LoveEast.47

It's art baby, art!
Kaz falls in love with Lydia Thornley's drawings
I first came across Lydia's drawings on Instagram and instantly fell in love
with them. Gestural, immediate and beautifully executed, I instantly knew I
wanted to feature her work. Read what she has to say about her drawings
and feast your eyes...
I’m a graphic designer and creative consultant.
And I draw my way to and from my east London
desk space, around town and on my travels.
What I see on my commute depends when I travel:
Labourers and cleaners, City workers, the main
rush hour, then what I call the creative rush hour
and the more relaxed to and fro during the day
until it all starts again, the return home blending
into London at play.
My drawing style is loose line work. I often have
only seconds to make a drawn note so these aren’t
likenesses.
But drawing makes me look. I notice more about
my city and its people.
I’ve drawn since before I could walk. As a designer,
I’ve always thought on paper but had stopped
keeping a daily sketchbook through decades of
commissioning other people.
18 LOVEEAST
Then I went on a trip with a sketchbook as well
as a camera and I rediscovered drawing in cafés.
I made that year’s studio book, which was a sort
of shorthand about drawing as part of my design
practice. As an artist I was doing some teaching,
which challenged me to do a drawing a day until
it had to go to press. The easiest way to do that
around my design projects was to draw my way
to work. And then I didn’t stop…
My daily drawings have turned into a prolific
Instagram feed, with most of the drawings now
coloured-up digitally.
Images courtesy of and © Lydya Thornley