Another year has flown by and we have reached a huge milestone as we’re about to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Wrendale. It’s hard to believe that Wrendale is ten years old – I never imagined when I painted the first few greeting cards that ten years later we would be where we are now. There have been some major ups and downs and lots of excitement, and 2022 has been no different… here are a few of my favourite moments:
Our trip to Atlanta
I visited Atlanta in January with some of my colleagues to help set up a trade show and meet up with lots of our American stockists. This is always a really fun trip and it was so lovely to see so many of our lovely customers again. A highlight was presenting Dan and Robert from ‘It’s About Time’ in Cartersville, Georgia with a painting of their dog - Miss Pepper.
Introducing my favourite plush character – Camilla
We’ve launched an incredible 574 new products this year including all of the card and print designs and my absolute favourite is Camilla, the very glamorous giraffe. I love her long eyelashes and beautifully soft fur. Creating the Wrendale plush character collection has been one of the most difficult challenges we’ve embarked on – translating the character of a watercolour painting into such a different medium isn’t easy but I’m so proud of this collection.
Capturing a family of foxes and their cubs on camera
I take a huge amount of inspiration from the wildlife we see here on the farm and one of the loveliest experiences we had this year was watching a family of foxes with three cubs. We set up a trail camera just by their den and it was so amazing to see them playing together. Of course this resulted in a new design as well….
Welcoming Elvis to the Wrendale family
In early July we welcomed another member of the family, Elvis the toy poodle. He’s already made himself at home here on the farm and at Wrendale HQ where he has quickly discovered who has treats in their drawer, who gives the best cuddles and who to go to when he wants a walk!
Paying tribute to her majesty the Queen
We were all so saddened by the loss of Queen Elizabeth earlier this year. It was difficult to anticipate quite how deeply this loss was felt – she had been an enduring constant for the entirety of most people’s lives and had served with such selflessness and grace. I decided to paint a tribute in memory of The Queen that evening and finished it around midnight. I never intended to sell the print when I was painting it but we received such an overwhelming response that we made it available for sale and donated all of the profits to The Dogs Trust, a favourite charity of Her Majesty. We were all proud to raise over £15,000 for the charity.
We are all looking forward to the new year and the launch of some new and exciting products we have been busy working on. In the meantime, here is a sneak peek of a new design for 2023...
If you would like to take another look behind the scenes, learn all about the development of my favourite plush character Camilla here.