The Tale of the Typo…

From one small spelling mistake, Christmas Cards and decorations grow (or something like that!)

Last week, in a newsletter I managed to cordially invite people to come and enjoy a glass of fizz and a (wait for it) Mice Pie at our gallery opening next week.

I was initially hugely embarrassed when this was pointed out to me - ewww what a thought.

And then, barely 5 minutes later I thought ‘oooooh, what a thought!’ As an idea of little mice, tucked up under a pastry duvet, in their own little mince pies started to form in my head. They’d need pyjamas- they would have to be festive - and a hat perhaps.

Then, I started thinking about poses. These I confess were hugely inspired (*cough* directly lifted) from characteristics and poses that my young nephews and nieces display.

I started with a pencil rough to think about the shapes. I decided to keep each pie separate as I also had a niggling idea of potentially trying these as Christmas Decorations (spoiler alert - I did and these are now available to buy over on my website!).

I then used ink (black, waterproof) to draw in the lines I liked best and wanted to work to.

After this, I rubbed out the remaining pencil and cursed myself for not using a good bit of paper when the idea first appeared rather than just trying it out on the first piece to hand.

I then had a lovely time thinking about golden pastry and working out quite what colour that would be and starting with that.

Initially I thought about them all wearing different pyjamas, but then liked the idea of them being grouped together and so putting them in the same ones felt like a better plan. Not to confuse the palette to much I decided to stick with red and white, inspired by their hats.

Finally, when the artwork was done, I scanned it and made some minor tweaks digitally and then sent it off to the printers!

Ta-Da! Here is it as a Christmas Card - printed on recycled card in the UK and sold with a brown kraft envelope. Available individually or in packs of 4. You can find the Christmas Card here.

And not only that but I did make them into wooden Christmas decorations too! Available individually or as a set of three. You can find these here.

Oh, and I may have had a few of these to keep me going while I drew! And a mince pie or two!