The beautiful and lovely Alice Parsons (above) is a fantastic artist and illustrator who works under the name of Owlstation. She tells us about herself and her work:
Illustration is very impressionable! There are books from my childhood whose illustrations can take me right back to how I felt the first time I read them. Stormy skies, crumbling towers and beautiful princesses from fantasy books, to the cheeky Tiger in The Tiger Who Came To Tea. And the forbidden book - Hansel and Gretel, that had to be hidden on grounds of the illustrations being too scary.
I would describe my style as developing. I love mixing up media and am happiest collaging together interesting scraps of paper I’ve collected, then working back into them with pens and oil pastels. But I like to try out new styles as much as possible, incorporating photography, painting, sculpture and injecting a bit of humour. I use a computer to prep my images for the web but like to do things by hand wherever I can, I think there is something that can be lost when hand crafted images are manipulated too much in Photoshop. I don’t think I’ve found my style yet.
Recently I have taken inspiration from owls, archaeology, punks, chaps, fashion, native American Indians, vintage bits and bobs, typography, lizards, monsters, other artists and new bands. I also like a nice museum/gallery trip when the chance arises.
Brighton is my home and I could never live away from the sea. However I would love to do a big load of travelling and take my sketchbook along with me when I do. I would particularly like to stay on a ranch and play at being a cowgirl. I think a stint of horses, fireside singalongs and baked beans would suit me very well. I may have seen too many Howard Keel films.
I've been working on a new header for Bobbysix (you can see it at the top of the page). I am also looking at expanding my illustrations to T-shirts and making the crossover into animation.
It might surprise people to learn that I have next to no patience when it comes to painting. I greatly admire anyone that can produce a painting larger than A5 and still feel like doing another one afterwards. Two years ago I started painting a surfing frieze for my brother. It’s still not finished and it niggles away at me like a loose tooth. But I have been much more disciplined of late and examining and emulating the painting styles of artists such as the Disney concept artist Mary Blair.
In the future I would love to have my own studio and see my illustrations everywhere – on album covers, T- shirts, fashion prints, story books, articles. Aim high, I say. I love collaborating and am always open to new ideas.
Check out more of Alice's delicious work or send her a message via her website and her blog. Also, follow her on facebook to keep right up to date with her amazingness.
Interview by Bobby Townsend.
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