Some of you may remember at the start of lockdown (remember all that time ago!) we launched a brand new tea-towel competition. We had hundreds of entries, but just six winners - Sarah Young and Hannah Schofield for the Young Artist category, Gabriel Chioma and Connie McDonald from the Teen category, and Kathryn Gray and Naomi Gatt from the adult category. Their designs are all available to buy on our website too!
Here's a little bit about the artists who won and their beautiful art...
Young Artist Category
Hannah Schofield - Aged 9
What inspired your design?
Pigeons are my favourite animal, not everyone is a fan of them because they steal your ice cream, but I think they're very funny creatures. Over summer, we’ve had a couple of very
noisy pigeons in our garden who eat all our bird food! So, when it came to my teatowel design pigeons seemed like an obvious choice. I thought about doing one pigeon, but I had lots of different ideas for what the pigeons might do, so I decided to make them into individual characters.
How did you create your work?
I started off by spending some time sketching and erasing different pigeons in various poses in my sketchbook, then I picked the ones I liked best. I drew all my pigeons lightly in pencil first. I was torn between using watercolours or felt tip pens, but in the end I chose the felt tips so that it had a pop of colour. Once I had coloured the pigeons I finished it off by finelining it with a black fine pen.
Where can we find more of your work?
As I’m only 9, my art is currently only displayed in my house at the moment. I would love to have the chance to display my art when I’m older
Who's your favourite artist?
My favourite famous artists are Vincent Van Gogh, especially Starry Night and Picasso.
My grandma (Grandma Weirdy - not her real name ) and my childminder, Debby, who helped take care of me until I was 4 are also both amazing undiscovered artists. You can see Debby’s amazing pieces on Instagram (@deborart21).
Young Artist Category
Zara Moslely - Age 6
Zara is 6 years old, and produced this beautiful design featuring a rainbow and a cat! What a lovely way to brighten the washing up... thanks for entering Zara!
Teen Artist Category:
Gabrial Chioma
How long have you been creating art?
Art has been around me since birth, my mum is an artist herself and we are both very creative people, I knew how to ‘draw’ before anything else pretty much.
What inspired your design?
I get bored of things very easily I’ve tried almost every hobby I had the facilities for but mechanics, cars and motorbikes are the only things that have stuck with me. I also like to understand how things work so creating a piece made up of cogs and gears just made sense to me.
How did you create your artwork?
The submitted design was done as a carbon print but I also made a version as a tonal drawing using graphite pencils at an A1 scale. This can be seen on my instagram page below.
Where can we find your work?
I have a Instagram page by the name of @work.of.g
Favourite Quote? One day your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it’s worth watching
Adult Artist Category
Kathryn Gray
What inspired your design?
We have a small aquarium with tropical fish and I love their colours and enjoy watching them chase each other around the tank.
How did you create your design?
The fish are made using the jigsaw linocut method. I printed the first layer of colour with one block and then I inked up different blocks with different colours, putting them together like a jigsaw to print. I then scanned the images and made the final design with Paint 3D.
Where can we find more of your work?
My Facebook page is @KathrynGrayArt. Instagram is @kathryngrayart
What's something creative you’ve done during lockdown?
My mantra has been “Keep Busy” so there have been quite few different projects. The biggest one was a community art project. I’m chair of the Guatemalan Families Association, a charity/support group for families with children adopted from Guatemala and for young adults adopted from Guatemala. We asked members to make a “carpet” square at home and send in a photo of their art. Everyone produced something very different and used a variety of techniques, with some raiding kitchen cupboards to produce their art. Here’s a link to the album: https://photos.app.goo.gl/xrBtfQPWCndu4kVJ8
As it was our anniversary, we then decided to make the artwork into a tea towel and apron, putting the images together and adding a border and the logo for the tea towel. They have sold very well and they will raise just under £1000 for the NGOs we support in Guatemala.
Favourite quote?
Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called present. (Master Oogway – Kung Fu Panda)
Adult Artist Category
Naomi Gatt
How long have you been creating art?
I've always loved drawing since I was young, but I've only been creating art for more professional uses, such as children's books and marketing illustrations for the past 9 years when I began my career as a graphic designer and was lucky enough to get to focus on illustration also.
What inspired your design?
It was before COVID had started here and I remember I was having a drink at a cafe and was inspired by the beautiful potted flowers they had.
How did you create it?
I created it using Procreate on the iPad.
Where can we find your work?
More of my work can be found on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/naomisartworkmalta/ and Facebook https://www.facebook.com/NaomisArtworkMalta/
Favourite artist?
Too many amazing artists to choose from! But one particular artist I've been following for a very long time is Agnes Cecile (Silvia Pelissero) - her work is breathtaking.
Favourite Quote?
It's quite a silly one really, but 'How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?' was quoted in a game I loved to play when I was a young girl and it always makes me smile.
Teen Artist Category
Connie McDonald
This beautiful turtle design is available to buy on our tea towel page
