Ok. Thomas Cook aside, the idea of being in business is to make a profit. Sadly Pen and Lens Artwork Ltd. cannot do that. The expense of running the business is out weighing the income, so we are no longer in business as Pen and Lens Artwork Ltd. We will be retired, and art will be our hobby.
Julie will still be taking photographs, and I will still be creating pictures. Pressure will be off, we won’t have to fund the business from our own pockets, and there will be no necessity to produce any more than we want.
Thank you to all our customers, your support and encouragement has been great, and your inspiration will drive our creative retirement.
Since my last post in January, there has been a lot going on – so much that I’ve forgotten to post!
Our son moved out leaving Julie and I free to re-assess our situation. So we did.
We moved house, from central southern Hampshire to north Devon. It has been a long process. We had to downsize considerably, and it took a while to get organised in the new property. You wouldn’t believe the amount of ‘stuff’ we got rid of! But we are in and settled and the house is now feeling like home – and of course it is the new HQ for Pen and Lens Artwork Ltd.
There have been a number of house caricatures commissioned and dispatch from within the chaos – the latest being “Di’s Place”, the most recent in the Portfolio. Others are included here.
Our new HQ in Devon
Early in May we went off to Rugby for the annual convention of The British Association of Decorative and Folk Arts (BADFA). From our new location, this proved to be quite a hike! But it was worth it as it was one of the best conventions ever – and all British event to celebrate its 25th anniversary.
Towards the end of May we released our third set of stamps, four more quirky houses, with a moving house/party theme to the supplementary ‘worker’ images. They are: Ye Shoppe, Gran’s House, Our House, and The Posh House. These are my coloured samples – people in the stamping and card making community do so much better.
The stamps are manufactured and marketed by Chocolate Baroque – renowned for their high quality stamps and life-time guarantee.
Ye Shoppe
Gran’s House
Our House
The Posh House
The idea for this set was that they could be set next to each other to form a street. Here we have – ‘Our House, in the middle …’ (cue Madness!)
The first set was released in October 2018 – a set of quirky buildings. Clockwise from top left: Head Office, Loft Conversion, English Country Garden, La Maison.
In January 2019, we released a second set, influenced by the seaside, close to where we lived at the time – my nautical set. Clockwise from top left: A dip in the sea, Jolly Roger, Looking out to see (sic), Harbour master.
Set 1
Set 2
Well, that’s it for now – I hope to post again soon – ish! Better get started on the next house …
Back in January my second set of stamps was released with a show on Hochanda TV, presented by Lesley from Chocolate Baroque.
This set has a maritime, or sea-side, theme influenced by where I live, on the south coast. The images start as a pen and ink line drawing, usually drawn with an old fashioned dip pen, occasionally a modern fine liner.
The stamps are made and marketed by Chocolate Baroque, an English company with a reputation for quality, and are experts in all things stamping. Lesley and I worked to gather on the layout of the stamps, with extra ‘worker’ stamps included. They were designed to be used across the whole set – as well as with other stamps. But I have been playing, mixing up some of those worker stamps – here are the results:
A dip in the sea
The first one is ‘A dip in the sea‘, a group of old fashioned bathing huts. In the same pack comes a bucket and spade, parasol, and deck chair. The cloud comes from ‘Looking out to see‘, the Lighthouse. I used my old set of Karismacolor pencils on this one. I believe Berol have discontinued these, but any good quality coloured pencils will work.
The other three were coloured with Koh-I-Noor water colours – available from Chocolate Baroque. These water colours are vibrant, economical to use and blend beautifully.
Harbour Master’s Office
With this one, ‘Harbour Master’s Office‘, styled on a real-life harbour office close to me, the life-ring is from ‘Jolly Roger‘, and the cloud from ‘Looking out to see‘.
Jolly Roger
‘Jolly Roger‘ is out of the water, may be for maintenance, or refurbishing, ready for the new boating season. It includes the anchor, bollard, and the life-ring. I added the sea gull, who comes from ‘Looking out to see‘.
Looking out to see
The last one is ‘Looking out to see‘ – the happy, skew-if lighthouse.
The clouds and seagull are in the same pack, the cafe sign, beach sign, and life-ring come from ‘The Harbour Master’s Office‘ and ‘Jolly Roger‘.
Thank you for visiting. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think.
With a month to go before those romantic wishes squeeze through letter boxes, or are furtively abandoned on desks, we are pleased to offer a range of cards to keep love on the boil.
Email info@penandlensartwork.com to place your order. Cards are 5″ x 5″ and are £3.25 each, plus 75p post/packing.
Another date for your diary! Thursday 3 January 2019 – 16:00 GMT (4pm)
My second set of quirky rubber stamps will be revealed on the Hochanda TV Craft Channel. Lesley, from Chocolate Baroque (manufacturers of quality rubber stamps!) will introduce the new range, and include some of her super demonstrations.
Sorry, there are no sneak previews, you’ll have to tune in on Thursday – but I will say it is not houses this time …
Watch us at 14:00 GMT, Saturday 22 December on UK TV – Hochanda Craft Channel – (Sky 673, Freeview 85, Freesat 817).
Lesley from Chocolate Baroque, the rubber stamp manufacture, will be showing stamps in her ‘Chocolate Baroque presents’ range. On Saturday they will include stamps from Illusionary Artists (Andy Skinner and France Papillon) and Kim Moody (me!).
Come back and visit again soon – as there will be information about another event, early in the new year …
Pen and Lens Artwork Ltd is the coming together of a team that has been working as one for many years. This web site is our temporary home until a custom site can be built.
The initial ideas for the team is the formalisation of the production of whimsical house designs. Julie, as ‘the Lens’, spots suitable buildings for the ‘Pen’ treatment and photographs them. Kim produces the pen and ink line drawings from the ensuing images.
Some of the designs are made in to rubber stamps for crafters. For this we use the renowned manufacturer, Chocolate Baroque, where the stamps are available under the heading ‘Kim Moody’.
Pen and Lens Artwork Ltd also are happy to receive commissions for such work. Examples can be seen on the Instagram page @penandlensartwork. Email for further information.
We are researching the production of various photographic products for use in colour therapy healing. Details of these will be released as they come to fruition.
Please contact Pen and Lens Artwork Ltd if you need any more information, and to commission a house caricature.
