ABOUT ME
Lemady is a freelance Illustrator, originally from Derbyshire in England, but who has been living in Switzerland for 8 years. She works in a mixed-media collage approach, using hand-drawn/painted elements in graphite, watercolour and ink combined with digital collage. Her pictures are distinctive for their use of textures and colour from ink splatters to wooden shingles of rooftops from the Swiss alp villages where she now lives. Lemady manipulates colour and textural elements to create a sense of resonance, memory and atmosphere in her pictures. Her fresh, multi-layered, collage style is suited to a range of projects.
More about me....
I work mainly with graphite sticks, Indian ink and watercolour combined with digital collage. Some illustrations incorporate other elements such as acrylic, charcoal, pastels, children's crayons, felt tips and coloured pencils. I often use my photos for inspiration and within my work, many of these I take in the Swiss mountains outside Zürich or in the small villages around Einsiedeln.
This fresh, collage style is suited to a range of editorial and publishing projects, particularly within Children's Publishing. Clients include Cricket Magazine, Family Matters Parenting Magazine, MDLM Books, Custom Food Lab and Kent Wildlife Trust. As a Bisexual Illustrator I also enjoy working as a voluntary illustrator to support Folkestone Pride. My first illustrated book was recently published in December last year 'The Little Mermaid's Son', you can read more about this LGBTQ+ friendly reinterpretation of the classic fairytale by Annahita de La Mare here. Earlier last year, one of my illustrations 'Thank you for the Rainbows' was selected through a UK National competition to appear on 'The Works' NHS Charity Jigsaw. I also run the Storycraft Studio in Rüschlikon and through this I have become involved in collaborative and community projects in Storycraft, as well as at art festivals and in schools. I have been awarded two grants through Thalwil Kultur Tag for community based Visual Installations and Workshops, 'The Memory Tree', and the 'Faces of Fairytales' which will take place in May as part of Thalwil Kultur Tag 2021.
As an artist I need constant visual stimulation, so I enjoy travelling. I often feel I am trying to suck up images to create a huge visual library I can refer to in my work! I find myself particularly inspired by the beautiful countryside in Switzerland, the fractal patterns I find in nature, as well as the grittier contrasts of the city. I find materials particularly interesting as they rust, fade and decay. I hoard scraps of vintage paper, fabrics and old broken buttons. I love the visual effects of the weather and seasons on the mountains outside my window and how they can seem to change a place entirely. As a SAD sufferer I find a lot of inspiration in the weather and this obsession with light, colour and mood constantly feeds into my work. I also continue to take inspiration from the immediate and vibrant nature of children's art, folk art and modern art.
When I'm not drawing, I love camping with my family and exploring new places. Coming from the North of England I also enjoy drinking a lot of tea ... preferably made in a pretty teapot!
