Progressive Greetings - Focus on Art Cards July 2016

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OVERVIEW

Artistic

Movement Seize this summer the rare opportunity to view Georgia O' Keeffe's magnificent floral canvasses at the Tate Modern in London, or make your eyes and senses boggle with Bridget Riley’s Op-Art paintings at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. Not yet quite frozen in the archives of time, but with over 50 years together, one of the world’s most famous rock and roll bands are the focus of a Saatchi Gallery homage named ‘Exhibitionism: The Rolling Stones’, while for more existentialist tastes the Tate Liverpool examines the spatial structures of Irish born artist Francis Bacon.

And the variety and breadth of artwork and creativity within the art world is also reflected within the art cards ‘movement’ too, with something to suit all artistic leanings.

Focus On Art Cards peruses around the current art cards market ‘gallery’.

Top right: Georgia O’Keeffe’s ‘Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1 (1932)’ sold for $44.4 million at Sotheby's American Art sale in 2014. It is currently the world’s most expensive painting by a woman.

Above: ‘In the Company of Angels’, from an Antiphoner, c 1480, Italy. Recreated

by Fitzwilliam Museum as a 16 x 16cm Christmas card with gold foil blocking.

Above right: ‘Slow Loris’, Zoology Collection, featured on a card from the Fitzwilliam Museum.

Right: The multitalented folk singer and artist, Andy Broderick.

Focus On Art Is published annually by Max Publishing. It is distributed with the July edition of Progressive Greetings, Max Publishing, United House, North Road, London, N7 9DP Tel: 020 7700 6740 Editor: Jakki Brown (jw@max-publishing.co.uk); Advertisement director: Warren Lomax (warren@max-publishing.co.uk); Main editorial contributor: Gale Astley (galea@max-publishing.co.uk).

Art History

This year The Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge celebrates its Bicentenary year with a stunning exhibition of 150 illuminated manuscripts, including the ABCs of a five year-old Princess, the bawdy mediaeval humour of the Macclesfield Psalter and a treasure trove of prayer books of European royalty over a thousand years.

The hundred of images sheltered safely in volumes are the finest survivors of art from the mediaeval and Renaissance periods.

To celebrate, Fitzwilliam Museum Enterprises has produced a new collection of luxury Christmas cards of these manuscript illuminations. The original gilding has been carefully reproduced as a brilliant, reflective foil and the damages and marks of time and devotional handling digitally repaired to recreate the illuminations in the vivid and glittering colours of the day they were first lovingly created by master craftsmen centuries ago.

Strange But True Fitzwilliam Museum Enterprises has a new partner - the Cambridge University Museum of Zoology, which reopened in a spectacular new building last spring, and is celebrating with a new collection of blank everyday cards featuring ‘strangely beautiful, and beautifully strange’ animals, birds and insects. The collection aims to feature little known or seen species to illustrate the startling diversity of life on earth.

Touring Down Under The last few years have been a bit of a whirlwind for wildlife artist Andy Broderick! A little over five years ago, at an exhibition opening, he met Joe Cole, director of art card publisher Natural Partners Limited. Now with UK sales going well, Andy's cards have now started to prove very popular in Australia and he has just returned from a dream trip 'Down Under' after he was invited over there by Natural Partners' distributor, Eastend Stationery to undertake a series of events in Brisbane, Canberra,

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OVERVIEW

Above: One of Andy’s watercolours on a card from Natural Partners Limited.

Sydney and Melbourne promoting his art and his music (he's also a talented folk singer/songwriter).

"The events were a success with the audiences enthusiastically engaged. They seemed to enjoy hearing the story of my development as an artist and what has influenced me in my life and work. I must say I loved every minute. It's a wonderful country."

Andy now has 40 designs within the Natural Partners’ collection, with more due to be added in time for Home & Gift in Harrogate.

Major UK Art Exhibitions 2016 ● Francis Bacon: Invisible Rooms, Tate Liverpool (Now

until 18 September 2016) ● Bridget Riley | Paintings, 1963-2015, Scottish National

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Gallery of Modern Art (15th April 2016 − 16th April 2017) Editions and Objects: Yorkshire Sculpture Park presents St. Judes, Yorkshire Sculpture Park Centre (25 June 16 - 30 October 16) David Hockney RA: 82 Portraits and 1 Still-Life, The Royal Academy Of Arts (2 July - 2 October 2016) Georgia O’Keeffe, Tate Modern (6 July - 30 October 2016) Adela Breton: Ancient Mexico In Colour, Bristol Museum & Art Gallery (6 August 2016 - 14 May 2017) Paul Nash, Tate Britain (26 October 2016 - 5 March 2017)

Above: Angela Harding, an established painter and printmaker whose work published on cards by Art Angels cards, has an upcoming exhibition called ‘Angela Harding: Flights of Memory’ at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park (19.11.16 - 26.02.17).

Competition Wrapped Up For Wraptious Winning against hundreds of entries, artist Liz Chaderton has won the very latest competition (run twice a year) by art cards publisher Wraptious, who looks for new artists by inviting them to share three pieces of work on its website, where all entries are voted on via social media by the public.

Says Wraptious’ founder Simon Wadsworth: “We genuinely don't get to choose the winners, so being able to share competition winner Liz's work is therefore a really exciting thing! And we can't wait to share all her designs at Harrogate Home & Gift as we are extending Liz’s range of stunning watercolours.”

Left: The latest Wraptious competition winner, artist Liz Chaderton.

Puffin' Up A Cliff For A Puffin Pic Last month, Leonard Smith visited a tiny island off the very tip of North West Scotland on a photo assignment. Handa Island is home to one of the few nesting populations of the oh so cute seabird, the puffin, and that is what Leonard was seeking. They are so adorable with their expressive faces and their beautiful orange beaks and he hoped they would look great on one of his next cards.

Leonard has recently added a magnificent telephoto zoom lens to his camera bag and he thought this would be just what was needed to get the perfect puffin picture.

After the short boat crossing under clear blue skies, Len walked the 4km carrying his heavy gear to a vantage point overlooking a magnificent, towering 100m high rock stack, home to thousands of nesting sea birds, including puffins.

Gingerly perching as near the cliff edge as he dare he settled down to try and capture images of the puffins, using his heavyweight lens to capture close ups.

After an hour or two he got chatting to a passing friendly fellow bird watcher called Pam from Sevenoaks. She started telling him what amazing pictures he must have been getting of that puffin which was just sitting there. Completely unaware of it, Leonard's spot was just above a small ledge just down the cliff edge from him. She showed him her pictures of the puffin taken with her snapshot camera and offered to send it to him along with her commiserations.

Leonard is determined to continue but won't give up photographing landscapes.

Above: Leonard Smith on Scotland’s Handa Island, one of the few nesting homes of the puffin.

Right: Eventually caught on camera, Leonard’s puffin picture.

Airborne Abstract While launching its six brands as a whole under the holding name ART WORKS at the recent PG Live show, the company also ran a competition where visitors were invited to guess how many balloons had gone into creating the MOND ‘painting’ and arch it had on its stand.

Retailers Denise and Alan Laird, of Spirito in Glasgow, were only eight balloons away from the total of 1,168, and Angela Stead of Mary Sumner Gift shop was only a further four away, so both received the same ‘equal first’ prize of over £150 of MOND merchandise."

Left: ART WORKS is pushing its lead brand MOND (inspired by the artist Piet Mondrian) hard this year across multiple disciplines and will be actively seeking partners and licensees.

Creature Creations Needle felting and felt-making kits have taken the woolly craft world by storm in the last couple of years, and many of the beautiful and cute creations have recently been seen on greeting cards.

One of those who have honed their skills at felt-making then captures them on her cards is Ruth Packham, who nine years ago took part Above: Needle felting kits designed and made in Wales in a felt-making workshop and was hooked. by artist, Ruth Packham… and one of the finished felt “I make a whole range of animals often for creatures on her greeting cards. commissions but my favourite creatures to make are birds, both real and imaginary.

Needle felting, the technique I use to create my creatures, involves repeatedly stabbing wool fibre (by this I mean wool as it has come off the sheep then washed and carded/combed) with a special barbed needle. As the wool is worked it binds together, becomes firm and can be sculpted. It takes many hours to make some of the pieces. I only use British wool fibre in my work and it is an immensely versatile material. I never tire of working with it. I get great joy just realising some of its potential.”

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OVERVIEW

Good Enough To Eat

Bamboo Brushstrokes Inspired by a childhood of climbing trees and paddling in streams in rural Herefordshire, Kate Moby is a UK designer who is passionate about celebrating the natural world and all its’ incredible variety. She even uses a natural ‘brush’ to illustrate her artwork.

She takes bamboo that grows in her garden, which she hand carves into dip pens.

“Using coloured inks I layer up my images, trying to add as much character and life as I go. Using bamboo is a nice circle of sustainability and celebrating nature, not to mention just a little extra quirky talking point!” says Kate.

New card designs coming soon include a hedgehog, squirrel, mallard, horse and sheep.

Above: Apart from using the natural resource of bamboo, Kate Moby’s cards are printed with eco friendly inks onto sustainably sourced paper and printed locally (www.katemoby.com).

Colourful Minds ‘Drawing’ on the benefits of unleashing creativity and as a form of relaxation, colouring-in books were the biggest publishing trend last year and their popularity continues with titles selling in their millions across the globe.

Recently, innovative card publisher Cardooo and illustrator Tasha Goddard have been busy designing a range of six colouring in cards, each containing eight pages of beautiful illustrations - a lovely surprise for Above: With eight pages to colour-in, the recipient.

Cardoo’s cards illustrated by Tasha Goddard are perfect for relaxing.

“Colouring is a brilliant form of therapy for me and I hope that people who receive these cards get a lot out of it too”, says Tasha.

The range was released on July 1st and a selection has already been snapped up by WHSmiths.

Soul Soothing Among the eight new calendar titles for 2017 from card and calendar publisher Green Pebble is ‘Get Colouring’, a mindfulness calendar with a difference - all the images started as original Above: Green Pebble’s ‘Get works of art, are part of the company’s greeting Colouring’ calendar. card range and allow creative souls to colour in ‘real art’.

Tasty and tantalising, Annie Veale’s vibrant photographic card range, iQ series by Annie, features delicious mouthwatering feel-good food. The dishes she creates have a bias towards healthy, fresh ingredients, nutritionally crafted with a focus on those Above: Delicious and nutritious cuisine social occasions we look feature on the iQ series by Annie card range. forward to - lunch, brunch, coffee, afternoon tea or a dinner party.

Annie curates each image, photographing the all natural ingredients with a complex process of lighting to compose a photograph to tempt the taste buds.

Exploring the sensory intensity of taste and creativity of cooking, Annie explains: “In the culinary world many can prove their food to be a work of art, the colours, textures and settings, from the quirky and mildly amusing to the serious masterpiece.

The beauty of food is that the sensory level is exploited from all levels - the taste of an exciting meal giving you subtle and constant surprise and delight, the nutritional aspect providing that satisfied and comfortable feeling, providing you with the energy to go on or the fuel needed to repair weary muscles after a rigorous training session or strenuous deadline.

You are also mercy to your memories, one bite might take you to a stream in Oxfordshire, the very best fresh French market or an exotic part of the world, it may take you to a kitchen garden or possibly your favourite restaurant.”

400 Year-Old Cottage Inspires Dorset Artist When artist Duncan Harris moved to Devon/Dorset borders he found plenty of local inspiration outside his studio.

Neighbour Carol Halden said she was ‘absolutely delighted’ when Duncan approached her to paint her 400 year-old cottage earlier this year. Grade II listed Honeysuckle Cottage sits on the East Devon Way, an area of Outstanding Natural Beauty near Lyme Regis.

Forty of Duncan’s images are now available as greeting cards published by Rose Madder London in the Landscapes range.

Right: Grade II listed Honeysuckle Cottage near Lyme Regis painted by artist Duncan Harris and published on cards by Rose Madder.

BBC Show Robert Fuller’s Weasel Watch Robert E Fuller, the wildlife artist behind art card publisher The Robert Fuller Gallery, was featured on BBC One’s primetime nature show Springwatch this year after collecting rare footage of weasels for his latest painting.

The popular TV show that aired daily from May 30 to June 16, told the story of how artist Robert spent a year monitoring a family of weasels in his Yorkshire garden before picking up his paintbrush to compose a new picture.

Robert E Fuller used surveillance cameras hidden in his garden shrubbery and built a nest box with a camera hidden inside so that he could watch the weasels as they went about their business; both above and under ground. The video he collated is believed to be the only data offering insight into the behaviour of weasels of its kind. Weasels are so small and elusive that until now researchers have been unable to get up close.

“They are one of the UK’s shiest animals,” explained the artist. “So when I saw one in my garden last year, I seized the opportunity to watch it closely.”

Robert Fuller’s painting of one of the weasels he watched so carefully is newly released by The Robert Fuller Gallery as a greeting card design. It features the weasel appearing out of a doorway in a drystone wall.

Above: Robert Fuller collected rare footage of a family of weasels in his garden that was televised on Springwatch.

Right: Roberts finished painting from his weasel studies.

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ART CARDS NEW LAUNCHES

Bold Strokes PG ‘curates’ a picture gallery of new art card range releases. ● Anna Wright has launched a new

range of six occasions cards with her beautiful illustrations. A subtle sense of humour runs through Anna's designs and the beauty lies not only in the unique drawings but that message on some of the card can be interpreted for multiple sending occasions. Each card comes with a luxury grey envelope printed with a gold bird and individually cellowrapped. ● The Great British Card Company is pleased to present four new designs from its perennially popular artist Trevor Waugh.

Trevor not only paints prolifically, but also teaches and is the author of a number of best selling-books on the subject. He exhibits across the world and is recognised as one of the finest artists of his generation. ● The wonderful feedback for the Flora &

Fauna range by Liza Saunders has been so resoundingly enthusiastic that ArtPress is thrilled to have the opportunity to add more images to the range. The new designs continue the theme of wild animals set in colourful foliage to create almost tessellated contemporary patterns. The range extension consists of eight new card designs (150mm x 150mm) individually cello wrapped with an accompanying china white envelope.

● The new additions to Catherine

Kleeli Cards’ portfolio remain true to its focus on animals, be they wild, domesticated or farm breeds. The latest tranche of additions include a mouse, cockerel, puffin, pug and Fell pony. The handmade origin of stitched collage, which ultimately becomes the greeting card, means that the range is ‘more tortoise than hare’, if you’ll pardon the animal analogy, in the speed of the extension of this range as each collage is painstakingly constructed to Catherine’s high creative standards. ● Dry Red Press will be launching

an exciting and exclusive new range by popular artist Tom Homewood whose striking oil paintings reproduce beautifully as greeting cards. The range consists of 15 very different images, from funny old men to beautiful landscapes and lovely dogs. All the cards are 150mm square, blank inside and individually wrapped with envelopes to complement each design. ● One of Ezen Design’s most popular

Japanese ranges is celebrating spring with stunning cherry blossom images. Several new additions have been added to this elegant art range. The quality of the production and material, combined with the write-ups on the reverse of each card explaining the auspicious symbolisms of the images, have added to the continual growth and popularity of this art card range. ● The Fitzwilliam Museum was

● Black Olive is delighted to

present Mimie, an elegant range of sophisticated art cards. The new collection depicts chic, feminine subject matter ranging from delicious truffle torte to sweet scented camellias. A pretty, subtle colour palette with bold black accents create a classical range with a contemporary twist. There are 11 blank designs, 150mm square, printed on non-coated, textured board.

Each card is individually wrapped with a crisp, grey envelope.

delighted to receive a bequest last year from the family of celebrated satirist (and renowned cat-lover) Ronald Searle to create a 20-strong product collection using a number of Searle’s ink and wash sketches of political and wry social commentary, two personal Christmas card designs and typically stupefied and overweight cats. The card range features 12 of Searle’s cartoons, packs of 10 notelet designs in wallets, Christmas cards and extra large magnets in presentation packaging.

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ART CARDS NEW LAUNCHES

● Eco-friendly card publisher

Glebe Cottage has added a host of beautiful summer images to its Beauty of Flowers collection. The range depicts British flowers and every card has a piece of text on the back revealing interesting facts about the subject on the front and is printed on a high quality 100% recycled board. Additionally, quirky Yorkshire artist, Nikky Corker has been hard a work creating brand new artwork depicting British country life, available as cards from Glebe. ● James Green, a heat winner in the Sky

Arts’ Landscape Artist Of The Year 2015 TV series, joined Green Pebble this year with a range of greeting cards based on his passion - linocuts. With a special emphasis on nature, James likes to use warm, rich colours to convey a sense of character (and often fun) in his animals.

The range currently has five images, with more due later this year. ● Hallmark’s unique and eye-

catching Gallery collection of square cards showcases the inspirational world of art, photography and illustration. This Hallmark signature range is expanding with 50 new designs.

Beautifully simple, these cards are perfect for all occasions and those ever special, ‘just because’ sends. ● Landmarks is the stunning new

colourful collection of quality greeting cards from Brighton based publisher I Drew This. Founder Ilona Drew has been working hard on expanding the collection after the huge success of the cards and giclee prints of local landmarks, including the Brighton Pavilion, Bandstand, Palace Pier and West Pier, and the range now includes six London buildings and a number of others from around the UK and the list is growing fast. ● Images of intricate papercut

pictures produced by hand by North Yorkshire artist Clare Lindley have been turned into a beautiful new range of greeting cards by Natural Partners. There are currently 15 designs in the range, although plans are already in place to add to this very soon. The cards are mostly 177mm x 127mm, in a mix of landscape and portrait formats, and are individually cellowrapped with a white envelope.

● Flowers, Sprays and Posies is the

brand new range from specialist art card publisher Netherton’s, featuring some of our most favourite flowers, such as forgetme-nots and sweet peas. Artist Shirley Netherton’s floral designs are surrounded by a border reminiscent of the Victorian era. This new range of 15cm square cards come individually wrapped with white envelopes. ● Nigel Quiney Publications is proud

to announce the launch of its brand new art range Spirit of Nature, anyone who loves animals will enjoy this fine art range focusing on birds and animals in the British countryside.

Spirit of Nature is a collection of 12 contemporary artworks inspired by the natural world.

● OriginaliArt Cards is introducing three lovely new designs to its watercolour collection ‘One, three, five found feathers’. Painted delicately in subtle neutral tones by Ali Finch, each card is printed on white textured paper, with a brown kraft envelope and cellowrapped.

The cards are 150mm square. Further designs are to follow. ● New Roger la Borde artist, Antoana

Oreski’s whimsical woodsy images are inspired by childhood memories of time spent exploring the forests and mountains on Croatia’s Istrian Peninsula.

Using a patterning technique, reminiscent of old woodcuts, she creates a magical world of winter glades and dreamy woodland folk. There are eight Frosty Forest festive cards, lasercut and notecards in Roger la Borde’s Christmas range for 2016. ● Launching this month is Wrendale’s new range A Dog’s Life,

featuring 50 of Britain’s favourite dog breeds brought to life in watercolour. There are 50 cards in the range, which will measure 150mm x 150mm, and supplied wrapped with a recycled kraft envelope. Following from this launch, in autumn Wrendale will be introducing a new gift book using the same dog designs also called A Dog’s Life, written and illustrated by Hannah Dale, published by Pavillion Books Group for the National Trust.

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ART CARDS NEW LAUNCHES

● Susan Entwistle continues with her range of contemporary pointillist style art cards inspired by beautiful landscapes and gardens. New designs include The White Garden, inspired by the gardens at Blickling Hall in Norfolk, Silver Spring Alliums and Binky in the Pickery - Easton Walled Gardens, featuring a dachshund in this garden near Grantham known for its sweet pea festival. ● The Art Group has a trio of new art

card collections: Brighton based artist Emma Brownjohn whose inspiration flows from all sources be it ‘a line in a poem, or a fluorescent jacket glimpsed amid the grey of the city’; Nancy Nicholson is a professional artist and designer in textiles and paper, drawing on East European as well as mid 20th century influences; and the London Transport Museum range of stunning vintage posters (featured). ● The DM Collection has added bugs and butterflies to its extensive range. Using flowers and grasses to compose these new additions to the collection, award-winning artist Daniel Mackie continues to come up with the goods! The cards are 5” x 7”, printed on premium board and come with cream envelopes. ● Tomcat Cards feels very fortunate to have illustrator Alexandra MacVean working with them, introducing them to a whole new world of whimsical delight!

Venturing into the unknown with children's cards, Tomcat’s new range of 24 designs is made up of super 7" x 5" cards and spectacular 6" square cards. Among the range called Best of Friends there's some very cute boys and girls, lots of bears… plus a cat and a dog in a camper van!

● Two Scoops’ new range The Two of Us was created after customers requested images with couples in, but keeping them within a cheeky theme. The 150mm square cards are all designed by iPad artist Andrew Chambers using his iPad as a canvas and his finger for his brush. ● Wraptious is launching a brand new stunning range of occasions

cards by competition winner Laura Clamp. Laura, who only recently graduated with a Creative Futures masters degree, extracts colours

and textures from magazines. In doing so, she creates collages that depict some of Britain's best loved birds in a way that portrays personality and character. ● Tony Fernandes is releasing 24 new

birds from captivity to add to his best selling wildlife ranges. These beautiful images capture his lighthearted approach to all things birdy. The new cards feature exotic owls and parrots of the world. At 84p each (£5 for a pack of 6) they promise not to take a big ‘peck’ out of your profits. ● Ling Design’s Slice of Life range has found

a place in the hearts of its customers and continues to be a strong seller in the male card market.

The slightly quirky designs are perfect for grandsons to uncles. The 12 new designs launched earlier this year are all painted by Ling’s in-house artist Darren Dearden, who has given the designs a fresh look. All the cards are 159mm square and individually cellowrapped at II price code. ● Supadupa’s brand new Jungle

range is here! With 38 quirky designs the new range has something for all occasions. The card size is 145mm square, printed on a 300gsm matt sustainable white board and each card has a brightly contrasting coloured envelope, individually barcoded and cellowrapped ready for the retail jungle. ● Cardtastic has worked with

Bristol artist Victoria Wardingley to launch 12 new designs that can't fail to bring a smile to your face.

Published in Cardtastic's familiar small square format, the range features nostalgic and folk-inspired blooms and birds that typify Vicky's beautiful work. ● Blue Island Press has launched a range by

the internationally acclaimed award winning author and illustrator, Wolf Erlbruch. The running themes of friendship, loyalty and companionship make these the perfect cards for any loving occasion. There are 18 designs in the set, each card is supplied with a heritage green envelope and individually cellowrapped.

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ART CARD GENRES

Mixed Media From woodcut to watercolours, photography to painterly, there are multifarious mediums and techniques in the visual arts, which in turn has established a ‘gallery’ of beautiful art cards.

PG ‘paints a picture’ of some of the different creative art genres seen on publishers’ cards.

Printmaking Gail Kelly, owner/designer for Algan Arts:

Above: The beautiful Victorian press that Gail uses to print onto Irish linen.

Below: One of Algan Arts’ linocut cards with the textural quality of the linen.

Collage Amanda White, owner/designer for Amanda White Design: “A picture always starts for me with some doodles, quotations and rough sketches (black biro!) in my notebook (the school exercise kind!). I work them up and then cut out some rough shapes in Above: Amanda creating her collage artwork. white paper and place them on my board. Once it comes together like that I sort through my pile of old magazines and drawers of cuttings. What I happen upon tends to dictate the way the image goes. I often end up with something and some colours quite unlike my original idea.

Books are my inspiration - literature, biography, history combined with a love of all things English: architecture, art, old houses, museums... I'm an awful geek who gleefully spends too much time browsing in libraries and hopping about on Google. I try to convey a sense of time and place in a theatrical sort of way (I trained as a theatre designer).

I just love the process of cutting paper and the challenge of fitting everything together… and recycling paper that would otherwise end up in the rubbish bin. I think cut paper collage details reproduce beautifully into print - and the positive feedback I get from people who buy my cards tends to confirm that suspicion!”

“I work in a variety of printmaking techniques so my cards are made from my original linocuts, lithographs and etchings.

The majority of my cards are from my linocuts printed on locally sourced Irish linen using my Victorian cast iron press in my studio.

I live in the countryside in County Down, Northern Ireland, and my inspiration comes from my surroundings here.

The landscape is beautiful of course and I also have a big, half wild garden, a veg patch, rose beds and I keep hens. My imagery is all based on native trees, gardens and the countryside along with local folklore and traditions.

I enjoy the directness of linocutting. I don’t keep sketchbooks. All my ideas are in my head, and after mulling them over for ages I draw directly onto the lino and begin to carve out the image. This can take a while depending on the size and intricacy of the image. Then I proof it several times on paper, checking the Above: Magical and details until I am happy with the final whimsical, ‘Mine Own Countree design. Then I print on my Irish linen. I (Coleridge Cottage)’ sell these ‘linen prints’ framed and ready-to-frame. The cards from Amanda White Design. are made from the actual linen prints so they capture the classic combination of the natural linen and the black ink.”

Fine Pen And Watercolours Rose Jocham, owner/designer for Rose Jocham:

Right: Rose Jocham uses a fine pen and watercolour to create her delicate artwork and then publish it on cards.

“The process is once I have the concept I sketch out the illustrations in pencil, followed by fine line pen to get as much detail as possible. I then think about the perfect colour palette and start mark making with my watercolours to finalise the colours so I can begin the paintings. I then scan all my illustrations in and begin to edit and piece together the elements.

I always like each of my creations to have a strong story behind it as I feel it gives each design or series of designs a purpose and I think it adds more personality to them. My inspirations almost always come from places and the people around me. I especially love to draw cities, houseplants and flowers, with colour being one of the most important aspects of the design.

Watercolours and fine line pen have always been my first choice of media. I love the detail fine line pen gives, which contrasts with the soft effect of the watercolours. These medias allow me to create both very details prints as well as loose designs such as my watercolour florals.”

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OUR STUNNING RHS RANGE CAlENdARS & dIARIES 2017

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ART CARD GENRES

Above and below: Keyhole Collections’ letterpress cards give these historic illustrations a new lease of life. The cards also have a weblink so you can read a bit more about the the image.

Letterpress

Fabric And Paper Patchworking

Rhian Nicholas, director for Keyhole Collections:

Designer, Steph Dekker, whose work appears on Portfolio’s Tula Moon range:

“Keyhole Collection cards bring art and history together in hand-crafted letterpress greeting cards which are bold and beautiful, thoughtprovoking and tactile. Every card gives a new lease of life to images that have been tucked away in archives, museums, libraries and special collections. They show images that may be of small or great importance. Images that give a glimpse of the past with a quirky, contemporary edge.

Our designs don't merely bring you engaging, thoughtful and intriguing greeting cards for any occasion. Each image has a story to tell. Who drew it? Who collected it and why? The cards contain weblinks that take you to a page containing a little bit of history about the original image and also to the archive, museum, library or stately home it comes from.

All of the images are found in places you can visit in person so you can find out even more about their history and other gems in the same collection.

Letterpress is one of the most creative forms of printing. Individual, distinct and physical, every item produced feels unique.

For 400 years this printing method was the easiest way to share what was important to people. Now letterpress is making a comeback. A new generation is recognising that there is something hugely satisfying in the process and creativity of letterpress printing - and the feel and look of the finished article. It is the perfect medium for the Keyhole Collection, breathing new life into age-old techniques and historic images.”

Photography Bev Cunningham, creative director for Abacus Cards, ‘focuses’ on the publisher’s new Countryfile photographic range:

“The patchworking process starts as an initial ink drawing which I scan and enlarge. I then trace the areas I want to fill and cut out corresponding small pieces of patterned fabric or paper and stick them onto my layout. Sometimes I will scan my fabric or paper pieces to alter the scale of the design or the colour. Quite often I will alter the background of the patterned pieces too, to create a more detailed pattern or to suit the colour scheme. Once the main body of the design is laid out I will then clean up the image and add the extra details, digitally. This stage will also include adding final textile embellishments such as applique, buttons, stitching, etc.”

Jayne Diggory, managing director of Portfolio: “We came across Steph Decker through our North-West agent Jill. Steph’s passion for the architecture of her hometown led to the creation of a successful series of Patchwork Liverpool prints. The initial Steph Dekker uses scanned designs we saw were Patchwork Top: fabrics and paper to create a stunning print and card designs featuring and intricate patchwork effect.

Above: One of Portfolio’s Tula Moon the iconic cities of the UK, designs with beautiful foiling that originally was created by Steph.

Europe and worldwide. Her beautifully colourful, highly detailed images come from a love of colour and pattern, vintage fabrics, patchwork quilts and crafts from the 50s, 60s and 70s.

When I saw the images the rich colours and intricate patterns inspired me and reminded me of the colours in Gustav Klimt, which is where I got the idea to add layers of gold and silver foil to the range.

As the city images were too specific to an area we concentrated on Steph’s quirky cute images of animals and birds. Not only is the range beautiful but it appeals to all ages, sexes and genres.”

“We already had the licence for the BBC Springwatch range, which we had launched in August last year to a great reception, so when licensing agent Brands with Influence mentioned they were representing the Countryfile brand we thought it was an opportunity not to be missed.

The programme is hugely popular, with viewing figures of over six million a week, and it is on air 52 weeks a year. It is also a trusted brand and one we felt would fit extremely well with our customer profile.

Through Abacus’ other photographic ranges we have experience of the type of images that are popular on cards, so in conjunction with the programme makers we selected material that the Right and below: Abacus’ Countryfile range features stunning British programme had not only covered but that would be commercial. We wanted a countryside imagery and has the BBC collection of photographic images that also reflected the diversity of the subject matter covered by the programme programme’s logo on the cellowrap. and so made sure we had a good mix of UK landscapes, domestic and farm animals and general farming or countryside scenes. And the Countryfile team has been brilliant in providing really interesting copy about each image, which we have printed on the reverse of each card.

What is the appeal of photography when capturing the British rural landscape? Well, I think even the urbanites among us can’t help but respond positively when we see a rural image. The images often offer comfort, escapism and security in an otherwise changing world - and photography does this with honesty as it captures what is there without putting an artist’s interpretation on what is seen or imagined.

Photographic imagery of the British countryside often leaves you with a feeling of being in awe of the beauty of nature and, as a Brit, proud of what this country has to offer. I think these images work well on cards as they appeal to city and town dwellers who dream of being in the countryside and to those that already live and work in rural areas.”

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RETAILERS’ REVELATIONS

Artistic

Impressions ‘Curating’ their own gallery of art cards within their store, a forum of greeting card retailers reveal their customers’ current favourite art ranges, the popular genres and what they look for in an art card.

Focus On Art Cards gathers their artistic impressions.

Graham Fraser, owner of Alba Artshop, Oban, Scotland: “Alba’s a funny shop. We are an art supplies and framing shop as well as being a Retas winner for selling cards, but the cards we sell are often different to customer tastes in framed art and framing!

‘Hot’ just now is Catherine Kleeli, whose distinctive animal art with Highland cows and stag images are head and shoulders above all else. The reason is, of course, Oban is a heartland of stag and Highland cow country!

Our latest find, from Moray, in Scotland, is I like birds, it’s proved wildly successful.

Another popular animal artist is Georgina McMaster, distributed by Edinburgh Arts, a company that has a portfolio of Scotland’s foremost artists in card and print form, with a great strength in animals and our local Scottish landscape. Next is Shona Currie’s Tartan 2CV collection, which produce steadfast sales for us from her stable of Scottish artists, and we pick up all the local subject matter.

The star of our offering is however Dr John Lowrie Morrison OBE - aka Jolomo. He is nationally renowned for painting our landscape, and has a fan base like a pop star! He captures the atmosphere of his locations and is Above left: An adorable Highland Terrier constantly in the news. One splash from Catherine Kleeli. of publicity caused us to sell 150 Jolomo Above: A Doricmor design depicting the gorgeous Glencoe area of Scotland. calendars at £28.99 each in a day!

A new take on Scottish art going down well with customers, especially tourists, is poster art from Doricmor and Star Editions depicting tourist activities and locations like old railway posters from the 50s era. The range covers the UK so there is something for every retailer.

Finally, we have Ron Lawson, our ‘grey’ painter. His appeal is his modern, contemporary grey palette contrasted with his nostalgic subject matter.

The reasons why people buy art cards are multiple. Some want a Scottish souvenir, some want to frame them, some want to make the recipient yearn for our area!

On the ‘arty’ side, our customers definitely have a preference for linocuts and printmaking, probably because it can look so contemporary and that is an area which is definitely on the up and up!”

Julie Whitfield, owner of Occasions, Thirsk:

Below: Crakel’s Coaster Cards are a lovely gift and card in one.

“As our store is situated in a semi-rural location, with The Dales and Yorkshire Moors on our doorstep, we find the animals and countryside genres of art card sells well both to locals and visitors to the area.

Both under The Great British Card Company umbrella, The Almanac Gallery has some delightful animal designs in its Animal Magic range and Medici Cards has some lovely photographic country scenes in its English Heritage range.

We have also recognised that our customers respond to something different, and the new kid on the block who produce the perfect gift and card in one is Crakel. The company partner with illustrators and artists to produce something quite unique to our industry. Its Coaster Cards offer a printed coaster covering beautiful floral designs, animal images, as well as lovely sentiments.”

Nigel Hamilton-Evans, owner of Boroughbridge Post Office, Boroughbridge: “I am very particular when selecting a new card range for my shop. It has to stop me in my tracks for me to give it a second look. In my opinion if it stops me then maybe it will grab the attention of our customers. I look at the cards first, then the quality and then the price.

We get our main stock control from UK Greetings and then I deal with the ‘guest beers’ section. Some of my best art card sellers at the moment are from CardMix - the Just Josh and Kirstie Allsopp ranges - but all its ranges are really strong. Tracks and Blue Eyed Sun are popular as well but we cherrypick the right designs for us. Also Black Olive has a great range called Rocca, which really fills that difficult male gap in the art cards market.

Most surprisingly though is the huge increase in photographic cards. I get mine from a local photographer called Mark Denton who takes images from all over Yorkshire.”

Left: An unusual perspective on a card from the Rocca range from Black Olive.

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RETAILERS’ REVELATIONS

Sue Butcher, owner of Present Boutique, Edinburgh: “Here at Present we have a diverse customer base because we are right in the thick of it just off the Royal Mile and we need to cater for the locals and the tourists as well as the students… and the ranges of art cards we sell reflect this.

The locals and the students are always looking for something a wee bit different and so we try to source local artists and designers - we find that most of these artists are also happy to meet the demand from the tourist market by coming up with designs that reflect Edinburgh and Scotland, but not in the typical 'tartan and bagpipes' way! - they will also create special one off designs for events such as the Edinburgh Festival - each card gives information on the back about the artist, design etc. Some of our suppliers at the moment are: Heather More, Red Fox Design, Love Live Give Art and Freya Levy Designs.

An example of two of the larger publishers we work which are also very popular all-rounders are Sally Scaffardi and Sarah Kelleher who are always coming up with new and beautiful designs - we have an in-house picture framer who is kept busy framing our art cards which then gives the customer a unique momento of their Edinburgh trip.”

Above: Sarah Kelleher’s gorgeous INK range.

Left: Unique and lively Edinburgh scenes (among many others) are created by Heather More.

Mark Janson-Smith, partner of Postmark, Dulwich, Balham and Turnham Green: “In terms of traditional art cards ArtPress’ Royal Academy range is a strong line for us.

It's been popular for a few years now and the images, and brand, really click with our customers. The V&A inspired selection from Paper Rose always does well too, and the new National Gallery range from Portfolio has been popular.

For more contemporary art cards Rifle Paper is a real hit, despite the fact its cards are at a higher price point than most, and Esmie is definitely growing in popularity.

The beauty of art cards is that they can serve so many purposes. For some it's the recognition of the artist that will entice them to buy, where for others the scene depicted on the card may remind them of the person they're thinking of. And then there are a lot of customers who just want a generic card to send for whatever occasion arises.

At Postmark we definitely do better with contemporary art cards but we'll always have a good selection of traditional cards as well, as these tend to use more well-know artists. In terms of style, letterpress cards continues to be very popular and our customers have been really impressed with the Archivist Gallery range as it is so well-priced and beautifully made.”

Above: A beautiful textile design from Esmie.

Right: Archivists’ letterpress range is perfectly formed.

Pete Hall, owner of Halls of Llandaff, Llandaff: “My problem with art cards is that I 'overdose' on them and 'over stock' on them. In retailing you should buy what sells, NOT buy what you like. It's sort of commercial suicide if you stock your own taste, but I think 'sod it' I love art cards so I'll make a reputation for selling unique, unusual and different greeting cards, and so far since 1979 they've been doing well.

So what art cards do we stock? My Premiership division (football talk) is as follows: 1. Woodmansterne - Across the board they are top of the tree. Its mixture of modern themes, colours, quality, and diversity make them our 'backbone'.

2. Museums & Galleries They are a more traditional fine art card and their quality is right up there. The Classic and Mezzanine ranges are a joy.

3. ArtPress - the girls who run this company need a pat on the back. There's nothing staid and traditional about their ranges, they are bright, modern and contemporary and their floral ranges are fabulous.

Then there's the Championship division (more footballing connotations): 1. Dry Red Press - Not our best selling range but I have a big soft-spot for this company. The girls down in Brighton aren't scared to have a go with less mainstream artists and more unusual themes, and the colourful landscape cards are always popular.

2. The Rocco by Black Olive - A funky, modern male based range which stands out next to the more traditional cards.

3. The Robertson Collection - Back again after a few quiet years, new owner Ben has bought Top right: The Robertson Collection recently the company and launched launched a new raft of designs.

Above: A beautiful design from Museums & some new more traditional Galleries’ Classic collection. images along with the older designs that we associate with The Robertson Collection.

4. Milkwood - Fabulous value for money as we sell them under the £2 mark, and quality is not compromised. The seascape and coastal images are always popular.

Although photographic cards are very much art based, unfortunately my selection of photographic art cards has an area of their own and are more humour based from people like Icon, CardMix and Tracks.

I feel awful for not mentioning people like U Studio, Rachel Ellen, Paper Salad, Wendy Jones-Blackett and Caroline Gardner, but I see these products as more in the area of contemporary design products.

Greeting card fashions and themes can change over the years, from lasercuts and embossed to decoupage and raised script, but give me an original painting any day of the week, something that after it’s had its time on the mantlepiece could be framed and hung in the downstairs loo.

Every greeting card is a piece of art in its own way, but I see art cards market as more Vettriano than verse.”

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