Hello there! We are nearly at the end of September, and so it’s BLOG TIME!

It’s been a great creative month. My monthly market at the Cornhall in Cirencester was a good one, and I launched my new Christmas cards, which were a hit. I love my updated version of ‘A Christmas in Cirencester’, and the Santa hat dog cards flew (best seller of the day was the new Golden Retriever card).

The most cost efficient way of buying my cards is through my website, on my bundle deals (making cards less than £1.88 each). As I do each year, I will be donating a percentage of my online Christmas card sales to the charity Shelter, so you can feel good about buying locally sourced and printed cards, which are plastic free and carbon neutral, AND which are helping those without a home this Christmas. Have a look at the whole range here.

* Prepping cards for the Cornhall market :)

I’ve got a new watercolour and seasalt creation called ‘Blush and Brine’- I love the bleeding of the watercolour that has seeped under the masking tape that I used- It gives this piece a really organic feel and makes me think of delicate seaweed fronds. I need to pop it into a frame and then it will be available on my website shortly. If you’d like to give it a home, pop me a message here.

‘* Blush and Brine Watercolour Original painting

Another new original to introduce is my watercolour of Cirencester Market Place. It’s been selling very well as a greeting card (here) but the original is very special. I love its light wooden frame and pastel colours. It’s available to buy here on my website, or at the Cirencester Local Information Center, where it’s currently hanging on the wall looking beautiful.

Another little local scene will soon be available (once I get round to framing it!) too- My new watercolour painting of Arlington Row in Bibury. I have greeting cards available too, which will feature at a new market I’ll be at in Bibury Village Hall next month (Sunday 12th October). This watercolour needs popping in a frame and will then be listed on my website shortly. It’s a really vibrant depiction of a really famous 14th century row of houses (so famous in fact that an image of it appears on the inside from cover of UK passports!). I hope you like it :)

My current work in progress is a little oil painting, trying to capture this amazingly atmospheric photo of a beach down in Norfolk, where I grew up. This is the beach I walked on every day with the dog, and brings back so many happy memories. Every winter, hundreds of seals make the beach their home and they give birth to their pups here- if you look closely at the photo you’ll be able to see the many seals making themselves comfortable in the sand!

I love the sky in this photo, and this is the main thing I want to try and capture, as well as the interesting colours in the sand dunes.

At the moment I think I have a good rough outline of everything, and I’m really pleased with the sand dunes. The sea needs some work and of course the seals need to be dotted about. I’m trying not to overwork it though- This piece is going to be looser than my usual style. Exciting!

Whilst mixing up some colours for the Norfolk painting, I took a moment to just appreciate the beauty of my palette. This is an old glass frame, which I used about 5 years ago when starting a new painting, because I couldn’t find my original palette. It’s become my go to place to mix up paints, and now, with over 5 years of paint layers, I think it’s a real thing of beauty. You can see my favourite (and most used!) colour being blue.. I love to think of how many different seas I’ve created with these paint mixes.. cerulean blues, payne’s greys, turquoises and ultramarines all mixed up to make up an ocean.

And finally, I’ve added some gorgeous mini frames to the website here in the run up to Christmas, which are usually only available at my markets. The one below is ‘Sunrise to Sunset’, and is best seller. It showcases 5 mini prints of my seasalt and watercolour collection. I have some lovely Cotswold scenes also available as mini multi frames- perfect for smaller spaces that need a pop of colour.

Market dates

Saturday 11th October 2026- Cornhall, Cirencester

Sunday 12th October 2026- Bibury Village Hall

Thank you as always for following this art journey that I’m on :)

Until October friends,

Charlotte

X

September ‘26

August 2026