
Today there are Toads everywhere: good animals at heart perhaps, but wasteful and careless. Yet in the last few years there has
been a surge of demand for the hand-crafted, the artisan made and the
unique, lasting artifact. From farmers markets, artisan bakers and
micro-breweries to maker spaces, co-op galleries and communal
gardens, people are creating, building, recycling, repurposing,
crafting and growing.
My illustrations are a love-letter to all of
these folk, an homage to the artisans, makers and Steampunks, everyone who
crafts or bakes, brews or builds, who pulls apart and reimagines,
chooses hand-crafted over mass-produced, who wants long-lasting and
beautiful artifacts that can be handed down over generations. As
someone who has always built, crafted, repurposed and reimagined,
whether it be sewing clothing, crafting stained glass windows or just
playing around with found objects, I feel a strong connection to both
this story and the people I believe it was written for.
My ultimate goal is to publish a book, a physical artifact that has been laboured over with care and devotion. On this blog I will be posting my progress, and I hope you enjoy seeing the work come together.