Antonia |

Posted on: Monday, May 21, 2012

This postcard, the 3rd in the series by the wonderful Antonia, is so brilliant at relating the feeling of unreliability that endo sisters and others suffering from a chronic condition go through. The number of times I have had to cancel at last minute my plans due to pain or exhaustion are countless; luckily, my close friends and family know the score, they support me 100% and everyone knows there is a 50/50 chance I will ever be somewhere I plan to be. Those who don’t get it never will and are not worth my time.

It’s tough, it’s frustrating, but it’s life. It’s my life, and the life of many, many other ladies out there.

If you know how this feels and would be willing to share your story as a guest Diva, please drop me a line.

Posted on: Monday, March 5, 2012

Project Endo postcard 2/6

The average age of diagnosis is 27 ( the age I was!)

See the first postcard here.

Useful resources:

Endo Uk website and I have also created a downloadable symptom tracker here. Read More >

Posted on: Thursday, February 9, 2012

I am delighted to welcome to today’s Creative Crush the lovely Antonia Parker, the lady behind the illustrations I use for this blog and who also created the first in the series of Project Endo postcards this month. I have been working with Antonia for the last year and she is talented, lovely and very very creative indeed. Take it away, Antonia….

Predominantly, I’m an illustrator, but I make a variety of things under this title: glossy fashion illustrations, satirical collages inspired by the news, photography with my Olympus XA2 and heavily embellished costumes. I graduated from the London College of Communication a couple of years back and am gradually building up my career.

Exhibitions, not just art and design, but museum collections too – I love taking my sketchbook along and making drawings and notes as I go around. I really enjoy an aesthetically gorgeous film – Wes Anderson is great for exciting colour-schemes. Working alongside other people is great for generating ideas – what I miss most about college is having people right there to bounce ideas around and share feedback.

At home – I’ve been sharing a desk with my husband in our lounge/dining area/kitchen/entertainment room the past 18 months – but we are moving house next month and I will finally have a studio again! It’s going to be liberating to make large work again! I also enjoy drawing live, and along with illustrating at events, I also have a ‘handmade’ photo booth I made out of cardboard. I sit inside the ‘machine” part, and when I’ve finished drawing the person sitting in the booth, I post my illustration out through a slot in the side. I meet a variety of people doing this, and have some great chats whilst drawing.

When I’m illustrating, I am very old fashioned in that I make all my work by hand – the only reason I go near the computer is to scan the finished illustration. I start by drawing the image (sometimes tracing from an original drawing, sometimes freehand) onto clear acetate film. Then I flip the film over, and begin to paint in the details from behind. I gradually fill in the colour with acrylic paint and collage. It looks very messy and blurry from the back, but when you turn it over, you have a gorgeous glossy picture!