Meet a Maker - Bobbi Gastall

As part of an ongoing project, we have been inviting Leeds based creatives to paint on a canvas to decorate our new store. Each of the canvases is painted with a base colour to represent the different shop areas of our store, but what the artists paint is entirely up to them! Last weekend we had Bobbi Gastall and Wren Dennis painting their canvases live in the store, we caught up with Bobbi to find out more about her and the wonderful work she creates. What did you produce for our canvas project? I painted some colourful pooches, getting arty with Fred Aldous' supplies.

What materials did you use and why? I used Posca paint pens. They have a sassy range of colours and the flat finish suits my cartoon-style illustrations.

Where do you make most of your work? At home - we turned the biggest bedroom in our house into a DIY studio. It's minimal but gets the job done!

What are your favourite creative tools? Markers & Copic brush pens (great for colouring), but I totally rely on digital software to finish my designs. My absolute weapon of choice though has to be my Pentel brush pen. Who are your biggest creative influences? Historically, I love Matisse, Picasso, Sophie Taeuber-Arp and currently have an obsession with The Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch. Stylistically, however, I am inspired by quirky children's book and comic artists - pretty much anything printed by NoBrow!

If you could only use one material in your work, what would it be and why? Oooh. Hard one. I'm going with ink. Even with your bare hands, there are practically limitless possibilities as to the marks you can make with it.

What was the best exhibition or art event you went to last year? Consistently excellent is the Hockney exhibit on display at Salts Mill in Saltaire... But last year the visual arts and technology at Sonar +D in Barcelona, really blew me away.

If you had a tip for artists starting out, what would it be? Practice every day. Make artist friends. Make art with them. Don't forget to eat!

You can see more of Bobbi's work here.