“When I saw the word ‘curious’ I was immediately excited. This word makes me think of Alice in Wonderland, and the Secret Garden, two stories I adore. It struck me that this word generally brought up connotations of being a child, exploring forests and getting muddy and getting excited by finding things on your imaginary adventures. Therefore I approached the theme from an almost childlike perspective, thinking of how I felt when I was little, and I was mostly curious. I wanted there to be questions asked when looking at my final image, because curiosity is questioning things; what is that? Why is it there? My initial drawings seemed too subdued and clean for the ideas I was trying to communicate, so when I dropped a green pastel on my immaculate work, and tried to brush it off, smudging it everywhere, I looked at my mucky hands and the unclean paper and thought, yes, this is being a child. I started from scratch and drew quicker and did not care anymore about tidiness, but thought about texture, forest patterns, and moss. The outcome is full, makes you search every corner, and most of all, hides its own little story.”
Illustrator | Kirsten Hamilton
Instagram kirstenillustration
