Artwork in our Home

A house is not a home without artwork

My wife Nic and I live in a small one bedroom colony in Edinburgh (if you’re not sure what a colony is, check out this Edinburgh Live article here). Despite the compact nature of our home – estate agents may describe it as ‘quaint’ – we’ve found plenty of space for artwork on our walls. From prints produced by fellow Edinburgh illustrators to original work from Italian and American artists, we have a bright an eclectic mix of artwork throughout the house all of which have meaning to us too. Of course, there are also a few Oldmangrey pieces here and there 😊 but I think I talk enough about my work, and in this blog, I wanted to shine a light on the other artists whose work I enjoy, and a couple of very special pieces in particular.

While cushions, lampshades and candles all dress a room, I think it’s the artwork on the walls that really complete a space and can tell a story about the people living there.

Freelance illustrator Graeme Clark aka Oldmangrey on a window seat, holding a white framed print. The print is 'Won't Play' by professional artist John Bond, with a small orange/red dog trying to convince a larger black dog to play with the ball.

‘Won’t Play ‘ - print - John Bond, 2016

John’s work is funny, like really funny. He is one of the few illustrators who I own a print of, but not any of his books. I have gifted them to other people in the past, but I’ll need to get around to it and set that right asap! ‘Won’t Play’ reminds me to not be so serious, something we can all learn from I think. I’m not saving lives, just doodling away in my own wee world. John’s treatment of character and the starkness in the eyes of his animals give me such a wry smile whenever I view them. If you don’t know of his work, I am immensely jealous of the discovery you are about to make 😊

The image shows an artwork print in a narrow black wooden frame. The print is of an abstract giraffe, created by interlinking geometric shapes in soft purple, blue and pink tones.

‘Shades of Light & Colour’ - print - Kirsty Baynham, 2011

Kirsty and I studied at Edinburgh College of Art at the same time, and I bought this piece for Nic at our final degree show in the summer of 2011. My wife (then girlfriend) Nic wouldn’t mind me saying that she’s an organised person who likes neatness and uniformity! And she also loves animals. So as soon as I saw Kirsty’s work, which uses the symmetry of geometrical shapes to create abstract animal illustrations, I knew Nic would love it.

The image shows two pieces of art on canvas sitting on a window seat. On the left in a white frame is a sea and sky scape in lots of blue and green tones with some rocks also visible. On the right is a very textured painting of a crooked red chilli.

‘Sea, Sky & Rocks’* and ‘Chilli’* - original oil on canvas - Sandra Rigali, 2019 (*original names unknown)

Sandra is an artist based in the beautiful town of Barga, in the Tuscan hills in Italy. My family and I have holidayed there for years, and our visits to Sandra’s incredible studio were always an inspiration to me – to see a successful artist making a living from their work and to see her skill and talent. My parents bought some of her pieces over the years, and in 2019 when I returned to Barga with Nic, we decided to pick up an original for our home too. Sandra has known my family for over a decade, and she had kept abreast of developments with my health. We purchased the picture of the ocean and as we paid for it, Sandra gifted me the chilli as it is said in Italy to bring victory, good luck, and protection. The colours and textures of Sandra’s work are bold and bright and make me think of Italy whenever I see them.

Bluetit by professional artist Jenni Douglas

An Edinburgh Day by professional artist Jenni Douglas.

‘Bluetit’ and ‘An Edinburgh Day’ - prints - Jenni Douglas, 2016

Jenni is a super talented printmaker, and I first came across her work at a Christmas market at the Fruitmarket Gallery in Edinburgh. Nic and I make a conscious effort to attend local fairs and markets to support other small business makers, and probably spent far more than we should at the Fruitmarket Christmas fair in 2016! These prints sit proudly in our living room, adding beautiful touches of colour; ‘An Edinburgh Day’ can be seen farthest right on the shelf of artwork above.

The image shows Graeme Clark aka Oldmangrey sitting on a window ledge holding a framed piece of art. The image is an oil painting of a Cairn Terrier on a soft pink background, and is in a black wooden frame with a white mount.

‘Pip the Dog’ - oil on canvas - Adriana De Matos, 2017

Adriana, originally from Portugal, creates beautiful fine art pieces of people, animals, and wildlife scenery. She also works part-time in an Edinburgh tourist attraction with my mother-in-law (and originally my sister-in-law too), which is how we got to know her and her amazing talent. My in-laws commissioned Adriana to paint this amazing portrait of our Pip as a thank you gift to us, and we couldn’t believe the likeness! Adriana has such a skill of capturing the twinkle in a pet’s eye, the cheekiness of their personality and the textures of their fur, and we couldn’t love this piece more.

‘Space’ and ‘Paper Planes’ - prints - Andrew Thomson, 2012 and 2013

I’m going to confess this straight up; Andy is my best mate, was the best man at my wedding, and gifted us these two pieces of his artwork – but none of that means I wouldn’t have chosen his art for our house or parted with our own cash to buy them! Andy’s illustrations and screen prints are totally distinctive; he uses dark tones and textures to contrast with the bright colours that highlight the core subject of the pieces. These two designs have an optimism about them for me. ‘Paper Planes’ is playful and reminds me of being young. The astronaut in ‘Space’ looks out of the frame, towards space and the journey ahead. When you’ve been through what I have, journeys become very important 😉

The image shows Graeme Clark aka Oldmangrey sitting on a window seat holding a framed pen and ink watercolour. The piece shows a boy and dog standing on a floating piece of land, against a cloudy blue sky. The boy & dog look off into the distance.

‘Wake and Pip’ - original pen and ink, watercolour - Jake Parker, 2018

I am a huge fan of Jake Parker and his incredible illustration skills, imagination and creativity. I was turning 30 in March 2018, and my Blood Cancer diagnosis had put a pin in our planned trip to Budapest which Nic was kindly gifting me. Wracking her brain for the perfect alternative gift, not only for a ‘big birthday’ but also one which was going to be overshadowed by plans for a life saving stem cell transplant, she reached out to Jake via email to ask if he could squeeze a commission into his madly busy diary. I know for sure that Jake didn’t really have time to draw a commissioned piece for me, he’s in such high demand and works across so many projects, but the gent that he is he agreed to take on the work – to create a hopeful future-looking piece of art, with his interpretation of Pip alongside his famous character Wake from his adventure books ‘Skyheart’. It’s fair to say I was blown away when I unwrapped the commission and couldn’t believe I not only owned an original piece by Jake, but one which featured our dog Pip, the centre of so many of my own illustrations.

As an aside to this and providing even more evidence of the gent that Jake is, and how kind his whole family are, the Parker family sent me a care package of their own ‘get well soon’ and ‘stay positive’ illustrations to the Beatson in Glasgow during my in-patient stay in April 2018 for my stem cell transplant. His wife and kids are also amazing artists! Nic and I were totally speechless with this personal, thoughtful, and kind-hearted gift, which will never be forgotten, and which genuinely buoyed my spirits during some of my hardest days in hospital.

The image shows a piece of art hanging on a white wall, in a white mount in a narrow black wooden frame. The piece is a black ink Japanese Kanji symbol, which means 'long life'.

‘Long Life’ Japanese Kanji - black ink on white gold-edged board - Saren Nagata, 2022

The final piece of artwork I wanted to mention (though we do also have other lovely pieces through the house – I didn’t want to scare you all off with a never ending blog post!) is this beautiful Japanese Kanji symbol. This was gifted to me by Nic’s family, who have travelled to Japan a few times, at the 4th anniversary of my stem-cell transplant. The Kanji symbol chojyu means ‘long life’. I don’t think I have to say much more than that to convey why I love this thoughtful and powerful piece of art. It hangs in the porch area of the house, and it might sound corny, but it feels like a small blessing hanging there when I pass it multiple times a day and as a welcoming positive message to anyone visiting our home.

Do you have favourite pieces of art hanging in your home? I’d love to hear about them! Comment below to tell me all about them 😊