Learning about people from a personal project… My Autumn / Winter range of t-shirts, sweatshirts and hoodies has gone up on my Teemill shop. It’s an offshoot of my Dispatches from a Small World blog, which started as a lockdown project (do keep up…). But it’s also a lab that’s … Read More
“How does Lydia do this!”… It’s always a delight when a client enjoys the work from a live sketching commission, here, an assignment for long-time client Ideas Foundation covering the Disrupt Space exhibition at The Department Store, Brixton. And this time, my client Heather’s comment set off a stock-take of … Read More
Questions and answers… As the launch of writers’ project 26 Habitats gets nearer, Philip Parker has caught up with me for a Q&A for 26 about the illustrations bringing a visual element to the project. Though there’s knowledge and method behind all of my work, I approach every project differently. … Read More
What can a garden teach us? In times of restriction, what can a garden teach us? Born in the stillness of lockdown, my illustration project Dispatches from a Small World has been documenting the growing season in over 200 sketches. In a feature for sustainable lifestyle magazine Sublime, I write … Read More
How personal projects help clients… In a flurry of activity very much of these times, my lockdown illustration project turned blog Dispatches from a Small World has sprouted a Teemill shop. It’s launched with two collections of illustrations, printed on demand on organic cotton t-shirts. So far, so peripheral. Or … Read More
Humans of Here East… I co-work at The Trampery on the Gantry, at innovation and technology campus Here East, formerly the press centre for the 2012 Olympics. Interviewed for its impact report case study on responses to the pandemic, I’ve been talking about the value of having brains to pick, … Read More
26 is a not-for-profit organisation for writers and anyone who believes in the power of words. Which includes me – words are part of my creative work and my ideas process. Its creative projects bring together multiple writers to focus on a particular theme. Following its hugely successful 26Wild project … Read More
A blogpost about a blogpost… Photographer, collaborator and Trampery compadre JC Candanedo blogs. Properly. Articles, interviews with people, that sort of thing. So I was delighted when he asked me if I’d join him in conversation for a blogpost. Answering questions often answers questions because I have to unpick my … Read More
The lockdown project lives… A prolific filer of sketchbooks, time was when I would draw my commute to and from my desk space. But at the start of the first lockdown, local parks full of ‘keep moving’ signs, I couldn’t even draw on my daily exercise walk. So I decided … Read More
Adventures in natural colour… It all started when Cordwainers Dye wanted to join in with an activity I had designed for East End WI joining up drawing with embroidery. In turn, I took part in their bundle-dyeing workshop. And so, a conversation started about colour. Experiments with natural inks are … Read More