Product Focus Gifts for Garden Centres
Art that tells a story If you’re looking for gifts and homeware that combine beautiful watercolour art with heartfelt words, check out Love Country by Sarah Reilly. We catch up with artist and illustrator Sarah to discover where she finds her inspiration Sarah, what’s your career journey to setting up Love Country 10 years ago?
Where do you find inspiration for your images?
Like most people I was working full time and dreaming of other possibilities. At a crossroads in life, I took a huge risk and set up a dog sitting business from home, looking after dogs when people went on holiday. This allowed me for the first time ever to work from home. Whilst occasionally painting dogs for clients, I was commissioned to create a cushion as a special birthday gift, and started experimenting with washable fabric paints. One Sunday, just for fun, I created a little hare in watercolour on the fabric, to see what it would look like. The paints ran and wandered through the fabric making the hare appear to be running….my style suddenly took on a vibrancy and enchanting feel I had been waiting for. I started taking my products to country shows, and then trade shows, and my business was born.
I find inspiration in nature around the Suffolk Coast and its glorious countrywide. My favourite time of day is walking the dogs in peaceful woodland that sparks the imagination and nurtures the soul.
What range of products do you offer? As well as my prints, I offer cards, cushion covers, fine china, coasters, candles, bookmarks, keyrings, the list goes on! 40 Gifts Today
‘I find inspiration in nature around the Suffolk Coast and its glorious countrywide’
The ‘storytelling’ is as important to your products as the artwork. How did this come about? I became known for my watercolour paintings of woodland animals. Then, in 2016, I wrote a poem for one of my paintings ‘Hugging the Moon’. This charming print became so popular that I started to write poems for other designs too. I don’t consider myself a poet but I write from the heart. These little poem stories were so well received that I now print them on the reverse of all my greeting cards – customers love them. All my prints now come with a copy of the poem, too.
What are your most popular characters?
There are many of them to introduce you to…whether it’s cheeky Mr Prickles Hedgehog or the very relaxing Hugging the Moon, each design takes you to a place of happiness. Love Country is quickly becoming a popular choice for collectors, with a wide range of artwork and stories to discover this is an affordable and loveable collection.
How can I stock Love Country? If you’d like to join our growing list of lovely independent retailers, just fill in a form on my website. A member of out team will be in touch to talk you through, and give you access to the online ordering site.
Call: 07735 918118 Email: support@lovecountryuk.co.uk Visit: lovecountrybysarahreilly.co.uk/trade
