To Susan LeBarron

This is my reply postcard to Susan.

Susan was another person I couldn't find much personal information on so choosing a subject took some consideration.
I decided to continue her meditative theme and painted her something from my imagination. I always find this relaxing, my mind can just drift as I don't have to concentrate on anything.

Hope you like it Susan.

To Shevaun Doherty

Here is my reply postcard to Shevaun.

I couldn't find a profile or blog for Shevaun to do my investigations into her preferences which is part of the reason this reply has taken a while...What to draw?
In the end I decided to 'doodle' with my sepia pen and used a beautiful photograph from a shooting magazine as my reference.

Hope you like it Shevaun, sorry for the delay...Hope to have it posted tomorrow!

To Cindi Bessent

Doddington Clock Tower by Anita Davies

Cindi sent me a beautiful pen & wash painting of a local chapel, so I thought I'd go with this theme and paint our local church....However, just recently, every time I try to park in a decent spot to sketch from someone has beaten me to it...Hence the delay with my reply.

So, instead I decided to go with the 'local history' theme and this morning I parked outside The George public house and sketched the clock tower in my village; Doddington.

The clock tower was erected to commemorate Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee in 1897, costing just £80. The spire and weathervane were added later in 1911, but in 1937, the county surveyor suggested it should be removed from the middle of the road to its present site.

Hope to post it out today Cindi, sorry for the delay!

To Margaret Hunt

Margaret sent me the most beautiful fabric postcard, hand stitched from back to front with tender care. My Dad does all my sewing, so a similar creation in reply was going to be a little difficult!
Then I remembered the quilt I sketched, from imagination, back in October 2007 and realised I could send Margaret my very own 'handstitched' postcard using a pen and a little coloured pencil.
Above is the result. A magical, imagination quilt that can take you anywhere you wish to be with one simple hug.

Enjoy Margaret!

To Lyn Feudner

'Sunset' by Anita Davies

It has taken me a while to create a reply card for Lyn, I had planned to return a landscaped sunset of my own to her but the weather has made it difficult, if not impossible.

Then today, while playing with a new idea in my sketchbooks, I finally came up with a compromise...My interpretation of a sunset in the female form.

I'll post it after the Easter break, hope you like it Lyn!

To Leslie Brasher

'Fresh & Juicy' by Anita Davies

When Leslie's card arrived the first word that popped into my mind was 'FRESH'.
As I caught sight of the fruit bowl, while watching a film with my youngest this weekend, the same thought passed through my mind and immediately knew what my subject would be for her reply. These pears looked so fresh and juicy that I couldn't wait to finish my painting so I could ravish one!

I used gouache in this piece with a flat brush and challenged myself to create a watercolour effect with them, working quickly and with very little preliminary pencil sketch.

I'm pleased with the result, hope you enjoy them Leslie.

To Meinhild Selbach

'Afternoon Cuppa' by Anita Davies

Meinhild was very brave and used coffee to paint my postcard, so I decided I'd be brave too! I've used Sharpies for the whole piece here, first time I've done that and only my 2nd time using Sharpies at all.

I also decided to keep coffee in the theme and sketched my afternoon cuppa, complete with Lamy pen and Canson sketchbook.

Hope you like it Meinhild!

To Menekse Guven

'Doddington Church' by Anita Davies

Menekse braved the outdoors through strong winds to send me a beautiful plein air, I wasn't as brave.

I did produce a plein air, of sorts, but I took refuge in my nice warm truck to sketch our local village church this morning after dropping Harry at school.

Hope you like it Menekse, I'll be popping it in the post in the morning!

To Dana Whitney

'Moonlight' By Anita Davies

This is my reply postcard to Dana.

After quite some time browsing Dana's blog, I came across her profile. Listed under the title favourite music, I saw Dana had chosen Beethoven, among others, so that was my inspiration for this piece.

I printed out some sheet music, tore it and covered the postcard with it. I 'aged' the paper with some watercolour washes, then sketched a portrait of the man himself using pigment liner.

Hope you like it Dana!

To Kate Muhlstadt

'Pen Friend' by Anita Davies

This is my reply postcard to Kate.

Kate sent me the most beautiful flower painted onto a section of text and mounted onto a deep red card. Her creativity inspired me to attempt something similar for her reply, so I took a copy of my first weekly illustrated column, printed in the Cambs Times & Wisbech Standard, and covered a postcard with it. I then took my new Sharpie pens and added one of my favourite art tools to the composition..My bright red Lamy Safari fountain pen.

It was the first time I used my new markers and I'm quite pleased with the results, I hope Kate is too!

To Nel Jansen

'Beach Hut' by Anita Davies

This is my reply to Nel.

On reading the comments on previous postcard entries I noticed this comment from Nel:

"This is so sweet and charming, I wanna go there. I think it's my favorite postcard to date!"

Nel was referring to this postcard I made for Deni from my imagination. So, armed with a rough idea of Nel's taste I set about making another beach scene from imagination and I ended up here. None of it really makes alot of sense, I have no idea where the stilts came from or why it appears to be stranded in the middle of some vast ocean. However, if I could just work out how to get inside, I'd love to take my art materials on holiday there some day.

Hope you like it Nel.

To Wendy Shortland

'Saraswati' by Anita Davies

This is my reply postcard to Wendy, although it hasn't scanned exceptionally well the red is a litle stronger than shown here.

After doing a little detective work on her blog I discovered that Wendy loves Bali and has been travelling there for 20 years, it's her second home. So, I painted her a Hindu Goddess.
Saraswati is the Goddess of knowledge, what I didn't know is that she is also the Goddess of music and the arts.
Perfect!

To Frankye White

'Lavender Soap' by Anita Davies

This is my reply postcard to Frankye.

It's a soap dish my Mother gifted to me one Christmas, purchased from Norfolk Lavender, a wonderful place we pass on our summer trips to Hunstanton beach.

In a recent email from Frankye I learned that lavender holds a special place in her heart so I knew one of my Norfolk lavender pieces would make the perfect subject for her postcard.

Hope you like it Frankye!

To Deni May

'Golden Beach' by Anita Davies

This is my reply card to Deni.

Deni sent me a beautiful sunset scene with palms and I've been trying to think of what to send her ever since. Last night I sat doodling with my postcard book and came up with this scene from imagination using ink and watercolour.

I hope you like it Deni, I posted it this morning!

To Becka Sharpe

'Fish Watching' by Anita Davies

This is my reply postcard to Becka.

After reading about her love of geese, brought about by Mike Inkpen's book illustrations, I decided to create her an illustration of my own.

Painted from imagination and dusted with a little humour I came up with this character doing a spot of 'fish watching' at the seaside, complete with polka dot bloomers and the all essential snorkel.

Hope you like it Becka.

From Becka Sharpe

'Geese' by Becka Sharpe

This morning my postcard from Becka arrived complete with two geese, a pretty envelope and a letter explaining her obsession with goslings after reading illustrator Mike Inkpen's book 'Honk'.

This is such a delicate and dainty piece of artwork from Becka with a real feel of motion in the water.

Thank you Becka!

To Judy Lobos

'Little Teapot' by Anita Davies

This is my reply to Judy.

I know from investigation that Judy collects teapots so I thought our little teapot was the perfect subject for her postcard.
This isn't just any teapot, oh no...This belongs to my eldest Son Jake.
I purchased it for him when he was very small, he used to love a cup of tea and enjoyed pouring it himself, so I purchased this little white teapot just for him. It's about half the size of a usual teapot and we have a little creamer he used to fill with milk too.

Jake is 17 now and the teapot made it through the years in one piece, allowing me to treasure it and the memories it holds forever.

Hope you like it Judy, I posted it this morning!

To Joan Tavolott

'Cherub' by Anita Davies

This is my reply to Joan Tavolott.

Joan and I share a passion for architecture so I wanted to return something along those lines to her. Statues and sculpture, for me, fall into that category and allowed me the chance to share something very precious to me, one of my cherub ornaments.
This particular cherub sits on a delicately carved globe on my lounge sideboard watching the world go by, now he gets to travel to the other side of the world and watch over Joan too.

Hope you like him Joan.

To Stacy Holst

'Favourite Things' by Anita Davies

This is my reply postcard to Stacy Holst.

Stacy sent me an 'I love snowmen' card so I thought I'd send her a few of my favourie things. One of the things I have enjoyed since childhood is creating poetry and little rhymes, so I made one for Stacy and printed it around the various sketches.
It reads:

Brushes, pencils, paints and shoes by the sack,
Fenland landscape and hot coffee, all black.
Raspberries, wild flowers, the Lord of the Rings,
These are a few of my favourite things!

Hope you like it Stacy, I'll be posting it first thing Monday morning!

To Emma-Jane Rosenberg

'Spring Poetry' by Anita Davies

This is my reply postcard to E-J.

It is based on a slightly larger piece I did in my journal the same day.

In May last year E-J sent me my first handmade postcard. She used a blue paper to sketch on then stuck it onto the card to produce a layered design. So, I thought I'd use the paper the daffodils were wrapped in to do something similar for her.

Hope this brings a litle bit of Spring your way E-J!