July was Nicola Dixon logo month around Peel. It started with the Yn Chrunniaght festival, swiftly followed by Peel Traditional Boat Weekend. Teeshirts, banners and posters graced Peels streets and walls..even the Cathedral, and brochures, tickets, limited edition prints and even stickers were on sale.
It was the culmination of many hours work and was gratifying to see. Years ago I had designed a triskel for a friend, spending hours working out how to draw it, and coming up with variations on a theme. He didn’t use it, but I always loved it so had it pinned on my studio wall knowing its time would come, and then the Yn Chruinnaght committee approached for a design for 2014, the manx year of culture and the anniversary of Archibald Knox’s birth. Perfect!
Logos are always a challenge..they have to be just right in an intangible way.
I spent a couple of days drawing triskels making them more and more complex, getting lost in the process. The committee chose the one they liked best where the lines spiraled in then kicked out. We came up with colours that would work best, and drew it out, painted the triskel and scanned it, then painted the background. It looked wonderful and a bit magical too, and brough together the elements of intercelticness and manxness all in one.
I developed the triskels further for the Peel Boat Weekend design, making it all watery, like currents swirling in Peel, with a fleet of traditional boats moving around it, and Peel’s coast on the horizon. It was the easiest I have done. They are usually really tough as they have to differ from previous years, and work on in line and colour, whilst capturing the spirit of the event.
I drew it in ink, scanned it for the tee shirt design, then painted it in. Time was short and had to completely concentrate on it to get it done in time. It came together wonderfully, and looked fabulous on sailors beer bellies! I have now made it into limited edition prints.
The idea for my French exhibition came from these triskels, but that is another story!
