Ickworth House

At the end of September, I was really pleased to be contacted by the buyer at Ickworth House (NT), near Bury St Edmunds, about them stocking my designs.  We also discussed designing a bespoke card and coaster for them, as I have done for Anglesey Abbey, Wicken Fen and Houghton Mill.  So, in record time I delivered the finished product last week! See my Instagram highlights to see the full process.  They are also available from my website.

I am pleased to report that Wimpole Hall is hopefully placing an order soon and I am also working on a new design for them featuring their stunning walled garden.  So that will mean I am represented by all the National Trust shops in Cambridgeshire.

September sketches

Swallow Cottage, Longtown

This year seems to be galloping by, apologies for no blog updates in September.  We had a lovely break celebrating our 25th Wedding Anniversary.  The first week was in Herefordshire. I even did some sketching as it was too hot to go out walking on some days.  The hill in the background is Offa's Dyke, which is the border with England and Wales. It was lovely to explore a part of the UK we hadn't visited before, with the added bonus of an Indian summer. A highlight was canoeing along the River Wye.  Our dog wasn't very impressed with going in a boat.

Shell Bay, Studland 

The second week, we stayed in Osmington Mills, Dorset, famous for the Smuggler's Inn, where we had two wonderful meals.  It was another lovely week with lots of walking. The Durdle Door coastal path walk was about 12 miles! We also visited Abbotsbury, Portland Bill, Weymouth and the stunning Studland Bay, overlooking Sandbanks in Poole.  

Bike Commission

I was really pleased to be asked to make these drypoint print 'portraits' of three bikes. The print was a surprise 50th birthday present for the husband of a customer.  They are his three favourite bikes; an orange Brompton, a fixed gear racer and LeMond in lemon and black.

I'm pleased to report that he loved them.

It's a wrap!

My three weekends of Cambridge Open Studios are now over.  Thanks to everyone that visited, even in the rain and boiling hot weather. The new 'Sunlit Stipa' drypoint print went off to two new homes - the gold leaf was certainly eye-catching.

The framed Poppy Seed Heads (top left) and an unframed Silver Birch Trees (bottom left), also sold.

I also dug out a few oldies, such as this framed drypoint of 'Mangroves, Cape Tribulation', which was first printed in 2009.  It found a new home with a local photographer.  Several other prints and original paintings in the bargain browser also found people to love them.

A big hit were my new Oranges and Lemons tea towels.  Oranges in navy and Lemons in teal were the best sellers.  I will need to order more for my Christmas shows.

Footfall was definitely down this year, perhaps a number of reasons; no printed guide book combined with a hesitancy coming out when Covid levels are still quite high? My visitors were mostly from my mailing list or local to Milton, although there were quite a few that were new customers, which is always gratifying.

Cambridge Open Studios

It's that time of year again, my 26th consecutive year of Cambridge Open Studios. Its starts tomorrow and for a change I think I'm pretty much ready to go!  Just the table displays in the outside gazebo to set up in the morning and I'm all set.  It will be interesting to see how many visitors we have this year as there is no printed guide.  Instead we have an easy to use free app and the Milton studios have produced our own flyer.

I hope you will be able to come.  All Covid precautions are being taken, hand gel, QR codes, social distancing, one bubble at a time in the studio, mask wearing inside and plenty of outside undercover space too. 

  

Here is a handy map showing where the other studios are in the village and which weekends we are open:

Haddenham Art Market

Last Saturday I had the pleasure taking part in my first public event for 18 months.  It was held at Haddenham Arts Centre, which has a lovely café, artists studios and a marquee with 15+ local makers showing their work.  It felt strange at first to be setting up my display; had I remembered to pack everything? Was anyone going to come? Did people still want to buy my work?

Meadow Hare and Wicken Fen Wind Pump

Anyway, it all turned out well.  I sold these two originals, as well as cards, coasters and tea towels. I spoke with many new customers, some returning ones and even an old school friend I haven't seen for 40 years - he was still recognisable even behind the face masks we had to wear inside.

Now it's time to start preparing for Cambridge Open Studios, which starts on 3rd July 2021.

New Products

I'm really pleased to show you some of my new cards recently published by Flamingo Paperie.  The Spring Willow and Oystercatcher cards were originally in my self published range, but I have withdrawn them while they are in license.  These are slightly smaller, being 5" square.  The Spring Willow design also has a lovely light touch of eco glitter highlighting the catkins.

The Wellies design is a blast from the past.  I had a similar design in the Phoenix Trading range many years ago and thought I'd resurrect it with some new brighter patterns on the wellies.  The blue striped one is based on my actual wellies.  They are all printed on matt watercolour style FSC certified paper and the wellies are all embossed.

I'm really pleased with how the Flower Pattern wrapping paper has turned out.  It was designed digitally, so until it's in print, it's hard to imagine how it will look.  It comes with a handy cutting grid on the reverse and has matching tags.

Not to neglect my own range of cards, I've also added two more to complement my occasion cards.  They include a soft pink Happy Birthday version of the Cow Parsley design and a useful 'Just to Say...' card.  I love agapanthus, especially the more unusual white variety and hope they will prove popular. 

New Stockists

It's always exciting to be be able to supply my work to new stockists.  Yesterday I delivered some tea towels and cards to Meadows, a lovely independent deli in the Newnham area of Cambridge.  They specialise in wonderful cheeses and also have a great selection of fresh fruit and vegetables as well as daily bread deliveries from the Allotment Bakery.  They also have a small gift area, to which I'm delighted to be able to add my wares.

The second new stockist is the shop at Denny Abbey's Farmland Museum, near Waterbeach. They have a selection of my cards, tea towels and coasters.  I'm hoping that I'll be able to produce a bespoke design for them, once they are back on their feet again after being closed for so long due to the pandemic. 

It you are interested in stocking any of my products or are interested in having an exhibition of my original prints, do get in touch.

Tulips

I've added three new designs to my self published range of cards.  Firstly this one, featuring some rather jolly watercolour tulips.  They are blank inside for your own message and are available here.

Press release

I was really pleased to be contacted this month by Adrian Peel from Cambridge Independent Newspapers.  We talked about how I started my business and where I find my inspiration.  The full article can be read here.

The main photo of me was taken by Keith Heppell.

A selection of my greetings cards.

Spread some Love

It's coming up to Valentine's Day.  My cards are £2 each available from my online shop.  If you are local and can collect from my studio in Milton near Cambridge, use the code MILTON to deduct the postage charged.  They are blank inside for your own message, so could also be used for an Anniversary, Wedding or just to tell someone you are thinking about them.