Eliza Southwood practiced as an architect for ten years before deciding to take up a career as an artist and illustrator full-time in 2011, although she has consistently drawn and painted throughout her life. Her first illustration commission was a Spanish children’s book, when she was aged 13. From the age of ten she spent her childhood in a remote part of Spain, where she grew up drawing and painting scenes of local life in the mountains. Her creative streak was later channelled into architectural design, and she graduated from Glasgow School of Art with a degree in Architecture, later finishing her postgraduate architectural studies in London. She spent several years working as a designer for Eric Parry Architects in London and later Arup Associates. However, having realised that she enjoyed carrying out the ‘artist’s impression’ part of her job more than any other, she finally decided to give up architectural practice in order to work full time on her own art projects. Eliza’s architectural training fostered a technical eye for detail and colour, which is apparent in her artwork. Her speciality is silk screen printing, but she also works in mixed media, watercolour and acrylic. She is known particularly for her cycling themed artwork, but also produces work on a wide range of subjects such as cityscapes, dogs, sports and people. Selected clients include Rapha, Bloomsbury, Laurence King Publishing, Magma, the V&A Museum, Brompton Bicycles, Sustrans, the London Cycling Campaign, Bourne and Hollingsworth, Epic Magazine and Cono Sur Wines. She also regularly takes on artwork commissions for private clients.