WHAT A SHOW!

Wow, I had a great time at the Handmade and Vintage Fair in Leigh yesterday!!!
Only my second fair but another very successful one!

Thanks to all the people who came along and said hello. And thanks to all those who bought something!
It was a lovely venue with a great atmosphere and all my fellow stallholders were really friendly and talented aswell.
I was busy all day and met so many great people. It's brilliant to know Santa will be delivering some of my stuff to people on Christmas Day!
I'm now very inspired to carry on with more fairs and build up the Matt ArtPix empire!!
So look out for more news of future fairs very soon!!

The stall is finally set up!

Now the wait for some customers!

Mavis was the star of the show, handing out sweets all day!

A closer look at the vintage inspired delights on offer!

These retro football collages were my bestseller yet again, ding dong!

Lots of Christmas shopping going on here!

SNEAK PREVIEW!

The Handmade and Vintage Fair in Leigh-on-Sea is nearly upon us!
And to get you all in the mood here is a sneak preview of just some of the new delights that I'll be selling there!!
Vintage inspired Christmas cards galore and pictures in outrageous coloured frames. Look no further for those pesky Christmas presents and all at very reasonable prices!
Or even better, treat yourself to something vintage and original...

A little selection of Christmas cards

Close up of the cards!

An even closer look!!

A selection of shiny new designs for the fair!

The football collages and Christmas cards

Even Mavis lent a hand with the new cards!

And here's a reminder of the fair!

 Hope to see you all there on Saturday, remember it's free to get in!!

KNOW THE SCORE!

Isn't it typical of football that just when I finish my retro Chelsea Football Club collage, today they go and get thrashed 3-0!!
Oh well, they are still top of the league so here it is...

It's part of an ongoing series of football collages, which have proved very popular so far. My best seller in fact!!

All plundered from my own archives, it features programmes, badges, team groups, match ticket, cigarette cards and even Top Trump cards, (remember those?!). Mostly from football's golden age, between the 1950s and 1980s, those far off pre-Premiership days seem long gone now. So Chelsea fans, wallow in the nostalgia of Ossie, Chopper and Bentley.

Today's Chelsea performance reminded me of a cartoon I found in a 1950s football annual.
Any football fan can relate to this terrible tale of the striker who can do anything but score...

LEST WE FORGET

The eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month is nearly upon us and with it comes a time of remembering.
Recently it has become a symbol for modern conflicts but we should never forget those who died in the two world wars.

The picture here is of a lone poppy I found outside the Tyne Cot Military Cemetery in Belgium. 11,954 First World War soldiers are buried there and 33,783 are commemorated on Memorial walls, all of whom fought in the miserable Battle of Passchendaele in 1917. To tread anywhere in these fields is to tread where someone died. A humbling place.

The collage, which I did this week, represents the Unknown Soldier. The figure who could be anyone's son, brother or father.

I read today that the Imperial War Museum in London is to close early on Armistice Day so a Tory Lord can hold a party there. I shall leave it to the brilliant Siegfried Sassoon to sum it up for us. As wars are never fought by the Lords, politicians or Generals, but by us, the ordinary people. Have we learnt anything?

        “Good-morning; good-morning!” the General said
        When we met him last week on our way to the line.
        Now the soldiers he smiled at are most of ’em dead,
        And we’re cursing his staff for incompetent swine.
        “He’s a cheery old card,” grunted Harry to Jack
        As they slogged up to Arras with rifle and pack.

        But he did for them both by his plan of attack.

"The General" by Siegfried Sassoon 1917

LEST WE FORGET

A SAUNTER AT SAUNTON SANDS

Thought I would post a few pix of my recent saunter at the lovely Saunton Sands in north Devon...

Not only is it a great place to surf, walk the dog, fly a kite or clear the cobwebs but it's a great place to draw!
You have miles of blank canvas to draw on. My glamorous assistant Fabienne T did the lovely lady while I just did the shameless free advertising of Matt ArtPix!!!

Bringing a bit of Deco delight to Devon

Close up of Fabienne T's Deco masterpiece

Matt ArtPix is never one to miss a free advertising opportunity!

A lone surfer returns after a hard day at the waves