1987 - 1993
My career as a commercial Batik Artist really began with this, my most successful design of all time. Cat in the Moonlight has outsold all the other images across the entire product range. This painting happened by a piece of serendipitous magic and is now considered a family heirloom.
My first 'architectural' piece was one I was asked to do by Canterbury Cathedral. For this I developed a technique to portray the intricate details of the gothic stonework. The cathedral shop started selling cards, paperweights and prints, all reproduced from the original. Soon they were also stocking my entire range of titles.
Following the success of sales at Canterbury, the Department of Environment commissioned me to create architectural portraits of London's Royal Palaces. They bought the original back-lit Batiks and hung them in the various palace shops. This large one of Hampton Court Palace was made for an exhibition and I decided to keep it.
I was also asked to create several large original pieces for the Tower of London. This is the detail of the centre of a wheel on a carriage supporting a cannon at the Tower. It was reproduced as a paperweight sold in the Tower shop.
Nearly all my work is done on 100% cotton fabric. These two small pieces are among the few I have ever done on silk.
I was now designing for paperweights and my new Greetings Card range, which was launched at the Harrogate Craft Trade Fair in 1989. It was the amazing response to my work at this show that launched my commercial business and my newly formed limited company.
The demand for my greetings cards was growing and many of my originals were reproduced as cards.
This Batik was inspired by my time living on a Thames Barge on the Medway in the early 70s. By the time we had it, its mast and sails had sadly been removed and it had been converted into a houseboat. My first Batik studio was created in its damp, draughty unconverted stern section.
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Following the success at the Harrogate Trade Show, I took the plunge and exhibited at the NEC Spring Fair, launching a collection of signed and framed prints to add to my range of greetings cards and paperweights.
This, of Chester Cathedral is the favourite of all my architectural pieces and it was reproduced on all my products for sale in the cathedral shop.
Some of my best-selling greetings card titles were designed in this very vibrant and creative time.
Now supplying over 800 shops worldwide, I had to come up with new designs for my range of card and prints every year, for display on my stand at the NEC Spring Fair.
I was fast becoming well-known for my English country scenes ...
This image was used on the cover of the 1992 Marks and Spencer Calendar & Diary.
For over twenty years I lived in the beautiful Ribble Valley in Lancashire with its drystone walls and rolling hills and many of my country scenes were inspired by my surroundings. This one has been one of my best selling card designs for many years.
The first of many trips to Venice with my mother began during these years and they have been some of the most inspirational times of my career.
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I was asked by shops in coastal towns if I would do a 'seaside' design for cards and paperweights, so having spent many happy childhood holidays in Cornwall with its steep cobbled streets and picturesque harbours, I created this one called 'Down to the Harbour'.
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My love of Venice and all things Venetian, with its beautiful colours, its reflections and its crumbling stonework has inspired a body of work of which I am really proud ...
Winner of the Ted Mahoney Award for Excellence, out of 700 stands, at the 1989 Harrogate Trade Fair
🔴 These pieces sold in the '50 Years of Batik' exhibition
