What led you to become an illustrator? I always loved drawing and would spend hours drawing animals when I was little. Growing up, my best friend’s mum was an illustrator and I can remember thinking what a wonderful job that must be. Did you study illustration in college? I studied Fine Art at Falmouth University, and mostly concentrated on painting. Although my real love was always printmaking.Where did you grow up? On the edge of a small town in Somerset, England. Our house backed onto fields, it was really lovely.Do you have a childhood memory relating to art that you hold dear? I can remember asking my mum to draw Jess the cat from Postman Pat when I was really little. I would watch how she did it and try to copy her. Can you remember when you first saw art used in a commercial context?It would have been in books. I loved reading. My mum was a librarian and I was always borrowing stacks of books from her library.Where do you live now and what drew you there? I now live in the Dordogne region of France. My partner is French and we were both drawn to the countryside, historic buildings, (generally) good weather and the food here. This is a really beautiful part of France, we absolutely love it here!Describe your studio for us It is just a little old desk in the corner of our spare room. I have been outgrowing it for a while now though. I do everything on the same small desk, drawing, carving lino blocks and printing. Some of my lino blocks are actually too big for the desk so I have to work on the floor when I’m printing those! We are currently restoring an old house that we will move into, eventually, and I will have a whole room for my studio then, I can’t wait! Do you have a studio pet?I have a very sweet little cat called Mork, he usually comes in and naps on the bed or the windowsill while I’m working Who or What is your biggest inspiration? I have always been inspired by animals and nature.What’s your favourite way to spend a day off?A nice walk somewhere quiet and pretty, and visit to a good boulangerie. There is one near here next to the river which is a favourite spot for a picnic. What's your most prized possession and why?Apart from my cat Mork, who I don’t really see as a possession but is most definitely prized, I have a hand painted lithograph by Mark Hearld which I really love. What causes are you passionate about?Nature and the environment, if we don’t look after those then nothing else will work.Do you adopt any environmental practices to be more sustainable?As a printmaker I have always been aware of the potential for my practice to have environmental impacts, so I try to minimise those. One of the main ones is the ink I use. I use oil based inks for the quality of the prints, but I choose to use ones which are water washable so I don’t need to use nasty cleaners. Recently I have even been avoiding using water to clean with and instead I’ve started using vegetable oil, which works perfectly. I also try to reuse as much as I can, scraps of lino, bits of paper and even the card from the back of my paper pads.Do you collect anything? I try not to collect too many of one thing, so I end up with lots of small collections of things instead! Feathers, orchids, books, vintage French plates, Emma Bridgewater mugs. Actually if I’m being honest the plates and the mugs are becoming quite decent sized collections now. What do you listen to when you work?I listen to a lot of different types of music, more and more though I’m enjoying podcasts while I work, they make me feel like I have some colleagues around!What's your favorite podcast?I’m really enjoying Good Hang at the moment.What is the first record you bought? It would have been a cd, or perhaps a cassette, but I don’t remember exactly what it was. Something really cheesy, poppy and a bit embarrassing I expect. I know I used to have a couple of the Smurfs albums when I was very little, along with Kylie and Right Said Fred, but I probably didn’t buy them myself. Who is your art hero? Nicola Hicks, Teagan White, Vanessa Lubach, Agnes Miller Parker.Who is your design hero? William Morris.Who is your music hero? Eddie Vedder.What is your favourite book?There are loads I love, I generally can’t choose just one favourite of things. The Goldfinch, The Road, The Fellowship of the Ring, True Grit, Redwall, all of the His Dark Materials books, Fantastic Mr Fox and of course, Brambly Hedge and all of Beatrix Potter’s stories. What movie can you watch over and over?Again, I have a few! Interstellar is probably my actual favourite movie but it’s a bit long to watch too often. Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead, Life Aquatic and Dan in Real Life are all movies I happily watch again and again. What is the last show you binged?The Umbrella Academy.What was the last exhibition you saw and loved?It was a couple of years ago now (as I live in rural France I don’t go to cities often) - Nicola Hicks had a small exhibition in a beautiful village an hour or so from where I live. I have wanted to see her work in real life since I was a student, so I was so happy about it, it was wonderful! What was the last concert you went to?Pixies, in Bordeaux last year.If you could visit anywhere in the world, where would you go? New Zealand.If a client paid you enough money to take a year off and create whatever you want – an open brief - no constraints - what would you deliver?The children’s book that I have written but haven’t had time to illustrate.Is there a type of job you haven't done yet, but would love to do?I’d love to do tour poster artwork.How has your work or practice evolved over time?From painting and drawing with a little etching, to lino cut. It took me a while to get there.If you were not an illustrator, what would you be? I used to be an art teacher, so probably that! Or working with animals, I considered retraining to become a veterinary nurse in my late 20s. Or actually maybe a chocolate maker, I did run my own bean to bar chocolate company back when I lived in the UK.What is the most challenging part of being an illustrator?Taking days off, I always want to keep working.What career advice would you give your younger self?Keep at it!
