It’s an illustration of a tassel. Simple, you might think. Some would use a machine to do it. But 4160 Tuesdays is an artisan perfumery. This collection’s box and postcards have illustrations I started by doing research sketches at shows. So I’ve drawn from an actual tassel. I’ve looked at … Read More
Wordstock, by writers’ organisation 26, is part of the Bloomsbury Festival. I was the warm-up act: five minutes on listening through drawing and an invitation to try a different kind of note-taking. I’m told I draw like a journalist – it’s seeing a story that makes me grab my sketchbook. … Read More
I draw like a journalist, I’m told – and finding stories has become so instinctive that I only think about it when I explain it to someone else. So it’s been a treat to chat about all things sketching with textile artist Kate Shurety on the last leg of her … Read More
An imaginary hell, earth, heaven and limbo… Blaze of Glory is my third illustration adventure with independent perfumer Sarah McCartney of 4160 Tuesdays. What you can see here is my hand, illustrating, on an iPad. But where it started was in Sarah’s studio, smelling perfumes in development and hearing about … Read More
I’ve done the cover illustration for Family Matters, the third volume in a poetry collaboration between the writers’ collective Dark Angels and Paekakariki Press, a letterpress printing workshop in London. In conversation with John Simmons of Dark Angels and writers’ organisation 26 for the 26 newsletter, we talk about why … Read More
A writer friend used to swear by his dog. I take my sketchbook for a walk. I often call my walks screen breaks (often, they are) – but they’re all manner of other things too… I come up with ideas on walks that I don’t have at a desk. There’s … Read More
I’ve been to Lille for the day, to see La Piscine, a museum of art and industry in an art deco swimming pool. It’s thrillingly good, using its setting as a fresh way to think about the objects in it. I saw much else besides; this, after two weeks in … Read More
In November 2025, I met writer and artist Joni Brown for her new ‘Artists in conversation’ series of newsletter articles for writers’ organisation 26. Perched at a British Library café with sketchbook (me), notebook (Joni) and tea, we chatted about the meanderings of creative careers, our practice and the pull … Read More
I’ve live illustrated the past two Wordstock events by writers’ organisation 26 at the gorgeous Conway Hall Library; this year, I was there as a participant. But draw? Of course I did… I always have a sketchbook about my person, a small thing hand bound from waste. And I use … Read More
I think it started with an album of Paraguayan music my parents had when I was a small child. It had a photograph of a market on the sleeve. I loved its colours and patterns and I’ve had a thing about markets ever since. So when we made a Studio Snack … Read More