Christmas House Paintings

These were all commissioned as presents for family members for Christmas. In the first one, I 'added' the husband as it was a surprise present for him. The couple are planning to return to Australia so this will be a memento for them. The middle two were commissioned by the mother of two sisters and I took the reference with the families there. The last one was a surprise from a husband to his wife and he asked for one son to be in his Batman suit and the other to be in the Welsh rugby kit.

Open Studio and Bartering

On 9th and 10th Dec I had 'Open Studio' with mulled wine and mince pies and the lovely Georgina Worthington of High Tea of Highgate provided mouth-watering cupcakes. In return I made a batch of cards for her. A similar 'barter' system works with Carol of Louis Farouk. Like High Tea, she stocks my cards, and if I need a necklace we can do swops to the same value. Carol and I took a couple of tables on Friday afternoon (11th) at Thornhill Primary School Xmas Fair and had fun selling our wares and chatting to the kids and parents at a very happy-seeming school.

The Mangle Xmas Sale

I spent Saturday sitting on the balcony of The Tab Centre (designed by wonderful Matthew Lloyd architects...) selling my cards and showing examples of house paintings. Couldn't resist peeping over the balcony at the crowds just below me, though, waiting to buy Rob Ryan's iconic tiles and wrapping paper, all being sold for a fiver each. People did come upstairs, but none of the rest of us could quite say we had queues waiting to pay, just about all day... I'd been told about the sale by Kim Jenkins of Little Bird, who I was put next to at Top Drawer in September. She makes beautiful hot foil press cards and prints and can be found at Broadway Market every Saturday. As well as my own work, I was selling my 18yr old son Leo's prints and comics that day. Above is an example of Leo's current favourite print...

New card designs - transport

Most of my card designs come about through requests from shops: the red bus was asked for by Route 73, so I've printed one with 73 on, as well as now 1 and 19...

Cottage Painting

This was commissioned by a group of Highbury friends for Phil (far right) as a surprise present for his 40th birthday. I usually take the reference for pictures myself, but time and distance meant this was done from pics and information supplied by Phil's wife (such as where the hollyhocks grow in the warmer weather!)