Off-topic Sunday on a Friday.
Toria Jaymes of Stay Outside Studio has not only been busy creating Sideburn St Mert for us, she has been working with FIFA and Twitter to big up the England Women's World Cup Soccer team. England have their second game of the tournament, that's being held in France, tonight (Friday, 8pm UK time), so it's a good time to share Toria's news. Here's what she says...
I was incredibly excited when I was asked by Twitter to be a part of their #WomenInFootball Campaign. The project involved ten key players of the Scotland and English women's football teams. These players had portraits created by ten female illustrators, me being one of them. Each illustration was then painstakingly re-created in ten murals at ten locations. These large scale murals were painted in the home towns of each player and revealed all in one day, the day before the kick off of the FIFA Women's World Cup.
I was chosen to illustrate the mega talent that is defender Lucy Bronze. Her mural is on display in Manchester. Graffiti Kings are the team that pulled off the murals and travelled the country getting these up in an insanely quick time.
This campaign was to help raise the profile of not just these players but to get people aware of and talking about Women In Football. The sport deserves more attention and support. And it is starting to get it. A project of this nature gets my full support, and to be honest it's a dream project. To be part of a positive movement raising awareness and celebrating these hard working athletes.
I also created a second illustration that was more impressionistic in style and aimed to capture the energy of the sport. I looked at old pre-Raphaelite and late 19th Century paintings of battle scenes. I remembered many depictions of Joan Of Ark riding a horse and leading into battle holding tall a flag as she pushed forward. So I used that to inspire my piece here.
It was an awesome surprise to also see my original artwork up in Piccadilly Circus in London. I hope this gets the football fans who usually watch the men's game, to get behind and support their countries team in the Women's World Cup.
