Alice Pattullo + Rowan & Wren
24 April 2025
Alice discusses her thoughts and processes as her new collaboration with designers Rowan & Wren is released.
"Like a lot of artists, I love groupings and multiples of objects - collections, lists (which are, after all, a collection of words), and things like educational charts or catalogues that bring a sense of order to them. When I looked through the images of the collection, I instinctively felt it would work well as a gathering of objects, like a page from an old catalogue.
I have several facsimile copies of old Sears and Roebuck catalogues, which I love—back when everything available to buy was drawn rather than photographed. I suppose this illustration is my own version of that, but for Rowen & Wren. We explored a few colour options and settled on a soft blue that appeared in several of the products, giving it a light, fresh feel for spring.
I always start in black and white, then introduce colour digitally to create the feel of a screen print. If I’m making a limited edition of my own work, I’ll use those black-and-white drawings to compose the layers for screen printing.
For line work, I use black Indian ink and a fine brush, then build up texture and marks with acrylic and scruffy dry brushes. I also paint additional textures on separate pages, which I then cut out and collage into the drawing. Sometimes, I work back into the image with white Indian ink or chinagraph pencils to add depth.”
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