‘Little niece,’ said Kühleborn, ‘forget not that I am here with thee as a guide.’ 1912

Arthur Rackham made this artwork in 1909, an ink and watercolour drawing of a fairy tale scene. I can see him there with his pen and brush creating this space full of movement and story. Look at how he’s worked the blue ink in the top corner and the detail of the old man’s beard—you can almost feel the scratch of the pen on the page. It’s an interesting composition, very vertical, with the figures squashed in. The texture he’s created with the layering of ink and watercolour is very inviting. It’s this kind of work that reminds me how paintings and drawings can take you somewhere else. Rackham creates a whole world here, a world that sits somewhere between reality and dreams. I love the way that artists create these portals, and how we can step into them and find something new.