About

Lu Christie

Illustrator, writer, make-up artist, painter and creative teacher

Contact: luchristie@btopenworld.com

As an artist observing the stories of life I use these tales to create characterful glimpses of ourselves: to illustrate our own stories, myths and facets of our being- our purpose and our individuality.

For all around us, there is an element of magic- a charismatic flow to tap into, to feel and to fly with – every moment, every day, we are in that magic which makes us who we are.

My Approach

Throughout my whole life I have loved the pencil and paper- to draw and rub and jab and blend is thrilling to me.

What unravels is a joyous thing. From those first few marks scribbled down, a panoramic scope opens and I just follow it.

What appears are questions, designs, experiments, humour, inventions, people and creatures and – answers.

There are places to deepen and others to highlight- a drawing can take seconds or hours or days to complete.

There is little as exciting as a blank sheet of paper, some pencils, a good sharpener and a real latex rubber.

Background and past work

I have achieved a variety of things artistically working around Storytelling-

For PERFORMANCE, EDUCATION AND PUBLICATION

I was a Film Makeup Artist for a long, long time in London, and a maker- I made Headdresses, puppets and props. I worked with wildly creative directors who demanded crazy things and worked on musicians, actors, dancers- all kinds of performers, in fact.

I worked on Theatrical shows, Fashion shows, Hair shows, Street Theatre, Ballet, Modern Dance, Music videos, Rock concerts, Plays, Musicals, Mime, Opera, TV dramas and Films.I was busy- and I loved all the faces that I made up- at least 15000 of them (so far) I also taught-firstly whilst I was myself at College and then in London to demonstrate sessions.

I became a Lecturer, eventually, and wrote courses for Special Effects work in Makeup and Hair.

I painted in oils, then acrylics and then watercolour- then I wondered how and why painting began?

I grew up in Africa where the images on rocks have survived for thousands of years. These images tell of their world and their stories.

I experimented with Pigments and gave workshops in schools and colleges- making the paint and creating the images with feathers and sticks. I did Icon paintings with Gold leaf and mediums. And then there is Ink!

I love ink- where would we be without it?

I started Faeries’Ink- a collection of Faerie paintings and writing tales- the place of Imagination and Character where all is possible. I did illustrations for magazines, workshops and stories.

I still drew and drew with the pencil.

I have an Arts Team- TAT- Totnes Art Team and we work on projects- we have done many festivals for Children’s Craft- and for WOMAD (World of Music and Dance) for 15 years.

I have continued to produce artwork for arts’ sake and for others.