Under the Willow Tree
Meet the Maker
Hi.
It’s me.
About Me
I’m Natasha Aiken, born and raised in the hills of Gortin in rural County Tyrone. I grew up exploring forests, hills and rivers. Now living outside Lisburn, I am wife to Jonathan and mum to Abel, Eden and Willow. My influences growing up are evident in my love of all things rustic, I find beauty in natural textures, raw wooden grains. My art is clean/simple yet holds onto the natural flow that comes from colours blending into colours.
I LOVE HEARING FROM SOME OF MY LOVELY CUSTOMERS
“So pleased with our purchase – highly recommend. Beautiful work by a talented artist. Thank you, Under the Willow Tree.”
Rachel Wright, Northern Ireland
Behind the Scenes
The Process
Creating colour
01
Let’s get messy
Long before a card design emerges, I create sheets of colour using watercolour powders. Each colour mix and each carefully chosen textured paper creates one-of-a-kind colours. This hands on approach makes the designs unique to me. Sheets of vibrant colours are left to dry before the next step.
Creating characters
02
Snip snip snip
Using a process of cut paper montage, characters and images emerge from the coloured sheets. I am influenced by children’s illustration that surrounds my daily life with three little ones. I love the rough imperfections that come from simple cutting.
Cards are personal gestures and I want to create a range that not only evoke thought but bring back a sense of hand created quality that has become somewhat lost in our throwaway culture.
Creating cards
03
The techie bit
I continue to handwrite my typography because I love the feel of pen and paper. Maybe some day this will change, but there is something interesting to me about the slightly imperfect form of a handwritten message. The designs are scanned, cut and adapted to my desired sizing using Photoshop before being prepared for print.
