Lucy Hope: 22.10

22.10

When I was at school I came across Kat Macleod's artwork in a Frankie magazine.

At this time I was an art virgin. Kat Macleod struck something inside me, stoked an unknown fire, a flame I didn't know burnt inside me.

I poured over her loose, somewhat accidental technique and so my love affair with water colours.

I especially remember my fascination with the last image. The minimalism and shape had me captivated.

In a land where the women are creatures and friends are made with the ghosts of pets past, lives Lucy Hope. Not so long ago, inspired by Jim Henson films, midnight apparitions and talking animals, Lucy used watercolours, inks, pastels and tea to paint images of hauntingly beautiful women. The women ran naked through out the land all summer but once winter came they grew cold and needed something to cover their tea stained skin. So Lucy started to design clothes fit for the women of such unearthly beauty. She sourced silks, laces and lightweight cottons from far and wide and even created special prints for them to wear. Now they play in pretty puff skirts, tiny tops made from sheerest of silks and sweet dresses with delicate trimmings. Lucy Hope strikes the balance between whimsical and wearable for anyone who is a little bit magic living an everyday life.

The Lucy Hope muse is soft, girly and drinks tea with whiskey in it. Sometimes she talks to herself. She sleeps with the animals on the ground and her best friend is a bear. She listens to Cat Power and Radiohead, eats honey out of the jar and breathes in sunshine.