I am a practising illustrator and teacher. My work has evolved over the decades, but currently I am interested in depicting flora and fauna, in authentic detail. I often work for charities engaged in protecting the natural world. I like to combine digital and hand-drawn illustration, to get the best of both worlds: the exactitude of the digital, the human touch of the hand-drawn.
The clever combination of words and pictures, used to tell a story, holds a lifelong fascination for me. I go back to picture books for children when I want to remember how illustration first inspired me. I can pinpoint the beginning of my love of British wildlife from my first reading of the ‘What To Look For…’ Ladybird books illustrated by C. F. Tunnicliffe.
I have a BA (Hons) in Graphic Design with Illustration, an MA in Visual Communication and I expect to complete my PhD in Art & Design next year. My research interests centre around the search for genuine diversity and accurate depictions of difference in children’s and teenagers’ illustrated books.
I am particularly interested in how illustration and design can be used to protect the natural world, and to re-awaken people’s love of nature, and their desire to preserve it, by revealing some of its delicately-balanced complexity, and its vulnerability, through art. I am currently working on a book of illustrations and photography to explain the natural yearly cycle in a nature reserve.