I’m Karen Vermeulen, an illustrator from Cape Town, South Africa. When I was a little kid I loved picture books and I’ve never outgrown that love. Why should I? I love stories and I love beautiful images. Which is probably why when I do illustrations I can’t help but come up with back stories, character quirks and sometimes even plots. Like these Ladies from Straffordshire. They are a tight group of frenemies and not quite as proper as they appear to be.
Lady Hortencia is the perfect lady and wife except for the small fact that she is sleeping with the gardener and likes to flash the staff and then pretend it never happened. Lady Isobella secretly drinks gin out of teacups all day and flirts outrageously with everyone, except her husband… Lady Jacoba likes to judge the other ladies, and secretly thinks she’s better than everyone else, but she would be mortified if anyone found out that her husband likes to wear ballgowns around the house.
My website is www.karenvermeulen.com
Instagram: @karen_vermeulen_illustration
