Suddenly it is here - a new year, a new decade! This is our busiest and also our favourite time of year. It is when we launch our new collection and get ready for Top Drawer London Spring. If you are visiting the show, please come and say hello, see what's new and have a cheeky chocolate. Our stand number is ZB49. It will be our 10th time of exhibiting there - time flies when you're having fun!
Over the past 10 years this small business, which Laura started from her home while also raising two wonderful babies, has been growing steadily (much like the babies!). We have built up a wonderful and loyal customer base, mainly consisting of independent shops. The artists and art societies we work with are incredibly talented and supportive. We have a lovely team of sales agents and we are lucky enough to be working with an outstanding printer, One Digital, and the excellent LB Warehousing. And these days we also have our amazing blog readers and social media followers supporting us!
With our different backgrounds (none of us in business!) the two of us work really well together, not everyone gets to have a business partner who is also a really good friend. The fun never ends in our office - especially when Ted the office dog gets involved! We would like to take this opportunity to thank our customers, artists and agents and our suppliers and social media followers for helping us make our business what it is as we step into the 2020's.
So, what's new in 2020?! We have introduced two new ranges and we think you will enjoy them both...
Deborah Burrow paints beautiful landscapes using acrylic and mixed media. Our collaboration started thanks to social media and her cards are already selling well already just one week after the launch. Below she describes her work and inspiration.
I am particularly inspired by the peace and magic of wild landscapes and nature. My main influences are the seasonal changes, colour and textures of the landscape, and trees. To me they symbolise the connection between the earth and the divine as they are rooted to the ground and spread their branches up towards the heavens. When I paint I am immersed in that wild solitude in nature with a spiritual edge. But I am also acutely aware of the fragile co-existence of humans and the natural world. I am deeply concerned about environmental issues and support wildlife conservation, which in turn supports our very own existence.
It is my desire that each painting will evoke a positive emotion and calm energy for the viewer, so that they may also benefit from the peace, tranquillity and joy I experienced which inspired me to paint. For a moment at least, one can be still with the world.
You can visit Deborah's website for further information: deborahburrow.co.uk/
Melissa Scott-Miller NEAC RBA RP is a wonderful artist who we have met through our work with the art societies and the Mall Galleries. She won the Dry Red Press Award at the New English Art Club annual exhibition in 2018 for her wonderful oil painting Winter Backgardens, Islington. It was very popular and we are really pleased that Melissa was interested in introducing a card range with us this year. Her method of working is beautifully described below by the NEAC.
Melissa likes to work outside, whatever the time of year, and sometimes from windows, where she can paint larger views. Often favouring unusual viewpoints and with close ups of bricks and leaves in the foreground. She paints with very small brushes, five '0's, so that she can draw with the paint and fills in areas as if embroidering, putting great care and attention into each section and generally not going back to it. She favours old Holland oil paint and ready prepared linen canvasses which are light and easy to carry. She draws for several hours in charcoal first, fixing it before painting.She uses a Mabef field easel and puts it in a shopping trolley, carrying the wet painting through crowds of commuters on the tube, being careful not to get any paint on anyone!
To find out more about Melissa and her work, please visit scottmillerart.com/
We also have plenty of additions to our existing ranges. All our Art Society ranges have had new introductions this year. Established customer favourites such as Lisa Graa Jensen RI, Jill Leman PRWS RBA and Anne-Marie Butlin have had new cards introduced. So have some of our newer ranges like Jenni Murphy, Barbara Peirson and Richard Allen SWLA. We are sure there is plenty to love for everyone in this year's collection. We have a feeling that this decade will be great for Dry Red Press and we can't wait to see what it has in store for us!
Thank you for reading, and happy browsing!
Wishing you a very happy and successful year - and decade - ahead.
Laura and Kicki