With just a trusty typewriter and a stool to rest on, Keira Rathbone is bringing West London to life with a series of remarkable works.

The artist has typed up several local landmarks, including Richmond Lock and Weir and the iconic Richmond Bridge.

Her technique gives her a status as one of the more unusual street artists you may encounter around town.

Here, she 0s in on her successful method in an interview with Richmond Nub News.

Keira was in her first year as an undergraduate studying Fine Art when she started thinking about the little orange typewriter she bought from a charity shop as a teenager.

Upon picking it up from her family home, she felt compelled to start typing away.

The 37-year-old recalls that she was partially inspired by a mixed tape that a friend had given her years before. He had simply written '????' on the sticker and this repeat mark had stuck in her mind.

She said: "Something came out of my subconscious as I typed LLLL. I just started moving the paper up and down. It wasn't a lightbulb moment, but there was something that kept drawing me back."

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It was only when she took her typewriter to the streets that Keira saw how niche this technique was, realising that she had found a unique way to express herself.

"There was just pure enjoyment of the characters. I loved the shape, the font, the sensitivity of the keys. It was way more freeing than regular typing because I've always struggled with words."

Keira has brought many London landmarks to life by sitting by them with her typewriter and then building them up over a number of sessions that can take anything between a couple of hours and a few weeks. The largest piece she has ever created is of Chiswick High Street, which is seven sheets across (about 1.5m wide).

The artist's left-hand shifts and rolls the paper up and down or sideways to direct each mark while her right index finger taps with varying intensity to achieve a sensitivity in the scene she is 'translating'.

She describes how the uncontrollable aspects of live drawing are what she most enjoys: "I like to make room for transient elements, like buses or people. As they're only there for a second, I only want to show a trace. Rather than a static car, you'll see a face you can barely make out."

Keira also talks about how she can use anything between 50 and 1,000+ characters depending on the fleetingness of the subject: "I like to capture movement and life, so I try to get to the essence of passers-by in as few characters as possible. When I look back, I can still picture who I was typing, even if they are made up of 10-15 characters."

When asked what her favourite characters are, Keira admits that she is always particularly excited to use: = + o . * 6 9 8 1 ? @ % (although plenty of other letters also feature).

After a decade Keira has an impressive portfolio spanning book covers, magazines and albums. She has even given live multi-sensory performances, hooking her typewriter up to an amp, pairing the sounds with moving images and allowing audiences to go 'down the rabbit hole' of her artistic process.

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Keira proudly her claims a career highlight as being commissioned by Sue Perkins' partner, Anna Richardson, to type piece on the Cornish coast for her 50th birthday.

As Keira is London-based but originally from Poole, she was delighted by the rare opportunity to feature the textures of rocky coastal scenes in her work and describes how the seascape typic just 'flowed out' of her.

Recently, Keira has been working on a collection of environmental art pieces. She also made a print of Captain Tom, who walked 100 laps of his garden to raise money for the NHS, and sent 50% of the profits to NHS charities.

Keira is now featuring people who have moved or made an impact on her via a project entitled Inspiring Characters – or, more specifically, one of their eyes. She plans to display them at a future exhibition, alongside an audio clip of the person speaking.

"One eye is enough because I think it really captures their vision, which is ultimately what attracted me to begin with," Keira said.

"Have you ever been talking to somebody at a party, but you can hear another conversation going on, and there's something in that conversation that you just can't stop listening to?

"I want people to get that same distracted feeling."

Keira wants lots of people to be able to enjoy her work, which is why she creates high-quality duplicates and limited-edition prints that are on Hahnemuhle German etching paper (which is supposed to last 70-100 years!).

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To buy any of Keira's prints, calendars, cushions or lockdown art in her signature typewriter style, you can visit her online shop.