The alpine strawberries and cherry tomatoes I grow in my urban garden rarely make it indoors. I eat them like sweets. So Grow your own snack is the latest Studio Snack podcast episode with creative collaborator Narcis Sauleda. Harvest a snack, pour a cold drink and listen to historical trends … 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
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
Sent anywhere, I will find time to explore… Thus, travelling to Taunton to be a mentor for Ideas Foundation’s Platinum Jubilee Pageant workshop day at Bridgwater & Taunton College, I travelled early to enjoy the luxury of looking. People-watching at Paddington station. A wander to French Weir Park just because … 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
“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
How personal projects help clients… In a flurry of activity very much of these times, my lockdown illustration project turned blog Dispatches from a Small World has sprouted a Teemill shop. It’s launched with two collections of illustrations, printed on demand on organic cotton t-shirts. So far, so peripheral. Or … Read More