From the Clyde with Love

Illustrated cards from Saltcoats & West Kilbride

 

I’ve recently created a new collection of illustrated postcards celebrating Saltcoats and West Kilbride, two coastal towns I live and work in on Scotland’s stunning Firth of Clyde.

The Saltcoats series includes:

  • an all-year-round design,

  • a Halloween-themed edition,

  • a Christmas card from Saltcoats is also coming soon.

The West Kilbride postcard is based on an illustrated leaflet I designed earlier in 2025 for The Barony Centre and Craft Town, highlighting the village’s creative studios and artistic heritage. 

 

 

 

Coastal Studies (2024)

Between Industry, Sea and Sky

 

Created during my first months in Ayrshire, these works bridge the space between illustration and comics — quiet visual narratives drawn from long coastal walks and moments of observation.

 

 

 

Hunterston Power Plant

 

A study of contrast between industry and landscape — the quiet geometry of the power station set against the open horizon of the Firth of Clyde. The piece explores how human-made structures sit within the natural rhythm of the coast.

 

 

 

 

Law Hill


Drawn after a walk to the top of Law Hill in West Kilbride, this illustration captures the vastness of the view across to Arran. It reflects a sense of discovery and belonging — the balance between solitude, distance, and the pull of the sea.

 

 

 

ANIMATED CITY

REIMAGINED LONDON

 

Earlier in my career, I worked as a 2D animator, designing characters and backgrounds that were used commercially in videoclips and festival submissions.

 

In 2018, I co-created an independent short, Sylvia. The project combined hand-crafted 2D backgrounds with digital compositing, evoking a Monty Python-style animation aesthetic.

 

For this animation, I built a cardboard city — a large-scale version of my illustrations — along with 3D buildings and a ferris wheel. I also created puppets from soft fabrics, which became the main characters. The city serves as both the backdrop and a narrative device, shaping and containing the characters’ story.

 

Sylvia was created as a promotional video for a song I wrote a year earlier, exploring the challenges of pursuing an art education or artistic career, balancing financial pressures with the pursuit of beauty and creative expression.

 

I collaborated with Abigail Robinson, who contributed animation segments in After Effects and supported the production process, including filming structure.

I became increasingly interested in materials such as clay and resins, recreating characters from well-known animations or designing my own, as part of a creative practice and exploration of tactile storytelling.

Toy-making from soft fabrics became a major fascination of mine.

 

I created a brand called Bolce & Banany — a playful nod to Dolce & Gabbana — producing artisan toys that each had their own story. I imagined a broader creative project, such as an entire TV show around the characters, inspired by the world of The Muppets or Sesame Street, which I grew up with and loved. I never fully decided how to pursue this project and still have the majority of the toys at home, as I couldn't bare to part with them! 

 

For a while, I also enjoyed photographing the toys in real-life scenarios that I staged or discovered, as if they had their own secret lives — venturing out and exploring the world.

 

 

 

BAROQUE INSPIRATIONS

GOTHIC CALENDAR

 

One of my recent projects is a 2026 wall calendar themed around Gothic Glamour, for which I created 12 original illustrations. The project draws on my background in comics and my interest in exploring alternative themes and female beauty. In many ways, the work reimagines Baroque aesthetics through my own lens, balancing darkness and light. It was particularly engaging to develop darker motifs for summery months, finding the right harmony of colours to reflect each season while maintaining a gothic atmosphere.