Armadillo Images, Art Experience and As Cunning As A Fox Paintings

Illustrated maps are a favourite of Simon's to work on.  Whenever possible he will visit the location to take his own reference photography and then the real fun begins.  Each building, sports ground and everything else on the specification is hand-drawn and then finished digitally to create something a bit like this map of Kintbury in West Berkshire, commission by Kintbury Parish Council.  It has all the charm of a hand-drawn map but perhaps the most important thing is that we can update it should anything need to be changed.  You can see more of Simon's maps here

Spring has officially sprung so we're getting As Cunning As A Fox ready for the craft fair season! Simon has been busily working on paintings at every opportunity; they are a labour of love.  He's always finding inspiration in the countryside around us and sketching new designs.  Only his absolute favourite designs get developed and progressed into paintings, all the layered components being cut first from board to create the heavy texture so distinctive of his style. We will be touring the South over the coming months with original paintings and an exciting range of products as well including new cushions designs and limited edition prints.

We have a dream for Armadillo Art Experience!  We have seen firsthand the value of taking time to stop and get involved in something creative.  Not only are we a household of painters and makers but we have worked with the community for some years now helping people enjoy creating something.  We're told the trendy word for this is mindfulness and we think there's a lot to be said for it. An art workshop is a bit of a luxury though and we are working really hard behind the scenes to make our sessions available to everyone; we want to see even more happy faces like these... Armadillo Art Experience is now a not-for-profit Community Interest Company and we are working with a number of funding bodies to provide some exciting and free-of-charge projects in the West Berkshire area, hopefully very soon. We can't wait to be able to tell everyone more about it so watch this space!  In the meantime we post regularly on our Facebook page