Little Old Lady Skateboarding Graphic Merchandise

The Little Old Lady, doing her thing. © John Corney

My Little Old Lady refuses to act her age in the boring sense. She's curious, brave, and just a little bit silly — and she has every intention of staying that way. Her latest fun thing is skateboarding, but she's also been seen tearing about on a scooter, jumping a horse across a canyon, and bouncing on the couch while babysitting the grandkids. The calendar, frankly, has stopped having anything useful to say to her.

An Ode to Gumption — and to My Mother

The Little Old Lady started, like a lot of my characters, with someone real. My mother, in her fifties, in Whanganui, New Zealand, decided once all her children were either at school or had left home that she'd like to go out to work. My father was against the idea — he was a man of his time, and the idea of his wife working didn't sit easily with him. So her decision to take a job was, in a quiet way, a small act of rebellion.

And then she went a step further. She bought herself a Suzuki motor scooter to ride to work.

I remember the sheer, surprising spunk of it. She wasn't trying to make a statement; she just wanted a job, and a way to get to it, and so she got both. Watching her zip off down the road in a sensible coat and a not-at-all-sensible helmet has stayed with me ever since.

Years later, when I started drawing characters of a certain age, I knew exactly who they were. The Little Old Lady is for women who quietly decide that being older isn't the same as being done. She wears a flower-trimmed helmet, a flying striped scarf, and a grin that says she's about to enjoy something her doctor might mildly disapprove of. She has, more or less without my permission, taken on a life of her own.

The Little Old Lady Collection

There's now a small body of work built around her. As well as this skateboard piece, she shows up riding a scooter, leaping a horse across a canyon, and bouncing on the couch while babysitting the grandkids — each one a different vignette of the same character refusing to settle down. There's also a skateboarding grandpa, her natural counterpart, and a cheerful heart-printed granny zipping along on a mobility scooter. Together they make a small gang of older folks reminding the rest of us that fun doesn't have an expiry date.

She seems to have struck a chord. The skateboard design has already found its way onto t-shirts and tote bags out in the world, which makes me smile every time I think about it — there are clearly quite a few people out there who recognise themselves, or someone they love, in her.

The Skateboarding Design on Apparel, Bags, Stickers, and More

The Little Old Lady Skateboarding design is available across the full range of Redbubble products — t-shirts, hoodies, tote bags, iPhone cases, mugs, stickers, and more. The tote bag is one of my own favourites: roomy, sturdy, and a small daily reminder of the spirit she stands for.

Little Old Lady Skateboarding — tote bag

The fitted scoop t-shirt is another good option, especially as a gift for the lifelong roller, surfer, or all-round adventurous spirit in your life:

Cool Granny on a Skateboard — fitted scoop t-shirt

Shop the Little Old Lady Skateboarding Collection

You can find the broader Little Old Lady series — and all my other work — at my Redbubble shop, KornKob Art. Or search Redbubble for kornkobart (one word).