I quite like to think that I have drawn a fairly wide range of things over the years... from my commissions bringing me parrots, hedgehogs and bodybuilders, to designing murals, painting bugs, animals in hats and decorating sculptures. But never before have I been asked to design a crest, so when I was asked by Bridget to create a crest for her new High Sheriff of Suffolk role (congratulations Bridget!!) I, of course, jumped at the chance.
We knew immediately that, by looking at traditional crests, we wanted it to have a more contemporary approach. The designs would be more illustrative, the colours more complex, and the overall look be a little more 'beautiful' - in comparison to the traditional and practical crests.
I personally found it so interesting to look up all the different types of symbolism that are present in crests. Its given me a much better understanding of them, and it's almost like knowing another language (albeit one that rarely comes into use!) Who knew that just by changing the slant of a stripe you could change its meaning from 'protection' to 'illegitimacy'?!
The symbols the final crest included came along quite naturally. A Scottish thistle was a must to incorporate both sides of her family heritage, I also love the pop of pink that it adds. The thistle is joined by a star on the left - a sign of excellence and nature, and the bee on the right - to show a strong sense of community and efficiency. It was ideal that both of these have a yellow colour palette as I think it gives the overall crest a nice balance. Finally, right at the top is the open book, representing a readiness to learn, which is something we're all having to work on whilst we wait until this weird time in isolation is over.
It was so nice to work on something completely new and so unlike my usual art, and I'm really quite pleased with how it turned out.
Cheers for reading!
KTx