website

women who draw

I'm very proud to be a part of the women who draw website, an open directory of female professional freelance illustrators, artists and cartoonists. It was created by a group of women artists in an effort to increase the visibility of female illustrators. You can read all about it here and in this VOGUE article and in this one in the Huffington Post. This is my little lady illustration (recognise her from the Miss joker playing card?) that represents me on the site.ladyShe was even featured on the BBC news website this week, in an interview with the women who set up the site. I hope it will be a huge success. Thank you Wendy and Julia!

Talaramba Reef website

I've recently done a little bit of work for the nice people who run Talaramba Reef holiday villas in Sri Lanka: I did some calligraphy for their logo and website,I created little icons of local flora and fauna for the website & for use inside the villas, and also created a map of their location.I think it must be holiday time very, very soon...

introducing my portfolio

Today I'll be talking you through my portfolio: how I've divided and sub-divided the sections and why. The first section is 'editorial'. This features illustrations I've done for magazines and newspapers. I've split this into several themes: 'food', because I like doing work on this subject the most, 'lifestyle', because so much fits under its umbrella, 'people', because they’re always engaging and 'horoscopes', as every illustrator quite simply must have one.

The next section is 'special commissions'. This contains projects that are unique and don't necessarily fit easily into any fixed category. These are the projects I love best. Among them are ceramics for Tiffany & Co., backdrops for a photoshoot for Martha Stewart Weddings, and drawings on napkins for a charity exhibition.

'books' features all the large publishing projects I've worked on, from the detailed illustrations throughout the River Cottage everyday cookbook, to the many children's books I've illustrated, finishing with my book covers for various international novels.

I've been making maps for many years, almost from the beginning of my career, and the 'map' section shows a highlight of the various kinds: 'large scale' shows maps that are close-up and detailed, with road names and exact locations. 'small scale' tends to be maps of large areas, or whole countries, where capturing the atmosphere is most important. 'Penline' shows maps with a looser line, in a more graphic style, while 'concept' features more unusual maps, with a specific angle.

'editions' showcases my art prints: etchings (of ceramics and travel), Japanese woodblock prints, lithographs, and also a small selection of my medium-format photographs.

The section entitled 'personal work' shows the more intimate side of what I do. Sketchbooks are my constant companions, where all that I see and think are noted for future reference. 'things I've made' are objects I create, decorate and make interesting, 'greetings cards' is where I show the special cards I've designed, while 'exhibitions' contains photographs of the shows I've had of my work.

'about' tells you a little about me (you can see what I look like too), 'clients' is a list of some of the people I've worked for, and 'contact' tells you how you can find me to tell me, well, anything you'd like really. Or better still, that you'd like to commission me for something....

Oh, there's also a discreet 'links' button at the bottom of the page to let you know other websites I like.