Claire Townsend aka TINSTY is a British costume designer turned illustrator and artist. She has been working and creating in Brooklyn since 2013. She graduated from Wimbledon School of Art, London and holds an MA from Central St Martins, London.
Originally her work was all collage, using disassembled advertisements to create new narratives, trying to break the sex based consumer images to create female driven narratives based on fairy tales and myths. She enjoyed re-purposing these sale techniques to new ends, to better healthier stories, the idea of which Salmon Rushdie introduced her to in the book, Haroun and The Sea of Stories, as an imaginative 10 year old. She’s still interested in these types of stories, and has moved into illustration work to appease that inner 10 year old.
She has just finished eating her way through Thailand, got her first and last Thai Tattoo (scars from a fractured ankle) and is currently holing up with a large mug of tea, a book of fairytales and a box of jammy biscuits.
Please don’t hesitate to contact her if you are interested in any of her work on the site, she also has a selection of prints available here
Once upon a long long time time ago this site started as text-art based outlet from her job as a costume designer and maker, as blog that is now 10 years old! Check it out here.
Things I Never Said To You 
very nice blog. i stumbled across it today and plan to read through it more when i have extra time. i too started working with text based paintings a few years back. always enjoy finding other artist with this interest. keep up the good work and i look forward to following your blog.
derrick hickman