National Trust Family Organiser 2027

The two Family Calendars I’ve illustrated

One of the projects I finished up at the beginning of this year is the 2027 National Trust Family Organiser. It’s the second year that I’ve illustrated this calendar so I had a bit of practice in how to approach the brief. No matter how much experience you have with a project, there are always new challenges that come up and this was no different! The calendar has just been released, and is available to buy here- so I’m going to show you some of the artwork and a little of the process behind it.

Sketchbook pages from the project

The brief was for each month's illustration to be based on a specific National Trust property and to reflect the season of that month. This time though, I started with the front cover rather than the inside sketches. I fell in love with Overbeck's Garden in Salcombe, Devon; the colours and textures of the subtropical garden were so gorgeous and I felt immediately inspired to paint them. It was actually really useful to start here as it set the tone and visual language for the rest of the calendar from the beginning.

Black and white and rough colour sketch for the front cover of the calendar

The brief was for the artwork to feel sophisticated but also family-friendly without being too ‘young’. Stylistically I developed the way I illustrated people a little from the previous year, using less outlining and pencil work throughout.

I have always loved the research part of a project- in fact if I’m not careful I can stay researching forever, so I had to be quite strict in how long I spent look up the plants and wildlife that I’d be drawing for each month. I love discovering tiny details that I can hide into each scene, squeezing in as many different types of bird and butterfly as possible for people to spot! All throughout school and university I have been told my artwork was too busy….luckily the brief for this project was ‘more is more.’

 I then sketched each month's composition in black and white, probably the most important part of the process. Each illustration needed to show off the National Trust property well, or the flower it is most known for in that season. The dimensions of each piece were fairly limited and had to fit a long, landscape shape which took some consideration. Once the composition was figured out, I added in as many animals and plants as I possibly could, and made up a little backstory for each family as I drew them. Then came the final artwork: I painted all the elements individually using my usual mixture of gouache and coloured pencil, before scanning and assembling in Photoshop.

Despite my best intentions, I ended up working on the final artwork right in the middle of what is always my busiest time of year. November and December are a bit of a whirlwind and 2026 was completely overwhelming. It was by far my most difficult year of illustrating to date, and I was taking on every possible job that I was offered. I’m not sure I had a day off for months- with Christmas orders from my shop to pack and post daily, a wedding commission and several maps to finish, the artwork was painted in the last week before Christmas, following a strict self-inflicted schedule!

Between boxing day and the first week of the new year I worked away solidly for two weeks to get everything finished to the standard I wanted. It was a really strange but peaceful time to be productive- outside the world was quiet and slow, while I was a bit of a machine manically churning out work. The process of any creative project is both wonderful and grueling- and like any big project, this calendar required a lot of discipline and some very long hours. It was really important that I gave each artwork the time and attention it needed. There’s always a moment where what you see on the screen suddenly starts coming together and working, rather than looking like a jumble of painted elements. When you have 12 pieces of art to complete, it’s easy to start overthinking and worry that none of them will reach that magical turning point. But it’s so satisfying when it happens, and without a deadline I wonder if it ever would.

Working on the final art in December and early January

Thank you to the National Trust team, and especially to Fran, for a really thoughtful brief and for trusting me with the project. Since working on these calendars I’ve built up a huge body of work based on nature and wildlife, which has informed a lot of the more recent personal work I’ve been creating.