Whether it be Dorothy attempting to make her way home from the land of Oz, or the 1956 David Niven film based on Jules Verne’s classic tale ‘Eighty days around the world’, l do find something rather romantic, and adventurous, when it comes to thinking of the hot air balloon.

Freya Cumming has beautifully captured this sense of nostalgic romance and escapism through her vibrant screen print work. The muted colours and choice of pattern screen-printed onto a white canvas generates a sense of adventure reminiscent of bygone days.

Freya’s balloon illustrations also takes me back to a childhood memory of a warm summer’s evening, when l was fortunate enough to view a hot air balloon festival – Layer upon layer of balloon shapes, set against a backdrop of an urban landscape.

Above it all, captures not only this memory, but it also  creates a rich sense of juxtaposition – below, grey lines of architecture, and above it all, a sea of colour. Which in my mind harks back to this idea of adventure & escapism.

Screen-printing is a technique that l hold dear to my creative heart. l fondly recall learning this craft at Edinburgh College of Art, and so l was thrilled to come across Freya Cumming’s work – an imaginative combination of printing technique and subject matter – created with such artistic flair!

l warmly invite you to be taken up, up and away by Freya’s screen-printed hot air balloons.