I remember my art teacher school, Mrs Asquith, gave me a short list of watercolour pans that I would need to start painting in watercolour. I was sent off to the local art shop in the basement of a Victorian building housing a very dusty and old fashioned bookshop. I asked for the paints from my list along with an enamel box to keep them in. What I received was more than twelve small squares wrapped in foil with a white band printed with delicate type, what I received was Naples Yellow, New Gamboge, Scarlet Lake, Rose Madder, French Ultramarine, Cerulean Blue, Hooker’s Green, Burnt Sienna, Venetian Red, Raw Umber, Payne’s Grey and Ivory Black. I remember the names today, These names inspired me to travel to Italy and France in search of these wonderful colours, to explore the world and most of all launch me on an artistic adventure that will probably last a life time.
Sometimes you work with a client once and never again, but with Firmdale Hotels we have developed a relationship over nearly 20 years when we created maps for their first boutique hotel in Covent Garden, London. As the hotel group has grown so the portfolio of work created has developed for these design-led hotels and restaurants. Kit Kemp’s interiors give the hotels a real sense of luxury and eclectic mix of design.
One of the UK’s most distinctive food brands, holder of a royal warrant and exported worldwide, is Wilkin and Sons. It is better known to many by its location in Tiptree, Essex. Tiptree is not just a jam company, it is a British Institution. But it is not just about the jam - , although I could live on its divine Little Scarlett, they also have a cake company, flavoured Gin, fruit crisps along side a series of Tearooms across Essex.
A while back I painted a picture of Chewton Glen A 5 star luxury country house hotel in the New Forest, England, the painting was intended as a postcard for guest use. It enjoyed further life when it was fashioned into hotel-shaped boxes for Chewton Glen’s complimentary chocolates. One guest liked the idea so much he tracked me down and commissioned a picture of his own wonderful country cottage. My watercolour hangs on his wall and his guests are welcomed with their own Chocolate Box Cottage.
An assortment of small items.
synonyms: odds and ends, oddments, stuff, paraphernalia, things, miscellanea, bric-a-brac, sundries, knick-knacks, souvenirs, keepsakes, mementoes, lumber, flotsam and jetsam; informal junk, odds and sods, gubbins, clobber rummage, truck, nick-knackery "there are a number of openings and storage areas for all sorts of bits and bobs"