Ciao Roma!

January 15, 2018

I love seeing a design make its journey from drawing board to department store floor.  I create Cityscapes to commission and therefore the creative process starts by me reading through a design brief from a customer, researching the landmarks or cultural events highlighted in the brief and then adding in some of my own interpretation of the area.  I often add local wildlife and flora that helps to communicate the character of an area as well as its natural beauty.  When I created State-Scapes for a USA customer, I included the state bird, flower, animal and sometimes even insect or tree!

When I come to create a Cityscape, I view a town or city as a would-be visitor and therefore with a sense of exploration and delight at what I discover. I try to capture the innocent joy of discovery within my art.  I find out amazing things about the places I draw, who lived there, what significant events shaped its history and how it has evolved over time.

I draw an outline with brush and ink but as a printmaker I think in layers of colour. Most of my artwork is 3 or 4 colours.  So here’s the outline drawing of a Cityscape of  I created for blue chip Italian department store: Rinascente. It captures the key iconic landmarks and tourist attractions of the city: the Colisseum, St Peter’s Basilica, The Pantheon, The Spanish Steps and of course, the very beautiful Rinascente store, which takes centre stage!

Visual mock ups of the artwork onto different products are made by my design assistant. The design is adapted to fit different product specifications and colours, whether it’s a denim mini zip purse, a notebook, coaster or pin badge set! And here we go … the finished product range, sitting pretty in Rinascente Via Del Tritone store.

And for those of you who cannot make the trip to Rome. You can have your very own Rome print (one I did earlier) from my art print shop!

 

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