‘Caviar’ PhotoMosaic mini painting

‘Caviar’  © Peter Gander 2013

A personal favourite amongst my mini-paintings for Fiona’s PhotoMosaics. Not just due to the piscatorial subject matter, but for the colourscheme of ochres and golden browns and their freely intermingling ways on the Bockingford paper (300gsm).

Conference pear

‘Conference pear’  © Peter Gander 2013

Before I ate this Conference pear I was taken by its textured skin and so took to painting it first! My piece of broken wax candle served to impart the texture via washes of watercolour over subsequent wax resist marks. Extra linear marks and white highlight were added with blue, sepia and white Conté sticks. Watercolour on The Langton 300gsm (rough) paper.

‘Alias Smith & Jones’ hand-lettered image for Photo Mosaic

Typical Photo Mosaic  © Fiona Howarth

‘Hand-lettering Western style’  © Peter Gander

The top pic is one of my wife Fiona’s ‘Photo Mosaics’. A tessellated square of many squares, they are given as gift to loved ones to celebrate birthdays and suchlike and are comprised of the tiniest detail to the big things in life. They are part photo, part scanned original art. Fiona does the photographic squares and I paint mini originals for the remaining ‘favourite TV programmes, brand of jeans/custard’, etc. Some come along that are really nice to do, such as the ‘Alias Smith & Jones’ panel, above. The original lettering was rendered in pencil and watercolour on paper as it the paint can have a lovely inconsistency when used in a ‘scrubbing’ fashion. This was later superimposed onto a scan of driftwood that I had, with transparency allowing the background through slightly. 

‘Thank You’ swallow gift tag art

Swallow Thank You’ tag  © Peter Gander 2013

Today I adapted the artwork of our ‘Swallow’ card www.notonthehighstreet.com/haveagander/product/hand-printed-swallow-card to customise it for a ‘Thank You’ gift tag & card. Original: The swallow image and new banner were hand-drawn in black ink with a brush and scratch (dip) pen.

Drawing the new banner with scratch pen  © Peter Gander 2013

© Peter Gander 2013

New pig on the block

Pencil sketch ('scamp') stage for Ham Client  © Peter Gander

This pretty porcine pencil drawing was sketched recently for a client who supplies no less than the Royal Family with the most handsome of hams and grandest of gammons. Those familiar with our piggy portfolio will recognise that the inspiration here was our pink ‘Pig Cuts’ tea towel. The final design will adorn aprons, tea towels and signage and, like every product with a Royal Warrant, one will be shown to Her Majesty for a Royal seal of approval, literally!

Hand-painted Easter eggs

‘Freckly Ed’  © Peter Gander 2013

A trio of hen eggs  © Peter Gander 2013

The banner on the reverse of the middle egg  © Peter Gander 2013

The ‘Clarence Court’ crown emblem

The egg sits on a steadying ring made of BluTac

Resting my hand on a higher-than-the-egg surface for a steady and comfortable position

The BluTac ring is slightly stick as well as malleable, so holds the egg firmly

What could be more fitting than a handcrafted egg as a gift for Easter? The pastel-blue egg on the outer edges are ‘Clarence Court’ Old Cotswold Legbar eggs. The centre one has been painted with black ink, left to dry then painted again in white gouache, with letters added in the white banner with black ink.

Cheeseboard detail shots

© Peter Gander 2013

© Peter Gander 2013

© Peter Gander 2013

© Peter Gander 2013

© Peter Gander 2013

Close-up shots of our 'Cheese, glorious cheese' cheeseboard.

‘Cheese Glorious Cheese’ cheeseboard

‘Cheese Glorious Cheese’ melamine cheeseboard  © Peter Gander 2013

Perfect for proffering a slab of ‘Stinking Bishop’, or a Kentish blue cheese, or whatever strikes your cheese-loving fancy. This is our new ‘Have a Gander’ cheeseboard, hand-drawn in Kent by yours truly and printed in Great Britain on melamine in classic British pub ‘chalk and blackboard’ style. Available soon on Etsy (International) and Folksy (UK) under ‘Have a Gander’ and for sale from the artist himself this week at Country Living’s Spring Fair at The Business Design Centre, Islington, London, UK Wednesday 20th March to Sunday 24th March 2013.

‘Goose’ brush and ink

‘Goose’ brush and ink  © Peter Gander 2013

Card mock-up  © Peter Gander 2013

This is the final number 10 in a series and what more fitting beast for our Have a Gander ‘Menagerie’ range of handprinted cards than a goose? Available on Folksy and Etsy soon. Original: Brush and ink.

‘Speckled trout’ brush & ink

Speckled trout  © Peter Gander 2013

Speckled trout mocked up on a card  © Peter Gander

Ahhh, fish and fishing. Now we’re talking. As if I could produce a ‘Menagerie’ range without my favourite fish. This one’s the penultimate in the range and he’s a speckled brown trout. Okay, he’s small and I’d have to put him back, but he’s a beauty. Available on Etsy & Folksy (under Have a Gander) soon as a handprinted card. Original: Brush and ink.

‘Skullbikery’ watercolour edition

‘Skullbikery’ watercolour original edition  © Peter Gander 2013

An update of a previous digital edition, this one’s been painted as an original as a gift to a cycling-crazy friend. Hope you liked it Dan ; - ) Winsor & Newton watercolour on The Langton 300gsm Grain Fin paper.

‘Owl’ brush and ink

Owl art  © Peter Gander 2013

Mocked-up card  © Peter Gander 2013

The latest in our long line of ‘Menagerie’ handprinted cards. This one’s an Owl, a British Tawny Owl, to be precise. Original: painted in brush and ink.

‘Lambretta’ scooter brush and ink

Lambretta scooter  © Peter Gander 2013

A recent commission for a scooter fan. Original: Brush and ink on Bockingford 300gsm Grain Fin watercolour paper.

‘Horse’ brush and ink

‘Horse’ handprinted card mock-up  © Peter Gander 2013

‘Brush and ink art for ‘Horse’  © Peter Gander 2013

Now British readers, no mentioning Tesco or Findus please - the latest ‘Menagerie’ brush and ink illustration for our handprinted cards is a horse. Welsh mountain pony-style. Piebald. Cue ‘pie’ jokes.... ; - ) Original: Brush and ink.

‘Hen’, brush & ink

‘Hen’  © Peter Gander 2013

‘Hen’ card mock-up  © Peter Gander 2013

I’ve been ‘hen’tertaining myself with more beasts for our hand-printed ‘Menagerie’ collection. This ‘hen’some bird is of the speckled variety, inspired by a favourite beer, no doubt. (Original: hand-painted by brush & ink).

Chalkboard visualising, Lloyd’s building

Peter and drawings in front of the 7m x 3m high wall

; )

Lloyd’s building detail from ‘Brand Union’s X-presso chalk wall (interior)

This week I was commissioned along with another chalkboard artist to support the launch of a new app aimed at bankers in the City of London. Agency Brand Union employed us to illustrate the story behind the app and its functions on 3 huge walls, the largest main wall being inside the building in the café plus two smaller ones outside flanking a pop-up coffee marquee. More pics to follow. Stephen’s Chalk (of Folkestone, Kent), on blackboard.

‘Food Glorious Food’ artwork for card & tea towel

Detail: Piled peaches and cream - about six feet high...

Detail: The classic British party combo!

Often mis-quoted as ‘Please, pudding...’ as opposed to ‘Pease pudding...’

The main banner in glorious two colour

Yum, fried, roasted or stewed steak anyone?

‘Food glorious food’ greetings card (A6 size)  © Peter Gander

Pencilling out the hand-drawn letters

The glorious banner

Pencilling more letters

Inking the curve of the banner - which is much easier upside-down, using the wrist as a pivot.

Adding the letter’s central highlights and detached drop shadows on a new layer

Working out the banner relationship with the wobbly jelly

Newly-inked steak and jelly with pencil draft underneath. What a combination!

This original card design is taken from artwork for a new www.haveagander.biz single-colour tea towel for 2013 and the latter is currently in production. But in the meantime, we produced a two-colour version as a greetings card (A6). Inspired by one of the Gander family’s favourite films, Oliver!, the foody theme was perfect for a tea towel’s natural home - in the kitchen. The work-in-progress pics show just how much work went into this new design, which took a good couple of days to execute. (The tea towel will be printed in the blue as one colour). As ever, it was all drawn or inked by hand, even the typeface is completely freehand, as I consider tracing existing fonts the death of the natural, handcrafted look. Food for thought? Fancy one yourself or for your foodie friend? Buy them at: https://www.etsy.com/listing/123033465/good-glorious-food-greetings-card

Work-in-progress ‘Hare’

‘Hare’  © Peter Gander 2013

Another work-in-progress shot, this time of 'Hare'. (The curved brown paper surrounding it is greaseproof which protects the detail paper from picking up grease marks from my hands, which would resist the water-based ink and cause patches). Will post the final card mock-up tomorrow. Ink & brush.