My long-range personal project The Colour Trip involves visiting places which have associations with colour. I do some advance nerdery, I explore and I’m open to diversions.
It will become a thing. What type of thing will be revealed in due course.
But meanwhile, I give you the latest leg of the trip: Blackpool and Liverpool.
Blackpool is named after a drainage channel from a peat bog that emptied into the Irish Sea, turning the water black as it arrived – so I tracked down the site and came away with bonus stories, about the challenge of filming 1960s children’s television in black and white, and a surprising brand story from Fleetwood, the birthplace of the Fisherman’s Friend lozenge.
In Liverpool, the Liver Building, for the Liver Birds, which are cormorants – or not (there are arguments for other species) and turned out to be green, the biennial art festival, Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral with its John Piper stained glass and Lutyens crypt, a street art trail in New Brighton and the Arts and Crafts houses of Port Sunlight.
In what way is this foraging relevant to my commissioned design and illustration? Well, it’s because I’m unstoppably nosey that I often find myself working with similarly curious-minded organisations and individuals. And the more I explore on my own projects, the better-equipped I am to delve into their stories or lead their sketch walks.
