Cohen. Size: 32cm (h) x 52.5cm (w) The cold earth slept below - Percy Bysshe Shelley. Size: 31cm (h) x 62.5cm (w) To Winter - William Blake Size: 32cm x 60cm (Sold)

Elizabeth K Forrest

I am a Welsh-born lettering artist and papermaker, now living in Chesterfield, Derbyshire. My work is a unique, highly personal response to text from varied sources that inspire me and is based on a love of words, combined with a passion for colour, texture and pattern. All the work shown on this website is made by hand, without any use of digital technology. The lettering is hand painted with a brush or written with a calligraphy nib. None is computer generated. Most of the work uses paper which I make myself, from recycled papers.

Elizabeth K Forrest
Lettering Artist

My Collections

Love is a smoke raised with the fume of sighs - Shakespeare. 38cm x 33cm

Love

A selection of work based on the theme of love, using my hand-made paper and brush-painted lettering.

The cold earth slept below - Percy Bysshe Shelley. Size: 31cm (h) x 62.5cm (w)

Recent Work

A selection of work made since 2019, using hand-made paper and brush-painted text from the various sources that have inspired me.

Surfaces Other Than Paper

I am interested in exploring text on various surfaces other than paper. This has included working with cotton fabric, treated with fabric hardener, and also with stitched text.

The Spotted Dress - Size 140cm x 90cm

THREE-DIMENSIONAL – Telling a Story

I am interested in creating work which is three-dimensional and which ‘tells a story’. For example, I wanted the spotted dress, which I made out of paper, to have a life of its own with its own past, to have […]

Eternity - John Milton - Size 84cm x 48cm

Past Work

Here is a selection of archive work. All the work uses a heavily textured paper which I made myself. I do not add colour during the making process. After allowing the paper to dry naturally and priming it, I paint […]

Brother Sun - Size 84.1cm x 59.4cm

The Canticle of the Sun

Composed by St Francis in 1224 while recovering from an illness, the Canticle is a hymn of praise in thanks for creation. From January to July 2014, I made seven large pieces of work from a selection of the text, […]

Church

Gravestones in Derbyshire churchyards have also been a source of inspiration.

Eternity - R.S Thomas NFS

Commissions

I undertake lettering commissions. Here are examples of some of the varied work I have undertaken, which includes pen-written and brush-painted lettering and gouache illustration.

The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (Outside) - William Blake Size: Three panels of MDF, each 30cm (h) x 10cm (w), hinged and free standing

Collaborative Themes

Since 2016 I have exhibited with a group of a dozen leading artists based in and around the East Midlands, each making a personal response to a single theme. This project has built on the success of the initial exhibition […]

‘The Big Hoot’, Birmingham

I painted text on a blank, white five foot high resin owl, as part of The Big Hoot, Birmingham, a Wild in Art project in 2015. My design using the texts A Wise Old Owl nursery rhyme and The Brown […]