Bridges have been writ large in my year, thanks to writers’ organisation 26. I’ve been artist partner to writer Jonathan Holt for 26 Bridges and invited to take part in 26 Twinned Bridges, a different kind of project pairing writers in the UK and New Zealand, each writing a centena … Read More
I love a good clearout. I’m the daughter of an artist-designer who turned his own into an event – canvases would be ripped; pots smashed; bonfires piled high; work buried in the meadow at the end of the garden. One day, archaeologists will ponder the rituals that these might have … Read More
Chip fork fish? DIY postcards? There’s been a field trip to the seaside for the latest episode of Studio Snack, a food podcast about design that I make with Narcis Sauleda. We were researching seaside snacks and for our grand day out, as well as my usual hand-bound sketchbook made … Read More
A by-product of writing a bio or summary information is the chance to wrangle the question I’ve often asked branding clients: “In one sentence, what do you do?”. On the face of it, my work has got more complicated as I’ve gone along. As I’ve gathered knowledge, graphic design has … Read More
A lemon top ice cream in Redcar. That hadn’t been the plan. Whitby had been my next colour trip, for jet black and the Old Norse for white, more of which later. But getting there turned out to be fiddly so I had designed a scenic route North, wiggling down … Read More
Thanks to clients who saw uses for my loose, gestural drawing before I did, what started by accident through a studio booklet about drawing as part of my design practice, has become a thing in its own right. Here, clockwise from top left: A staff portrait wall at Bowen Craggs … Read More
My sketching work is on location, on communications and in discussions. But this Summer, it’s also on show – at three East London exhibitions… Three giclée prints from my project Dispatches from a Small World have been in Newham Kaleidoscope, a showcase of over 80 works by 40 artists. The exhibition … 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
“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
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