HAZEL  &  ILLUSTRATION

MA Illustration - Arts University Bournemouth UK

To illustrate means to draw or sketch, to demonstrate or to clarify, or in archaic language, to enlighten. To me this creative expression is a magnificent alchemical blend of all of these things. 

Illustration has been a powerful a tool of communication to me. Sometimes it reaches places where words cannot touch, for example, when I sat in private rehearsals for the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and dissapeared for 3 hours in the lines, dots and marks that poored through me and the pen, dancing together on the page creating illustrations that speak the energy and essence of the music and instruments.

When I am commissioned, I tune in, listen and see what images want to appear on the page in response to the clients needs or texts. I work very much the same way for my personal projects, only sometimes I let my work expand beyond the page and into an environment .

I have not only taken my illustration into performances, creating pictures, tickets, passports, projections and interactive material for the audieince to take away with them, but I have also used illustration many times as a tool for exploration to embark on a new journey. 

For example, I sold all the pages of a blank sketch book before I embarked on The Camino, walking through Portugal and Spain. 40 Pages of Pilgrimage was an art pilgrimage where I documented each day by illustrating and writing, reflecting on what was moving through me as I walked through the landscapes, It was quite a challenge!

My creative journey book, I Am Divine, invites women on a creative process to explore the wisdom of their own bodies, aligning with the elements and feminine archetypes through illustrations, meditations and journalling with the moon phases or seasons of the year.