Anna Cattermole began drawing the Freja, a 42-foot traditional wooden sailing boat, in September of 2010. ‘At the time I had no idea that I was committing myself to twenty months of work, drawing in the pouring rain and the freezing cold,’ she writes in her beautifully illustrated paper, From the Loft Floor, printed as a traditional tabloid earlier this month.
‘From the beginning I did not know what this project would become,’ says Anna, ‘but there was a real curiosity to observe and record.’ This curiosity led to a major exhibition of her drawings at the National Maritime Museum in Cornwall and an AOI Illustration Award.
Anna works exclusively as a reportage, or documentary, illustrator— all of her drawings are started and finished on site, with the subject in front of her, and without the aid of photographic reference. From the Loft Floor documents her collaboration with shipwright Luke Powell of Working Sail, builders of traditional wooden pilot cutters.
The paper includes a poignant history from Powell of the decline of pilot cutters in the Isles of Scilly, as well as an essay by sailing expert Tom Cunliffe on preserving ‘golden age’ integrity and craftsmanship in modern shipbuilding. Says Cunliffe: ‘Recording such knowledge formally is far from easy. Some would say the task is impossible, for who can measure the movement of a sailmaker’s hand as he stitches a hemp bolt rope?’
Anna’s delicate and meticulous illustrations go far in capturing these elusive details. Having spent the past 15 years building and maintaining a Scottish fishing boat, on which she currently lives, Anna has developed a keen sensitivity to the atmosphere of life around boats. ‘There was the smell of fresh sawdust, arc welding, Stockholm tar, linseed oil, turpentine and damp earth…All these things were absorbed while I drew, and I hope are captured in these drawings.’
Anna explains why she chose to publish From the Loft Floor as a newspaper: ‘These large format drawings seem to suit being reproduced together in the format of a newspaper. It seems an appropriate presentation for a series of reportage illustrations.’ And seeing the lovely results, we have to agree. Thank you for printing with us, Anna!
You can download From the Loft Floor as a high-quality PDF through our Newsagent, or see Anna’s drawings in person at the National Maritime Museum in Cornwall, where they will be on display until 13 January 2014. For more information about Anna Cattermole and her other projects visit her website.