Interview: Victoria Whincup

  All images this post are by Victoria Whincup and are used by permission.

This week I'm very happy to be interviewing Victoria Whincup, a Hull, UK based artist and illustrator who recently graduated from Cambridge School of Art. I discovered Victoria's work not so long ago and was very taken with her humorous paintings and sewn creatures. You can see pieces she has currently available for sale by visiting her Etsy Shop. See lots more of her work on her blog, her Facebook, and her Flickr.

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Elizabeth: I’m always interested in an artist’s childhood influences. What made you want to be an artist when you “grew up”? What people or environments in your childhood or teen years shaped your choice?

Victoria: I spent a lot of time drawing and creating as a child. I had a 'making cupboard' in the kitchen where I used to hoard bits and bobs that I found and liked the look of. It was the only messy cupboard in the house. (I didn't inherit the tidy and organised gene.) I also kept paints, crayons and pencils in there.

I still hoard things now, even more so I think. I have a bit of a problem when it comes to throwing things away; especially bits of nice-coloured paper.

I remember drawing a lot on my own in my bedroom, listening to records.

I used to read a lot of Enid Blyton books when I was very young. My favourite book is the
The Folk of the Faraway Tree. I honestly believe it still influences my work now.... You may notice a lot of little creatures popping up here and there in my images, or people in animal costumes.

My grandma taught me how to knit and sew. I used to make costumes for my soft toys and sew patterns around my grandad's handkerchiefs. I have her button collection and sewing box and they are my most treasured possessions.

 Elizabeth: So many of your pieces make me giggle. Do you come up with funny ideas and then execute them or do your ideas evolve during the process of creating?

Victoria: I am pleased that my work makes you giggle. It makes me laugh too sometimes. It's not something I really think about. I don't sit down and think, 'now I am going to make a funny drawing.' They just kind of evolve whilst I'm doing them.

I am influenced by what's going on around me. Whether it be music or what I can see. I carry a sketch book with me wherever I go. I enjoy drawing from life, as well as, from my imagination and I feel that the two compliment each other. My sketchbooks feed my work. They are full of drawings, quotes from overheard conversations, signs, lyrics....all sorts really. A while ago, I got really frustrated that I couldn't draw hands all that well, so I filled two sketchbooks with drawings of people's hands. (Mostly my own, strangers tend to think it rather odd when you draw their hands.)

Elizabeth: I love your “Portraits" series, which you photographed and collected into a little book. What inspired you to start drawing (and sewing) people with improbable things on their heads? What was the very first piece you made for this series?

Victoria: A for the people with things on improbable things on their heads... It started with an alphabet book I made about things you could wear on your head. Obviously some of the letters proved quite a challenge. This then evolved into animal costumes. I can't really explain this, but I'm still enjoying it.

The idea of sewing creatures came from a book about old fashioned dolls my friend borrowed from the library. I liked their painted fabric faces and decided to make one. The first one I made was a lady wearing stripy pyjamas. She also had cows udders. I was doing a project about circus people at the time, which evolved into hybrids, naturally.

 Elizabeth: If you could move anywhere in the world and do anything you wanted once you got there; where would you go and what would you do?

Victoria: After I graduated, I had planned to move to London once I had finished dancing for a year. (That's another part of my life.) I'm now going off the idea. I don't think I could cope with all the people rushing around, and the miserable faces on the tube. I like being where there are trees and water. I like swimming in rivers and discovering waterfalls. I don't think I'd like London all that much. I'm not really ready to settle down anywhere in particular. I'm planning to travel again soon...I want to see as much of the world as I can, and I'd like to live on a boat for a little while.

Thank you, Victoria!