I recently started a podcast called Postcards from London, half-hour conversations (or “postcards”!) with creative people who don’t live in the city but work here from time to time and love it. My most recent guest was award-winning illustrator Jill White, who draws, paints and digitally enhances London scenes for art prints, cards, postcards and notebooks for her company Rocket 68, which she runs from a studio in Somerset.
I discovered Jill’s art at the company’s website. It leapt off the screen. Many depictions of London lean into stereotypical red, white and blue tourist imagery, but Jill had taken a different approach. Yes, there were classic visitor destinations such as Big Ben, Tower Bridge and Downing Street, but also the National Theatre, Battersea Power Station, Spitalfields, the Sky Garden at 20 Fenchurch Street (at the top of the “Walkie-Talkie” building), a street in Primrose Hill, local markets and an East End pie and mash shop.
Her London Calling series features over 65 pieces that also include lesser-seen corners of the capital as well as landmarks. For me, her designs offer a more authentic and personal take on London life, and I’m delighted that Rocket 68 has become Postcards from London’s sponsor.
Jill was born in Trinidad, where her English art teacher mother had taken a job and met her husband, Jill’s father. In our podcast conversation, she describes arriving in London from Trinidad on visits during the 1970s and staying with an aunt in Southgate. “The thing that strikes me the most in Southgate is the lovely art deco Underground station there,” she says, but goes on to describe loving “the contrast between those clean modern buildings” and older, more tradition ones.
“Zing” is the word Jill uses a lot when describing her goal of capturing the vibrancy and vibe of the city, drawing on the lush emeralds, azure blues, terracotta and pastel-colours of the Caribbean that have captured her heart and her art. “I don’t do subtle,” she says, which is probably why her designs have won two awards and stand out so brightly in stockists Harrods and Waterstones, as well as many art and greetings card shops around the UK.
Of the London scenes she has illustrated these are her top five:
1, Spitalfields Market
“This is my latest design. Loved Spitalfields, loved having a mooch around there. I tried to capture the vibrancy of it and the hustle and bustle.”
2. The Sky Garden
“I went there just after lockdown with my daughter. Fantastic views. Just a favourite modern building.”
3. Camden Market
“Lots and lots of fun. I used to go there with my husband back in the 1990s.”
4. The West End
“Illuminated loveliness. Many customers buy it, put theatre tickets in it and send it to their friends.”
5. National Theatre
“I love the contrast of that Brutalist architecture and the punchiness of the design.”
My personal favourite is Abbey Road, shown at the top of this piece. Jill says she considers requests. Mine would be Queen Mary’s rose gardens in Regent’s Park. I hope she does it, in sumptuous and colourful bloom, Rocket68 style.
The Postcards from London podcast is available on Apple, Spotify and Amazon. Other guests so far have included, from New York, Sopranos actor Steve Schirripa and, from Sunderland, Stranglers vocalist Baz Warne.
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