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
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
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
Reporting in miniature… My late father and I had a standing joke: that his ideal scale to work at was the size of a building and mine was the size of a postage stamp. So he’d be laughing like a drain that I answered The Correspondence Collective’s open call for … Read More
Creating connection… In Spring 2020, in the first coronavirus lockdown, I ran a workshop for East End WI, using plant drawing to connect women who drew with women who embroidered. Fashion-focused growing and making project Cordwainers Dye picked it up on Instagram and asked if they could embroider a piece. … Read More
Weird year: new insights… Well, 2020… over here, the entire pattern of studio life was thrown into disarray. But I was brought up by parents who had to adapt countless times, decades before pivoting was a thing. So in the silence of the first lockdown, I started rearranging things. New … Read More
In conversation with The Trampery… I’m never without a sketchbook. Drawing, for me, is a way of looking at things, noticing things – and in those moments of watching, there has been respite from the relentless news and the restrictions of the pandemic. I’ve been chatting about that with Patrick Scally … Read More
A flâneuse with a sketchbook… I am never without a sketchbook. Most walks turn into sketchwalks as I spot interesting stories or places on my way. So signing up for the St Joseph’s Hospice Great East End Walk, I hand-bound a sketchbook, filled it with the walk’s landmarks and a … Read More
Why personal projects matter… I’m a big fan of making my own work as well as work for clients. Why? Well, think of it as an R&D playground. At the start of the London lockdown, working from home, I decided to report from my garden in place of my daily … Read More