Firstly, many apologies for the long gap since I last blogged. I have been pre-occupied with illustrating the children’s book I am creating and I will not lie, it is taking a lot longer than I intended!

I have painted 18 illustrations so far with another 20 or so to go. It is too early to say whether they are successful yet. I cannot be objective enough to give an opinion, all I can say is that often I am looking at the completed paintings with a sideways glance and a low mutter but ultimately I must remind myself that children are not engaged by finicky details, but by feelings they can relate too so that thought keeps me plodding on. If I succeed in engaging young readers by allowing them to see beyond the image but to understand the story I am communicating then that will make it successful! (I hope!) So, I must continue.

I have been painting other images as well; these paintings were not necessarily with the intention to showcase as there were merely exercises to loosen up my painting style. There were some that took me by surprise and maybe I will share these with you in a future blog.

In the meantime, we have begun our Christmas trading around the county at various festivals and markets. I apologise for not updating our Christmas events but often we were waiting for confirmations or juggling dates.
During the last three days we have traded at Kennington Hall, Broadstair’s Christmas Fayre and Tonbridge Christmas Festival.

Forthcoming events are as follows;

Whitstable Christmas at the Castle; Saturday 4th and Sunday 5th December

Folkestone Kentish Christmas Market ; (Folkestone High street) Saturday 11th , Friday 17th and Saturday 18 December.

Brockhill Park, Saltwood. 20th, 21st, 22nd December

As usual, we continue to trade via our online shop and we are delighted to welcome customers from beyond our local county! We are open online 24 hours a day and despatch orders as quickly as we can.

Ed and I wish you a happy time as you are preparing for your holidays and wish to thank all our customers for their business and interaction. We love hearing about your creative influences or why you have chosen your purchases or for whom etc, it is always such a pleasure!