Creative Rituals

Flipping the script for the final ep of season 2! My lovely friend and mentor Sadie Pickering from Soul Beauty Rituals kindly suggested interviewing me about my practice this week. We cover a lot in today’s episode, from my illustration journey and studio rituals to the seasons, cyclical living, visibility, the link between clothing and artistic expression and my upcoming solo show HERMIT. 

Find Sadie on Instagram here

Find Georgie here

Links

• Soul Beauty Rituals
• Everyday I Look at the World from My Window by Georgie Stewart
• Rachael Dean
• Julia and Axel: Thirty Years of Favourite Stories - exhibition at The Lowry
• Chocolat by Joanne Harris
• Period Power by Maisie Hill
• HERMIT - upcoming solo exhibition by Georgie Stewart
• The Gallery at Green & Stone
• With Passion & Purpose
• Desert Island Discs
• Dish
• Off Air with Jane and Fi
• Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan
• Foster by Claire Keegan

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Today’s interview is with children’s author and illustrator Helen Stephens. Helen is best known for her incredibly popular series of picture books How to Hide a Lion, which has also been adapted for the stage. As well as writing and illustrating countless other children’s books, Helen is a cofounder of The Goodship Illustration, an online art school that helps illustrators navigate their creative career. In today’s conversation, Helen shares a lot of helpful insights into the world of children’s books, as we discuss literary vs illustration agents, the financial practicalities of working as a children’s illustrator, and the rituals she has in place when creating a new picture book, which includes a magic dressing gown…

Find Helen on Instagram here

Find Georgie here

Links:

• Cambridge School of Art Children’s Book Illustration Summer School
• How to Hide a Lion by Helen Stephens
• Gerry Turley
• The Good Ship Illustration 
• Smelly Peggy by Helen Stephens
• Fleabag by Helen Stephens
• Quentin Blake: Fifty Years of Illustration, Somerset House 2004
• The Science Museum
• When Martha’s Away by Bruce Ingman
• Caran D’Ache Luminance Pencils 
• The Royle Family - BBC sitcom
• Alan Bennett
• Tania Willis
• Katie Chappell
• Association of Illutratrors
• Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart
• The Glasgow School of Art
• Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

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Mark Haworth-Booth joins me on Creative Rituals this week. Mark is a poet, writer, photographer and was the Senior Curator of Photographs at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, where he played a major role in building up the museum’s collection of photography. We met by chance at a creative writing workshop Mark ran at the Appledore Book Festival here in Devon, and he kindly agreed to join me for a conversation about his writing routine, what is was like working and living with David Hockney in Los Angeles, and his 30 years as a curator at the V&A.  

To find out more about Mark’s work, visit his website

Find Georgie here

Links:

• Helen Chadwick
• This is the Place To Be by Lara Pawson
• Ian Hamilton Finlay
• Eggs - photographic series by Tessa Traeger
• Markéta Luskačová
• Marina Warner
• East Sussex Coast by Bill Brandt (1957)
• Ansel Adams
• Paul Strand
• Robert Frank
• Henri Cartier-Bresson
• Lamb Bank Arvon Centre, West Yorkshire
• Pilgrims: Photographs by Markéta Luskačová
• Roger Mayne
• Wind by Ted Hughes
• From Today, Painting Is Dead (V&A 1972)
• 'River Scene, France' by Camille Silvy
• Camille Silvy: Photographer of Modern Life

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This week I talk to artist and illustrator Tatiana Alida. Known for her signature carefree, colourful style of illustration adorned with uplifting quotes, Tatiana has collaborated with some huge names including Victoria Beckham, Warehouse, Hermes, and Rose Inc, the beauty brand of Rosie Huntington Whitely. She told me about her love of interiors, moving her studio to the countryside, the rituals she has in place around her work and who she’d love to collaborate with next…

To shop Tatiana’s range of homeware, stationary and prints, visit her website 

Find Tatiana on Instagram here 

Find Georgie here 

Links:

• Hermione Gibbs
• Battersea Business Centre 
• The Biscuit Factory
• World of Interiors
• The Wallace Collection
• The Swing by Jean-Honoré Fragonard
• Inspiring Walt Disney: The Animation of French Decorative Arts
• Salad Days Market
• Wild By Tart
• The Magic by Rhonda Byrne 
• Flora Yukhnovich

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This week I’m joined by artist and curator Laura Porter. Laura works primarily as a sculptor, using discarded clothing as her material of choice to make structural pieces that focus on sustainability. In 2020, Laura set up the artist led space Studio KIND. here in North Devon, which is where we met. We caught up to talk about how she juggles all the elements of her practice and the various hats she wears, her studio habits and the challenges of setting up a business in the midst of a pandemic.

Find Laura’s work here

Find Georgie here

Links:

• Thames-side Studios, Woolwich
• Art Hub Studios
• Studio KIND.
• Sharon Gale
• George Rayner
• Adam Garratt 
• Lee Mok Yee 

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My guest this week is the Irish artist and painter Kevin McSherry. Kevin and I met for the first time on the Greek island of Skopelos a couple of years ago during an artist residency. We caught up for an in depth chat about artist residencies, illustration vs fine art, how teaching art informs Kevin’s own work, and we even ended up agreeing to start a 30 day sketchbook challenge together. 

Find Kevin’s work here

Find Georgie here

Links

• David Hockney: The Arrival of Spring, Normandy, 2020
• Cill Rialaig Artist Residency, County Kerry
• The Skopelos Foundation for the Arts
• Golden acrylic paints 
• Mary Swanzy
• Rubicon by Tom Holland 

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Photographer and artist George Rayner invites me inside his cosy studio and dark room here in Devon. Known for his monochromatic portraits that are rich with brooding atmosphere, George lists mist and woodlands as his favourite subjects to capture. We talk about the magic and ritual behind the process of the dark room, the role nostalgia plays in his work, how growing up in the stunning backdrop of the North Devon landscape has influenced his practice and what’s inspiring him right now. 

Find George on Instagram here

Find Georgie here

Links:

Studio KIND.

The Bear 

Hung out to dry - photographic series by George Rayner

John Gossage: The Pond

The Death of Grass by John Christopher

The Grampus Inn

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This week I sit down with flower farmer Philippa Stewart of Just Dahlias, who also happens to be my auntie! Just Dahlias is a flower farm based in rural Cheshire, growing over 170 different varieties of dahlia. Philippa’s enthusiasm for her craft is infectious, and she explains how she turned her personal dahlia obsession into a thriving business, selling fresh and naturally dried stems in delectable shades. We discuss the magic of colour, cyclical living, finding your creative niche and what it was like appearing on Gardeners’ World.

Find Just Dahlias on Instagram here

Find Georgie here

Links:

Just Dahlias

National Dahlia Collection

Gardeners’ World

Strawberry Hill House 

Éva Németh

Flowers From the Farm 

Dahlia Breeding for the Farmer/Florist and the Home Gardener by Kristine Albrecht

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This week I’m joined by Sydney Smith, Canadian author and illustrator of children’s books. Sydney has won many awards for his thoughtful and evocatively illustrated picture books that speak to the complex emotions of what it feels like to move through the world as a child. We sat down to talk about the complicated nature of childhood memories, finding inspiration in films and their colour palettes, plus a peak inside his sketchbook, pencil case and studio. 

Buy Sydney’s most recent book, Do You Remember here

Find more of Sydney’s work here

Find Georgie here

Links 

• Sidewalk Flowers by Jonarno Lawson and Sydney Smith
• Robert Frank: The Americans
• Lee Friedlander
• Fairfield Porter
• Ben Shaun
• Hitchcock/Truffaut by François Truffaut
• The Nutshell Library by Maurice Sendak
• What to Look for in Winter by E. L. Grant Watson
• The Moon Jumpers by Janice May Udry and Maurice Sendak
• The 400 Blows - a film by François Truffaut
• Bunny and Tree by Balint Zsako

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We’re back! Creative Rituals returns for a second season, and to kick this one off I’m joined by Sasha Compton. Sasha is a British Artist and Designer who explores the natural world through her beautiful handmade creations, all of which are crafted by Sasha in her London studio.  Known for her bold, joyful use of colour and fondness for an uplifting quote, Sasha’s work seeks to romanticise the everyday. Her artworks often draw references from the classical world, such as motifs from Greek mythology and architectural details. We sat down to discuss studio life, moodboards, the financial realities of working as an artist in London, our mixed feelings on running workshops and what it was like living as a creative in Amsterdam. 

Find Sasha’s work here

Find Georgie here

Links

• Dennis Severs’ House
• Save Venice
• The Gallery at Green & Stone
• And Objects
• Caran d'Ache Neocolor II Wax Pastels
• Elephant Family
• Grit: Why Passion and Resilience are the Secrets to Success by Angela Duckworth

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