ART ON THE WATER

Graphic artist Katie Ruby lives and works on 32ft narrowboat Poppy

- Katie Ruby

Illustrator and graphic artist Katie Ruby grew up near the Grand Union, so perhaps it’s not a surprise that she ended up living on it.

“I was brought up in Kings Langley, two minutes walk from the canal. I played and fished there and had a general interest in boats,” she said.

In 2010 Katie enjoyed a canal boating holiday so much that the following year she and her partner bought a 57ft Liverpool Trad (“bright purple with hot-wheels flames on the bows”).

This was used to cruise the Oxford and Thames Ring from a permanent mooring on the Grand Union.