Evie Grace Illustration & Design

#StandwithUkraine

Hi everyone. I’ve had requests to use my ‘Stand with Ukraine’ illustration in peaceful protests and as a statement of peace and support in windows etc. I have made it available to download through the links below. (Personal use only, thank you)

Download through my website here - https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5c4fa0a69f87704df81f2282/t/621f95bc0df3724965da2f4c/1646237596569/Stand+with+Ukraine+downloadable+Illustration+-+Personal+use+only.+?fbclid=IwAR0CFxSfGs6ojduJiGacthNnhDLGun6eZ_eYQrtIgIJ0ouqrFrZ8_q1j-y4

Download through dropbox here - https://www.dropbox.com/home/Stand%20with%20Ukraine%20-%20Download/Stand%20with%20Ukraine%20-%20Download%20Image%20here.

I urge you to donate when you use this image, to a charity of your choice to support those experiencing the horrors going on right now. (If you are in a position to do so)

Sending love and solidarity. x

“The rise in disposable face masks & gloves being used to prevent the spread of Coronavirus is adding to the glut of plastic pollution threatening the health of oceans & marine life, environmentalists warn.”

As of today, wearing masks in shops & on public transport is compulsory in Scotland & in many places around the world - wearing a mask is incredibly important (!!) so please where possible, purchase reusable masks.

Before you bulk buy single use medical masks, take a moment to consider the impact that decision will have. There are so many environmentally friendly options for masks, there are even hundreds of funky patterns & organisations that’ll donate to charity. Buying reusable masks instead of single-use will also be more cost effective in the long run.

We have all seen photos of bright white & blue masks disposed of into the outdoors, littering streets, green spaces & beaches, most of which contain materials that are not biodegradable & cannot be recycled. Not only do they add to the plastic pollution & harm land & marine life but they are also a potential health threat to the public & those who have to clean them up.

An illustration that came to my mind after watching the new series of Frozen Planet. Extreme weather, raging fires, melting ice caps, all at the hands of the human-driven climate crisis. ⠀

“The animals that inhabit our frozen lands and seas need one thing more than any other, and that is for the planet to stop warming. It is now up to us to make that happen.” - Sir David Attenborough.⠀

In the embarrassing chaos that is the UK Government, Liz Truss may have left but her new oil and gas licensing round has not. On top of this, there are 30 new oil & gas projects that already have licenses - such as Rosebank - the largest new oil field in the UK that would produce the same amount of CO2 as 700 million people in the Global South do a year. I do not want to live in a world where these “people in power” destroy the planet in the name of money, oil, gas and greed. ⠀

If you haven’t already, I urge you to follow https://www.stopcambo.org.uk & their campaign to #stopRoseBank - they have so much information, and resources on what you can do to stop these new oil fields.⠀

‘The Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade’

I have no words to add to what has already been said. My heart is broken & I am truly devastated for everyone in the USA & around the world who have had the right to access safe abortions ripped away from them, my heart is broken for everything this means.

“𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐚𝐧 𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦—𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐚 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦. 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧.” - 𝐎𝐜𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐲.⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀

Every minute the equivalent of one bin lorry of plastic enters into the sea. - I’m often overwhelmed when reading the news or researching information for my illustrations, I often experience guilt as I don’t feel like I play a big enough part in being a positive change towards certain subjects such as plastic pollution etc in order to be campaigning for change. After explaining this to my Dad (a climate change warrior & day-to-day hero) he told me that we have to start looking at what we can do in order to help instead of closing ourselves off to the facts because they are overwhelming...if all of us went into panic mode, nothing would be done. If all of us stopped campaigning because we don’t feel like we do enough, or we bought a can of Coke & are feeling guilty about it .... nothing would be done. ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀

There is hope, if we start by making simple changes in our day to day lives - By reducing the use of plastic & single use disposable products, by continuing to recycle, by leaving the rolls of plastic bags in the supermarket alone, by signing the petitions & continuing to discuss...we can start to change the system that so desperately needs changed. Here’s to the future & to being the change we all need to see.

All of my illustrations are created with love, but these ones are places very, very close to my heart. Little pieces of my favourite places & love of the mountains - a love I know I share with a lot of people. I hope these will give you a little bit of adventure, especially now while we can’t travel to our favourite places.

🏔: Tantalus Range, British Columbia.

🏔: Buachaille Etive Mòr, Scotland.

🏔: The Remarkables, New Zealand.

A love letter to British Columbia,

I miss those mountains, the magic & my Canadian home.

I picked up a pencil & started sketching this a few nights ago after an overwhelming feeling of missing the BC mountains hit me. It turns out that on this day a year ago my good friend & I were hiking our way to the most incredible glacier lake I’ve ever seen.

We cooked pasta, drank wine & picked our favourite stars, because we knew it was the last big BC hike for me (for a while) - if you look very closely we are there, clambering up the snow.

An illustration inspired by an adventure with my love to the Lost Valley of Glencoe.

Because we’re all missing someone right now.

To our family & friends, our sisters, our partners, our lovers, mothers, brothers, fathers, sons & daughters, grandparents, to our community, our baristas, our bartenders, our less-than-2-metres-away conversations in the street....to anyone you might be missing right now. #Covid19

An email sent to Nicola Sturgeon asking her to oppose the Cambo Oil field plans.

Nicola Sturgeon has asked Boris Johnson to reassess the new oil field situation but has not publicly opposed it & all new oil exploration. It is not enough.

What is Cambo Oil Field?

The UK government is getting ready to approve a new oil & gas project called the Cambo field, in the sea West of Shetland months before Cop26. This blatantly ignores the IEA's warning that we must have no new oil & gas investments to stay to stay below 1.5°C. Its climate impact is equal to annual pollution from 18 coal-fired power stations.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CStx-E2ofxD/

A subject that’s been highlighted more & more over the past couple of years, and a subject that’s still being shoved to the side. The general idea of the pill is fabulous, but the side effects can be not so fabulous, I don’t know a single woman who’s had a completely smooth sailing experience with birth control pills.

The thing that BAFFLES me - is you can go to the doctor & be prescribed a type of birth control pill and there will be no/very limited discussion about your mental health, or the risk factors there are. You’ll get a leaflet with a list of a few side effects where ‘depression’ & ‘suicidal thoughts’ are shoved aside with ‘headaches’ & ‘stomach pains’ .

Us, as the women who are taking it/have taken it, are also guilty of putting it to the side and pinning the crazy mood swings, painful depressive episodes, panic attacks & low moods which started (or got worse) when you started taking the pill, on other things, like our jobs, living situation, dating life etc. The reality is - putting a whole load of hormones into your body is most likely affecting & worsening your mental health. If it doesn’t work for you - There are other options out there - look after yourselves.

Fast Fashion & Greenwashing ♻️

We’ve all seen the big fast fashion brands launching their own ‘sustainable’ ranges, ‘conscious point systems’, ‘we care about the planet’ campaigns in the midst of the climate crisis. It’s becoming more and more clear that fast fashion brands throwing around these words are empty marketing strategies. Fast Fashion is exactly what it says in the title, an industry that creates garments as *fast* as possible for the lowest cost, exploiting both people and the planet…but it’s okay right because the label says *eco-friendly*???……no, it’s not.

In the words of @remakeourworld - “Let’s be clear, *fast* fashion can never be sustainable or ethical - Fast fashion as a business model cannot survive without unacceptable sacrifices to people & the planet.”

It is the unfortunate reality that buying sustainably isn’t feasible for so many. Properly sustainable clothing companies are always more expensive than fast fashion companies like Primark etc. We have to channel our energy into putting the pressure onto the companies at fault and the governments that let the exploitation of the planet and people happen. With that being said, we should all be doing what we can to reduce our impact on the planet, I’ve collected some tips below on how we can make our attitudes to & relationships with fashion more sustainable (And not just greenwashed).

• Buy & Sell second hand, Depop is wonderful & there are so many other second hand apps like it.

• Donate clothes you don’t wear anymore to clothing banks, charity shops & shelters etc.

• Don’t fall for the fast fashion brand greenwashing techniques - Do the research on whether a fashion brand is actually environmentally friendly … or if it’s just sticking the buzzwords on the label. (!!!!)

• Thrifting (When it’s safe to do so)

• Clothes Swaps with friends !!

• Look after your wardrobe, stop viewing your clothes as disposable.

The future of our planet lies in our hands. 🐟 👎

We’re in the grip of a global pandemic where we are relying on PPE to save lives. The priority is to recover and keep the planet’s population safe and well, but what happens next? The discussion around single use plastic has been been pushed to one side while the majority of PPE such as gloves are made of plastic.

We should not see a world where there is more plastic than fish in the ocean. We should not see a world where sea turtles mistake discarded gloves for food and where 100,000 marine mammals and turtles are killed by plastic pollution every year. We must make changes.

We must keep the discussion going to fuel the positive change & the recovery of the planet.

‘Coronavirus could well become a catalyst, because people may realise that by degrading our environment, we could find that we are getting more and more of these types of diseases’ - Sonia Roschnik

The Kitchen Range 1/3

It’s the start of a new year & once again we are inundated with diet plan adverts, influencers promoting laxatives disguised as diet teas, pressure for a ‘new year new me’ attitude ... it’s pretty hard to escape this if you’re on social media. These are created to cancel out all of the noise above and instead celebrate ourselves and our favourite foods.

* I’ve designed this cheese board so you can picture your own dietary preferences, whether that be vegan cheese or locally sourced products*

The Kitchen Range 2/3

It’s the start of a new year & once again we are inundated with diet plan adverts, influencers promoting laxatives disguised as diet teas, pressure for a ‘new year new me’ attitude ... it’s pretty hard to escape this if you’re on social media. These are created to cancel out all of the noise above and instead celebrate ourselves and our favourite foods.

*I’ve designed this banana bread so you can picture your own dietary preferences

The Kitchen Range 3/3

It’s the start of a new year & once again we are inundated with diet plan adverts, influencers promoting laxatives disguised as diet teas, pressure for a ‘new year new me’ attitude ... it’s pretty hard to escape this if you’re on social media. These are created to cancel out all of the noise above and instead celebrate ourselves and our favourite foods.

*I’ve designed this banana bread so you can picture your own dietary preferences

A simple illustration for a Monday morning - I feel that for so many of us, hope has been pretty hard to come by this last year. We are all tired and longing for our lives back, or longing for the life we planned to have.

Although this is the case, I’ve seen so many people finding a glimmer of hope in the first signs of spring. Especially with the snowdrops. Seeing snowdrops shows that the days are starting to get lighter, the weather is getting brighter & we’re on our way out of this dark winter. It’s not sustainable or really very possible to feel positive during this time, but a small feeling of hope (I hope) will get us through.

...& I hope you’re all doing okay out there 🌱

Filling our homes, our hearts, our secret hipsters sides & longing to be responsible for something other than ourselves with house plants.

“76% of suicides are committed by men. Suicide is the biggest cause of death for men under 35 in the UK.”

There is still a massive stigma involved in the discussion of mental health especially among men. With gender norms and expectations in society, men are still viewed as having to be ‘tough’ and ‘strong’ while mental illness is viewed as weakness.

This is one of the factors that adds up to the suffer-in-silence response, with men being a lot less likely to access psychological therapies than women. Only 36% of referrals in the UK are men.

We have to start teaching our kids from a young age about mental health & coping mechanisms. We have to cut ties with the idea that asking for help, or discussing your own mental health is a sign of weakness, it is pure strength. And finally, we have to drop the gendered stigma & the ‘man up & get on with it’ response.

Inspired by a recent trip to Tofino, one of my favourite places in the world.

My heart is with Australia, all my Australian loved ones & everyone affected by the bush fires.

A big part of my work is tackling serious social & environmental issues. Myself & an Edinburgh based Australian woman named Holly teamed up in order to raise money for the fire fighters & those affected by the Australian fires, both human & animal. Please read Holly’s words below:

“As most of you know I have been based in the UK for the past year, it has been an overwhelming shock to see Australia in the current state it is in. It is almost hard to even comprehend what so many are going through and I have never felt so far away.

Instead of donating directly to the Australian charities, I have instead teamed up with an extremely talented local Scottish illustrator Evie Caldwell. Her work tells incredible stories through illustrations. So I asked her to illustrate Australia’s. Together we have worked to create an eco-friendly tote bag with the image on it to sell internationally. We have a small Etsy shop ‘LandOfAustralia’ where we are selling these tote bags.

Australia is doing so much locally to support their own… we are asking the rest of the world to please help. So to those of you abroad who don't know how to help or donate… please buy a bag and share our message. 100% of profits will be donated to the Australian Charities helping the firefighters keep fighting, helping rebuild what so many have lost and helping the animal hospitals cure the surviving.

It Doesn't Matter Where You Are In The World, There Is Always A Way To Help.

If you are interested in buying a bag please visit our Etsy website or for larger orders email me directly at hollyclarematson@gmail.com. If you are AUSTRALIAN and you would like a bag - don't buy through the website please email me directly with your address and quantity, my beautiful mum is going to send them from Australia to limit the shipping costs for you.

Please get behind me, our cause and campaign - but more importantly Australia, because we need your help.”

#nevertoofaraway

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/AustralianBush?ele=shop_open

The past few weeks have been spent taking a little bit of time for myself & work-wise, creating illustrations for lovely people.

During this time I’ve found a great level of creative block when it came to personal illustrating, my aim is to create images that tell a story, promote discussing, often surrounding tough subjects. It is my passion. Recently however, my constant checking of the news and researching took a little too much of a toll & had a backwards effect on my creating.

Most mornings I walk through the woods & pass a giant mushroom, which gives me a moment of childhood imagination filled with fairies & a tiny world. The other day I let myself draw what my imagination was seeing, no meaning, no message, just a moment of magic away from my news app.

The world needs our help, and we must show up for it. But give yourself a break, don’t check the news as soon as you wake up & allow yourself a moment to try & find the light 💡 , even if it’s just a toadstool in the woods - your well-being & your fight to help the planet will benefit from this.

Inspired by the poem written by Brian Bilston.

“WEATHER

The hottest day

Since Records began

And the dinosaurs thought

How lucky I am”

- Last week it was 20C in parts of the UK. Among the excitement surrounding some unexpected beer garden weather there’s one big & incredibly scary underlying issue. It should not be beer garden weather in the middle of winter. In the UK, the 20 hottest years have happened within the last 22 years. While other parts of the world sees deadly forest fires & earthquakes & destruction beyond belief.

So are we going to continue to bask in the sunshine & label the unseasonal weather ‘glorious’ as a planet we have made our home fries under our feet? Or are we going to get up out of our beer garden chairs in the middle of February and make the changes we so desperately need to make.

One for my fellow morning (day & night) coffee addicts.

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House Plant 🏠🌱

A look into a dream home. Did you know that having plants helps to improve your well-being both mentally and physically?

“I’ll keep my distance now, so I can embrace you later.”

“Embracing Your Power” - One for last night’s extra powerful full moon. 14/09/19

*While I have your attention from whales riding skateboard*

Have you ever seen a whale in real life? It’s the most incredible thing, they are so powerful yet so peaceful. Imagine if your children fantasised about whales the same way we talk about dinosaurs?

Climate change & rising sea surface temperatures, whaling, oil spills, irresponsible fishing, ocean pollution are all making sure that this will be a reality. Stop using plastic straws & plastic bags, start recycling properly, if you eat seafood - buy sustainably. They are so powerful yet so peaceful, and the world would be a better place if humans learned from them.

For my beautiful Mum, who loves gin & loves chameleons.

Dedicated to my peace lily, Lilian.

“Real Bodies” are curvy, they are naturally thin or they’re slave-away-in-the-gym athletic bodies; they’re rib cages showing & they’re extra skin in weird & wonderful places; they’re broad shoulders & big-boobed or barely-there AA’s; they’re stretch marks & bumps & scars & marks & proof of survival; they’re pregnant stomachs & they’re wrinkles; they’re deep rich skin & they’re see-through, blue veined porcelain, They are “Real Bodies”.

Because I am forever thankful for the incredible women I have in my life and those I continue to meet dotted around the world.

A ‘Bad Prawn’ is slang for a hangover in my family. When I was 14 we had an after gig party, I accidentally drank way, way too much wine & experienced my very first hangover. The next day after finally hanging to get out of bed at 5pm I went to tell my mum that I’d eaten a bad prawn. I don’t think we’d even had prawns, and I don’t think my excuse was very believable. Almost 10 years on & it’s still stuck.

“Life is too short to drink cheap coffee and cry about people who don’t care.”

I 100% created this while drinking £1.50 instant coffee & reading sickeningly inspirational quotes.

“I’ll have an extra hot, triple shot, 3cm of foam, soy, pumpkin spiced latte with 2 sugars & have a better taste in men to go please.”