
Megan Dowsett is a creative consultant working in museums, galleries and the arts, an illustrator who is finding her voice through personal and local projects, and a parent to two young beings who can't help but influence her creative journey.
Through the name Norris and the Flamingo, she shares the sense of adventure that runs through all of life, wherever we are on our journey. A sense of imagination, of possibility and discovery, for children and adults alike.

7 December 2010
3 December 2010
Memory and Imagination: A visual diary

Uta Sanders, full of thoughts and ideas, shared with me her idea to draw her travel diary.

Her idea reminded me of how inspired I was by an exhibition of Bobbie Baker's diary at the Wellcome Collection, and how I intended to draw a diary from then on. Neither of us had managed it, but we agreed it would make a wonderful project for our four days of trekking in Torres del Paine, southern Chile.

I should mention that I have always felt incapable and intimidated by the idea of drawing what's in my head, rather than what I see in front of me ... but finally, I really enjoyed the challenge!

This is my diary. I hope to share Uta's with you next time!
21 November 2010
Haunting Figures

I spent a morning in Santiago playing with photocopies of my sketches from the Museum of Precolombian Art. I was magnetised by these wooden funerary figures, who were displayed under a powerful light, which cast shadows that were almost eery.
18 November 2010
Avalancha de Caos

Santiago's Museum of Fine Arts was mainly closed for a changeover ... but, completely different to my usual choices, I was captivated by Norton Maza's 'Avalancha de Caos', 2006. First thinking it was an extremely clever painting in the traditional styles, I realised that it's a photographic construction of the most incredible model, and referencing every apocalyptic painting of history. It would be AMAZING to make a scene like this ... I see the potential for artist photographer collaborations!
12 November 2010
From the Sketchbook: Uyuni Cemetary of Trains
Uyuni's Cemetary of Trains, spread across a remote desertscape, has an eery magic that would keep me happy with my sketchbook for hours. On the other hand, it has the potential for a trail of fun and adventures. And on the other side again, it is strewn with rubbish that makes me long to base myself there and invent creative ways to clear the ground.

Blurry, Stripey and Spotty
These shells were given to me by an avid beach comer in Mancora.
They seem to hold the potential for great adventures.
Blurry, Stripey and Spotty went for a walk ...
23 October 2010
Recycling in Pisco

Pisco was destroyed by an Earthquake in 2007. Three years later, its streets are still broken by holes and heaps of rubble as, piece by piece, people attempt to rebuild their homes. I spent a week with Pisco Sin Fronteras, an enormous team of volunteers who are doing their bit towards the reconstruction. I quickly realised I could be more useful with the children of the 'Ludateca' than by trying to learn to build a house within a week. And so I pooled my recycling imagination, begged, borrowed and stole plastic bottles and bags from all the volunteers and worked with the children to make braided jewellery and woven pots.


14 October 2010
From the Sketchbook - Mancora, Peru
3 October 2010
Painting Quilotoa

Arriving at the remote outpost of Quiotoa, we found ourselves accommodation in one of the cluster of hostels that comprises the 'village', overlooking an exquisite crater lake. Gathering around the fire in the family's house for warmth, the (many) children were absorbed by my sketchbook, and thrilled when I opened my paint set and offered them a go. I was excited by the familiarity with which they painted the green lake and local mountains, as a child from London might paint Big Ben or the London Eye. I eventually re-aquired my paint box and pencil case many hours later ...

From the Sketchbook: Pre-Colombian Monsters

28 September 2010
Las Manos de la Protesta

When I was 17, I visited Paris, and Monet, Rodin and Picasso changed my life. It's been a long time since I felt that way, but I felt similar visiting the Museo Guayasamin in Quito yesterday. It's difficult to convey in words or reproductions the intensity of expression in every one of Guayasamin's paintings. The painting above is from one of the most incredible series, of hands and faces expressing every emotion. Even the more positive emotions convey a sense of devastation in the angularity of the features and the gaping black spaces. Surely, anybody who visits this place wants to paint like Guayasamin.
25 September 2010
The Children of Otavalo


19 September 2010
From the Sketchbook: Quito Cathedral
Obsession with Plastics

13 September 2010
Graffiti of Bogota
From the Sketchbook ... Cartagena, Colombia

2 September 2010
Amun's Desert
31 August 2010
Faris Badwin and the Art of Doodling

I've never been a doodler. I once informed my tutor that I don't draw from my imagination. But maybe, having seen these, maybe, just maybe maybe, I will begin ...
27 August 2010
Indonesian Rod Puppets


'Art of the World' at Orleans House was a great opportunity to take this adventure abroad ... Here, Emilie and Amun bring their Indonesian Lady and their Elephant vibrantly to life!
24 August 2010
Losing Marbles



Will the marble make it ... round the funnel, down the tunnel, along the moat, drop to the next funnel, pitter patter down, and through the maze to triumphant cheers from the waiting crowds? ... Yes, yes, yes!
Photographs by Eleanor Salter Thorn.
23 August 2010
Someday ... Longing in London

The other joyous discovery: she's another fan of envelope interiors! She has an array of boxes wrapped neatly in inside-out envelopes. I feel that perhaps I should start a club of people who share the joy of envelopes!
20 August 2010
The Art of Fans
17 August 2010
How to be Alone
Every time I see an animated drawing I have to hold my ankles firmly and remind myself that I wasn't born with the degree of patience required for a career (or hobby) in animation. But still I am inspired, again and again ...
This gorgeous piece of alone-ness is by singer-songwriter Tanya Davis, and animated exquisitely by Andrea Dorfman. My favourite moment ... the balloons, floating up the screen ...
16 August 2010
Another Digression

- Liam Roberts' review for the Brixton Blog
- A writer's experience by Jonathan Gibbs
- Illustrations by Naomi Sloman

15 August 2010
Posing Giacometti

13 August 2010
Madalaine's Charms

These are Madalaine's Charms. She couldn't say where the idea came from, only that there are sixty of them; she made one and thought of making sixty. There is something delicate and whimsical about them that makes me wish I'd made them myself!
And what difference between this and something that appears in the Tate or Hayward? Although the themes are very different, it somehow reminds me of Susan Hillier's From the Freud Museum - something about the organisation and sensitivity, I think.
9 August 2010
7 August 2010
Staging Magritte


3 August 2010
It's a Hen!

2 August 2010
I Digress Hits the Masses




I Digress took in 14 writers and illustrators and sprouted from a story by Evie Wyld and some illustrations by Hannah Carding. From this gentle but inspiring start, we created chains of illustrations and stories, each inspired by the other.
Last Thursday saw the outcome of many months of daydreaming, planning and creativity. We took a heap of spanking new 'zines' to the Grosvenor and launched the book in the home of its inspiration. Surrounded by an exhibition of all the illustrations and excerpts from each piece of writing, a crowd of enthusiasts celebrated the joys of writing from drawings and drawing from writing.
The evening was capped by a reading by Charlie-Fish from 'Nadine', the delightful tale of the Grosvenor's imaginary horse and her meeting with the fairies of Myatts Fields, who speak with a remarkably helium influenced male voice!
If you were unable to join us at the launch but would like to buy the zine, then please click here.
Illustration in final photo by Staffan Gnosspelius.
Photos by Charlene Lam.
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