By Robbie Broughton
Jen Lewis’s art prints first caught our attention when we spotted her depiction of the Formentor lighthouse in Mallorca. It’s one of our favourite rides and her view from the final bend is an absolute classic. Imagine how delighted we were to find that she’d also done a picture of the climb on our very own doorstep of Sa Batalla as well as Sa Calobra and Puig Major. But Jen´s cycling art doesn´t limit itself to Mallorca. There are dozens of beautiful prints from the Grand Tours to Didi the Devil. We had to find out more about her so dropped her a line.
How long have you been an illustrator and what techniques do you use to create your prints?
I have always loved to draw, even as a young kid. But I never thought I could make a proper living from it so I became a graphic designer and have mostly worked on a freelance basis since graduating in 1989 (eek long time ago). I have always dabbled in a bit of illustration and included it in graphics jobs where I could. It wasn’t until 2018 when I bit the bullet and set up my Etsy store combining my love of cycling and illustrating. I still have a bit of imposter syndrome to be honest! I use Adobe Illustrator to draw and I use a mouse. I’ve tried more modern techniques - drawing on the iPad with an Apple pen in Procreate but I can’t seem to get the precision that I do in Illustrator using vectors.
Jen at work
Where do you get your inspiration from (your prints have quite a retro feel)?
I love old vintage mid century advertising posters. My home is full of them so this retro feel comes from that influence. I especially love the work of Bernard Villemot. I just love his use of flat colours and bold shapes, especially the work he did for Bally shoes. It’s just beautiful!
Where are you based?
I live in Bedfordshire, England.
You obviously love your cycling - can you give some background on this?
I’ve always ridden bikes. As the youngest of 3 siblings I always got the hand me downs though!! As a kid I wanted a Grifter or a Chopper - they were so cool! But had to make do with my sister’s old Raleigh Twenty instead. Not an ideal bike for the local dirt jumps though but still did it!
I only got into cycling seriously in 2013 at age 47. My husband is a keen cyclist and he’s also done a few Ironman events. I got bored of the sweaty gym and decided to buy a second hand road bike and get outside. I got the cycling bug pretty quickly after that and haven’t looked back.
What´s your go-to local ride?
The Chilterns are quite close to where I Iive and I absolutely love the cycling over there - especially off road.
Tell us a bit about your cyclo cross experiences, do you like competing?
My son got me into cyclocross. He used to train with the under 10’s at Team Milton Keynes. They’d do road cycling in the summer and cyclocross in the winter. I thought “that looks fun!” and decided to buy a cyclocross bike and try a novice race. My first race was absolutely terrifying to be honest and I cried on the practice lap (how embarrassing).
It became a bit addictive though. I've encouraged quite a few friends from my local women's club ACE (Ampthill Cycling Elles) to give it a try. There are now about 10 of us with CX bikes and we love our muddy adventures! The competing is always scary. I’m just happy to get home in one piece. I thought I might do quite well in the over 50’s category - but there are so many amazing older women competing (dammit)! I have been on the podium a few times though amazingly.
What are your favourite rides/riding experiences both at home and abroad?
I loved cycling in Mallorca. Probably my favourite place to ride. I was supposed to get out there in March but that obviously got cancelled. Can’t wait to get back out there again. Such a beautiful island and the roads are so smooth - such a cyclists playground!
Jen tackles Sa Calobra
What’s your best climb and why?
The Stelvio pass in Italy. I went out on a Women’s Rapha trip in 2017 with a group of amazing women. The Stelvio Pass is the highest paved mountain pass in the Eastern Alps and a big challenge on a bike! I’d reached 50 the previous year and decided life’s too short - do what you love and challenge yourself. So my motto became “f*** it I’m 50”. Every time I thought I couldn’t do something I reminded myself of my motto and it gave me super powers! The scenery on that trip to Italy together with the physical challenge inspired me to draw my experiences and that’s where JensCyclingArt began.
The Mallorca set
What bike(s) do you ride?
I have a Liv Langma Advanced disc road bike and a Trek Crockett cyclocross bike (upgrading that one soon to probably a Trek Boone). In true family tradition I’ve handed my first road bike down to my niece!
Do you follow professional cycling? Any heroes?
Yes I love watching the pro racing - both men's and women's. I was sad to see Paris Roubaix cancelled this year, especially as it was going to be the first ever women’s race. But on the whole I think the UCI have done an amazing job pulling off all the pro races this year in the circumstances. And I do have a bit of a soft spot for Julian Alaphilippe :)
Do you have a favourite print you’ve created? What's special about it?
I think my favourite is the Ronde Van Vlaanderen print as it reminds me of a great trip out there to watch the race a few years ago. Sa Calobra is another favourite which I like for its simplicity (and it’s also one of my best sellers).
We love the idea of bespoke individual prints. What have been the interesting ones you´ve done?
I’ve done so many now! But my favourite has to be the one I did of TandemWoW. Two amazing ladies, Cat and Raz, both in their 50’s, who broke the world record for being the fastest women to ride round the world on a tandem. They beat the men’s record by over 17 days!
Any interesting plans for the future? We loved your book cover for We Rode All Day by Gareth Cartman
I have a few irons in the fire! A few exciting projects were put on hold due to Covid but hoping they bounce back in 2021. And another book cover project should be launching in January (watch this space).
Keep up the great work, Jen! We’re very excited at the prospect of stocking some of her prints in our online shop. In the meantime you can also go to Jen’s Etsy shop page.