Mexico Adventures...On a low budget!

On finishing my degree, an incredible opportunity came up for my partner and I to visit Mexico! We booked our flights a couple of days before departing and spent the rest of the week day dreaming about guacamole, giant sea turtles and the warm Caribbean sea at our feet. 

We flew into Cancún International Airport and made our two hour journey down the east coast of the Yucatán Peninsula arriving into the historical town of Tulum.

We spent our first week unwinding and exploring the local town of Tulum. First on the agenda was to try some tasty local cuisines. We stumbled across a bustling little vegetarian restaurant along the motorway called 'el vegetariano'. The staff were so friendly and the food was bursting with colour and punchy flavors! We also had to try out their raw hand pressed juices, my partner Jaz opting for spinach, apple and fresh ginger, for myself a sweet carrot, orange and passion fruit number.

Mexico is well known for its natural fresh water Cenotes that are dotted around the country, so we slung our snorkles in a back pack and went in search of a couple of push bikes. The roads in Mexico are really flat and straight, so cycling is very easy and cheap way to explore. We ended up paying £1.00 an hour to hire them from a very friendly hostel owner on the corner just before the Tulum ruins. If your looking to explore more than one town, you can flag down the white shuttle buses that all of the locals use, this is a great way to travel on a low budget!

At the beginning of our second week we wanted to venture even deeper into the country, we had heard that ADO buses were reliable and very cheap, so we set off for the Mayan archeological site of Chichén Itzá. We traveled roughly 150 km in just under 3 hours, costing us only £15.00 each! The mathematical equations and structures of the temples are incredibly impressive considering these were built around 600 B.C. The stories of the Mayan Warriors are so interesting, they were actually more like incredibly clever scientists!

If you visit Chichen Itza you can't leave the area before stopping off for a dip in Ik Kil, this is one of Mexico's largest Cenotes and is roughly 40meters deep! We hopped in a taxi from the ruins and arrived at the site in under 5 minutes. However if you are going to get a taxi make sure you ask the driver to come and pick you up after a couple of hours, as we were out on the main road trying to flag a ride down for a very long time!

We also got to see so many different species of animals, insects and marine life.

We signed up for a free promotion with our hotel to stay over in Cancun for the night, once we arrived we hopped on the local bus which cost 50p and headed for the small port at Playa Tortugas (Turtle Beach). We took a boat over to the island Isla Mujeres, you can travel around the whole island in under an hour by hiring out a cheap electric buggy cart, which is such a fun way to travel. We found a little restaurant called 'Da Luisa' with wonderfully fresh sea food and a gorgeous sea view. The city of Cancun is very built up, with lots of enormous hotel complexes lining the coast, if you want to visit somewhere quieter with niche restaurants and remote beaches then Isla Mujeres is a perfect day or evening out!

I really do hope to return to Mexico in the near future to explore the remote villages in which the Mexican families live. We passed so many little towns on our three hour coach journey to Chichén Itzá and I have built up such incredible visual memories of the way that people survive here.

The Mexican people are some of the happiest, friendliest and hard working people I have ever come across, they had a very positive impact on our travels and on the reflection of our own attitudes.

I hope you have enjoyed reading about our trip and have picked up a few helpful pointers along the way, be sure to let me know if any of you have visited...

Hannah.

A Levels...Art Foundation...University...Now what?

Last week I walked out of University for the last ever time, breathing in the sweet spring air and  feeling all of the stress slowly drop off my shoulders. I am officially freeee and it feels great! The last couple of months have consisted of gobbling hundreds of kalamata olives, drinking  bottomless cups of English tea and spending more time with my mac computer than anyone else.

However, I haven't been completely solo on this journey as my trusty sidekick Shintu has been setting up camp as close to the action as possible!

I have been working towards a degree in Fashion Graphics, the course is made up of a variety of creative practises such as Illustration, Graphic Design, Fashion Photography and Fashion Trend Forecasting. I am now honing in on my skills and deciding what i want to specialize in.

Here is a sneaky look at some of my Final Major Project work, I absolutely loved the brief as we got to create a brand and products from scratch designing everything ourselves. 

This was the name of my company, pronounced [mow-wee] and my product range to follow.

Here are the personalised nursery prints, designed to record those special details of newborn babies.

The illustrations are hand drawn and then painted with watercolors. The typography is created in Adobe Illustrator and then laid out using Indesign.

I wanted to create a unique monument that marks a special occasion and that can be treasured forever.

My first alphabet, nursery print.

I wonder if anyone is craving a particular food after looking at these yummy illustrations...

Thank you for reading,

H.F.B

A big warm hello from down south.

  Let me introduce myself, my name is Hannah Backshall, I am a graphic designer and illustrator living in a small town just outside of Brighton on the south coast of England. 

 I live with my wonderful partner Jaz and our two cats Shintu and Wusells. One of our favourite things to do at the weekend is to attend as many car boots as we can, picking up interesting posters and old toys mostly. I am also a huge animal lover and one day hope to own my own little farm out here in the countryside where i can set up a studio surrounded by wild flowers.

  

 I design and draw anything from logos to children's book illustrations.  I thought it would be great idea to start a blog so that I can connect with other creative people and hopefully meet some like-minded people.

 My work is heavily influenced by old picture books, vintage figurative toys, music, cartoons, haute couture, Japanese animation and culture.

 I mostly enjoy laughing, drawing, baking, sewing and exercising, I want to use this blog to share my adventures, drawings, recipes, and tips and tricks that I have picked up over the years. 

Anyway I hope you will enjoy my blog and be inspired to explore and be creative in your own life.

Hannah.