Postles Lodge

A very happy anniversary of the births of Queen Elizabeth II who was born on this day 💯 years ago, and Charlotte Brontë who would have been over double at 210 (!!), and many happy returns of the day to our third party member, James McAvoy, dressed as his beloved character of Mr Tumnus, who turned 47 today! 🥳

And why did I decide to have them all having tea together, you might ask? Well, April 21st also happens to be National Tea Day in the UK! ☕️🫖🇬🇧 And as they are each well known figures of the British countries (plus if you include Narnia with Tumnus being an avid tea drinker), I thought it went hand in hand quite well.

This is, in fact, the new and improved ink sketch of the original one I drew five years ago. I felt it was strongly missing some cake, a vital part in Her Majesty’s tea ritual (especially for a birthday), and I also since learned more about the particular shape of the Queen’s sandwiches! See my first post on her to find out why! It’s most interesting. Clue: 🥪😳⚰️

But this is not yet the full surprise! There is still a special version coming soon, so stick around if you’re curious and have enjoyed this unique cultural gathering of birthday buddies over tea on tea day. 🖼️🎨🖌️🌈✨

One of Queen Elizabeth’s birthday buddies is Charlotte Brontë who was born 110 years before. She is most well known for her novel, Jane Eyre. Pictured here is a biography written by her contemporary and friend, Elizabeth Gaskell, another favourite author of mine (who else loves Wives and Daughters or North and South?), my most recent Jane Eyre edition (I have three) published by the Cranford Collection (seems like an unintended pun), as well as a little engraving of Charlotte, and my very own colour pencil portrait of Ruth Wilson as Jane Eyre (BBC 2006) which I drew at the age of 24 — the same age as Ruth when she portrayed her. Complete, of course, with a cup of tea and a piece of shortbread. 📖🖼️☕️✨

View from Culver Down shown here in the large print size in a most delightful room at the Wildt’sches Haus in Petersplatz, Basel — the city where I live. From Switzerland to England, I probably flew over this scene in my painting today as I am in the UK as we speak.

This place was built for the daughter of Jeremias Wildt-Socin who lived there with her husband who was a silk ribbon manufacturer, an artist, and an art collector.

Another fun fact, it is one of the locations I feature in my story of Earl and Ebbs (remember them?), the two Branchwood brothers who leave their father’s mill to pursue a career in art curation and establish a special gallery. You may recognise the front of this beautiful, blue building from the cover I made. I do need to get back to writing (and illustrating!!) more to this series. 💜✨

It was so fun to finally step inside on one of the open house days. I took many pictures inside to use later as illustration reference. And for now, as a little mock interior to display my prints!

Available now in three different sizes on my website! 🖼️🛒

Curious about my process? This is a little more in depth look into the making of these two Isle of Wight paintings. These kinds of work in progress scenes are some of my favourites to see from other artists I follow, so I thought I would share some from my end, too.

A mix between timelapses, layering, detail work, and pretty palette colours, here you get to witness the various steps that go into creating these small pieces. 🖌️🎨

The originals have been sold, but there are prints available in three different sizes on my website. 🖼️🛒