Northernisms

‘Northernisms’ is a series of prints that celebrates the quirks of Northern language. Consisting of quotes, phrases and idioms that may not mean anything in most of the country, but carry particular weight or meaning in the North Of England. When dealing with colloquialisms, the only definitive article is the fact that there is no definitive article, so sometimes when I create these I get a string of comments or messages saying “you’ve spelled that word wrong” or “we used to say ‘x-thing’ where I grew up”. I guess that’s the issue when creating artwork based upon slang! 

Despite all of this, several of these phrases seem to have been widely agreed upon, and these are the pieces that form the ‘Northernisms’ series of prints. It’s always interesting when holding a market stall to see someone flick through the crates of prints and smile to themselves when reading a particular phrase. Quite often this is because it reminds the reader of a parent, sibling or friend - and honestly there isn’t much better feeling than that for an artist. This series of prints is also what forms the bulk of my commissions for people - someone will want a tweak to a colour palette, or want a particular phrase editing to carry a more personal meaning, and that is always a great privilege to carry out.