A thought on a Monday

Hi everyone,

So tonight, I thought I'd share some beautiful work from my very favourite and most importantly Scottish Illustrator. I just feel an affinity with Johanna Basford because she set one of my favourite Illustration projects when I was in my second year of University, just after she had graduated from the same University, the very great DOJ . It was a project that stood out because it was fun and exciting. We simply had to chose a theme and fill an ink blot with Illustrations. I guess because she'd recently graduated and she was really passionate, either way the project really clicked with me. I guess I've been fortune enough to watch her success flourish. She's put in the hard graft and made a career as a freelance Illustrator who still lives in Scotland. I love the detail in her inky drawings and her selective palette. I also really like that she puts hand drawn Illustrations before pixels, which in this digital age is sometimes a challenge. Her work is a wonderland of different characters. I just think it's important when so many people give up on art after art school, to have people like Johanna to look up to. I've not stuck with freelancing as I found it just too hard. I wasn't organised before graduation to make enough contacts to launch myself into the freelance world. But I love my "grown up job" and learning from other designers is what my craft needs right now. Anyway Johanna is currently taking a break from her successful freelance career, and doing a sabbatical to refresh her mind and re-inspire her work. I can't wait to go back to Fife in the summer and visit her first exhibition at the DCA. She also has books in the pipeline which I can't wait to add to my bookshelf. So really what I'm admitting is that I'm a geek and big fan of Johanna but not her publicist so all opinions are my own here.

I hope you like her work too.

Happy Monday people!