This year, by way of a Christmas greeting, I decided to sketch London places with Christmassy names and make them into a little book. The project turned out to be more complex, and more interesting, than I’d thought… The sketchwalk is made of several smaller sketchwalks, after meetings, between errands … Read More
Behind the scenes My preparatory work for Breather, my piece for 26 Inspirations, part of the Bloomsbury Festival, started with several sketchwalks. I know the route well but it was considerably bendier than it was in my imagination of a linear drawing… And then there was rain. Biro is wonderfully … Read More
The point of playtime… Away from my desk, I grow things, I draw things growing – and sometimes I join it up, turning growing things into things to draw with. I’ve saved petals from French marigold dead-headings. For a while, I’ve been using the basic method of hot water and salt … Read More
Learning stuff as I work makes me ridiculously happy… It’s been a joy to be asked to sketch at Surge Co-op’s event River Walk, River Talk, River Study, a walk, talk and litter pick along the Channelsea River followed by an invertebrate survey with ecologist and invertebrate specialist Russell Miller. … Read More
We’re busy… There’s a lot to do. Even in the creative industry, taking a break in the working day can feel impossible. We even apologise for it (or maybe that’s just me…). But leading a lunchtime sketchwalk for The Trampery on the Gantry, I encouraged chat about what getting outdoors … Read More
I could just answer the brief… There’s a venerable oak in Bruce Castle Park that I’ve drawn over the course of designing a visual identity for Bruce Castle Museum & Archive in Tottenham and returning as a visitor and a researcher. It’s been just part of growing my knowledge about this … Read More
My lockdown project turned blog has sprouted a collection. Dispatches from a Small World reports from my urban garden in sketches. There have been forays into garments and cards. But there are enough sketches now to find themes for products. Hello roses! A classic, you would think – but approached … Read More
The Christmas gift guide… Two of this year’s projects have generated large bodies of illustration work: 26 Habitats and my lockdown project turned illustration blog Dispatches from a Small World. So “What else can we do with these?” questions have come up. Et voilà: Christmas cards from my Dispatches from … Read More
Fit for the job… As COP26 starts, 26 Habitats and its follow-on, 26 Pledges, a creative collaboration between 26 and the Wildlife Trusts, hands over to 26 Habitats New Zealand, where writers, each with a different artist, are working in partnership with Forest and Bird. So I get a chance … 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