When I used to put together The Creative Times, I enjoyed looking for news and talent enormously. Now that I do not any longer, at least for the foreseable future, I have realised that I have missed the opportunity to tell you about two of my favourite creative girls.
Memi The Rainbow, also known as an Italian in Paris, is the blog of an extraordinarily creative girl who is extremely handy with stamps and inkpads. Do you, like me perhaps, have a collection of stamps which you can never quite tell what to do with? Well, Memi is better than that; not only does she always know where to use her stamps to wonderful effect, be this on paper, objects or fabric, but she actually devises her own. Her blog is all about the creation of rubber stamps, which she designs and then hand-carves, and she also provides truly interesting snippets of information on Paris. She has an Etsy shop and is extraordinarily prolific.
Over the years she has produced wonderful seasonal collections and has modified her output according to some brilliant life events, notably having acquired Fifi, an adorable little dog, and having become the mum of Gemma only a handful of months back. You can read an interview with her on Etsy too. I've been following her work for many years and I am always surprised and delighted by her creations. She is a wonderful artist.
By contrast, someone I've only recently started to follow is a wonderful illustrator I found via Instagram, where she posts pictures of her work as it progresses from concept to fully-fledged, colour illustration. Laura Kay (diarysketcheslk on Insta) also posts on her Tumblr and is never shy regarding the process of illustrating. We often keep our work to ourselves, for fear of being judged of course, but also for fear that it won't hold up to comparison.
While I never thought that we create so that we can be compared with others, I am well aware that my own inner critic is more fierce and far less forgiving than any other person out there. Yet, by looking at Laura's work, I am inspired to do the same, never mind my artistic level. Perhaps the best thing about her work is that everyone can have a piece of it: in her Etsy shop you can buy her illustrations and you can even commission your own. I absolutely adore her line and her ability to capture her subject's individuality in a way that, for me, has become instantaneously recognisable. She too is a wonderful artist.
