I bring my design head to my live sketching – I love an appropriate format. So for my meet the artist day for Hello, Petal, my exhibition of botanical work at a café in a park, I made seed packet sized sketchbooks. And they’re made from waste, which is entirely … Read More
I do like a proof. Yes, they’re necessary to check quality – but there’s also something lovely in their utility. Colour strips. Registration marks. And on a giclée test giclée print, details of all of the prints lined up like a colour swatch… The test for my Hello, Petal exhibition … Read More
You would think that a blogpost on sketches in an exhibition has no place here. But here’s a thing: one is on glassine paper made for packaging; the other takes a technique I use in short pose life drawing and applies it to something else. Both are unpredictable – and … Read More
Translation. That’s an odd word to use for visual communications. But one of the most interesting parts of my work is spotting a connection between two apparently-unrelated things and using it to invite people in to the words, or to an idea. Some of that work is subtle. Some of … Read More
I bring my design head to my live sketching gigs. So booked for live sketching a members’ breakfast at the Gantry, one of innovative social enterprise The Trampery’s workspaces, at Here East in London’s Olympic Park, I did two things: I asked for some waste materials to turn into sketchbooks … Read More
A drawing board. As gym equipment goes, it’s a bit unorthodox. But in this, the season of squeaky-clean trainers and good intentions, I’m reminded why I draw when I’m not working on projects: skills need exercise too. I go to life drawing as a dancer does class. It’s difficult. I … Read More
“Should we have a Studio Snack jingle?”, we asked ourselves as we discussed the new season of our Studio Snack podcast. Thus started a year-long visual sound experiment. And because I have an unusual skillset and an unstoppably-curious mind, I’m on a voyage of discovery… here, me experimenting on Soundbow, … Read More
January has been a month of resolutions – so in this month’s Studio Snack podcast episode, we look at less. In snacks, and in design, where minimalism has made careers. Our creative experiment has been to simplify an image of a Winter snack. I talk about sketching some fruit and … Read More
Four days, two cities, a wintry beach and nerding out on Delft blue and the House of Orange… it’s been the latest leg of my project visiting places with colour stories. Delving into blue at the Royal Delft factory has turned up a story of resilience, adaptation and innovation. On … Read More
Binding sketchbooks. It’s very Zen. It’s useful (I get through sketchbooks at a rate that’s been described as voracious). And I love a blank sheet of paper. But is it a new leaf? Well, yes and no. I make my sketchbooks from offcuts, dummies and surplus swatches and materials. And … Read More