The road ahead for Rebecca

Artist Rebecca Pymar has had one of her vintage style travel posters chosen for a new Lexus ad campaign. Here the keen traveller, both home and abroad, talks of why she’s keen to get out on the road again after a year spent mostly in the studio

I always have an idea of where I want to be headed. I think it was always my intention to work creatively and I think that ambition got stronger the older I got and the more I learnt about art. Working for myself as an artist was more of an accidental outcome, there weren’t really many other options for me at the time, so I started to strive towards this goal of mine whilst working part time. School was always focused on creative subjects – and this led me to take a degree in Fine Art at Loughborough where I felt I was able to explore and unleash my creativity further. 

You already feel like you are walking a bit of a tight rope when self-employed but with a pandemic to boot it did feel very uncertain. Luckily, I was still able to work even if it was in a less conventional way to what I was used to. Where I relied on doing events and craft fairs before, I turned to my online sales and social media to build revenue for me. Where I had spare time, I started to take on extra commissions and make new personal work. I didn’t want to give up on what I had already started so I felt very determined to make it out of the other end relatively unscathed! Although most things are back to normal now, I am really looking forward to finally being able to do some in-person events – hopefully Christmas time!

We live on a beautiful island. I have to admit being more of an abroad traveller before – I have started to really appreciate what we have a little closer to home. I love exploring hills and coastlines. Each corner of the UK has its own unique differences. Most recently I visited the Jurassic coast and the Lake District. I love a city break too. The cultural history we can see in the buildings around us tell such amazing stories of our past. More locally we are spoilt for beautiful places and scenery so a staycation can even be just down the road! The North Norfolk coast is a favourite of mine, particularly places like Blakeney and Wells. There are also some impressive buildings on the Norfolk coast such as Happisburgh Lighthouse and Cromer Pier. I also love spending time on the Suffolk coast, its big skies and sweeping vistas feel very peaceful and relaxing.

I mostly intend on expanding my personal work more. I want to start a collection of UK based travel posters (inspired by the work I did for Lexus), start doing exhibitions and events again as I have so missed talking to my customers directly. Having spent a lot of time in my studio over the past year or so I am looking forward to traveling and exploring more, this all helps to feed and drive my creativity. I am also compiling a Cocktail Calendar after the success of my cocktail illustrations I did over lockdown two – that has been very fun to work on.

Visit Rebecca Pymar and Instagram. With the post-lockdown return to the roads and the growing popularity of the staycation, Lexus celebrates the grand touring tradition with three travel posters created by UK artists, featuring the eye-catching LC Convertible. Each designer was briefed to produce an artwork featuring the LC Convertible in a popular UK location, inspired by vintage travel posters.  Rebecca focused her design on the Peak District, Queenie Moorhouse from Guildford featured the car in front of Brighton’s Palace Pier, and Joel Clark from Thame chose Tower Bridge in London for his design. Visit Lexus UK (@lexusuk)