New Helen Mussewhite work

Today has been a great day for exciting packages arriving. Eight new pieces from Helen Musselwhite are now adorning the shelves...well actually seven now beacuse the one with the little cottage sold moments after getting it out of the box!

Remember I told you about The Secret Arcade? Well Helen has is in the Arcade too and after being spotted there has recently been asked to illustrate a childrens book and to design a window display for a prestigious London Stationers. Exciting stuff!

Introducing Natasha Newton

I first came across Natasha Newton on Twitter...or perhaps it was on Etsy, I'm not sure but I was struck by her paintings immediately.

She's an artist and illustrator based in Suffolk. She is endlessly inspired by nature - in particular the quiet beauty of the Autumn and Winter landscape - patterns, stories and symbolism, which she incorporates into her paintings and illustrations. Her atmospheric landscapes, forests, and birds have both a fairytale and a slightly surreal dreamlike quality to them. Natasha exhibits widely, and her work is now collected worldwide. In March 2010, the book publishing company Random House are using five of Natasha's designs for a series of books by the author Jorge Bucay.

She painted these three original acrylics especially for us! They are all painted on deep edged canvas.

Her work sits beautifully at Radiance between the Chetwood and the fairy lights. You can find it on the website here.

Julia Ogden

Yesterday my new neighbour popped into the shop to introduce herself. Julia Ogden is a painter of colourful landcapes and figurative and floral paintings. I really love her floral ones. Her and her partner have just moved up to Hebden Bridge from Brighton and in true Brighton style she will be opening her house as part of the Hebden Bridge Arts festival this year. She will be open for three weekends staring on June 27th. It was lovely to meet her and I'm looking forward to seeing her exhibition.

Kate Lycett

Today I spent a lovely morning with Kate Lycett in her studio interviewing her for Valley Life magazine. I do a little column each month interviewing a local artist and it's really lovely getting to see peoples studios and hear their stories. I first met Kate when she came to Radiance. She heard that I was listening to Yann Tierson and the next time she came she brought me a live album of his that I didn't have! How nice is that! Anyway her work is rich and beautiful and it was lovely to hear she came to be living in and inspired by Hebden Bridge. There are lots of pictures to see on her website and it can be bought from the Calder Gallery in Hebden Bridge. Valley Life will be out next month.

Kate Boyce

My friend Kate Boyce opened an Etsy shop last week. There are now afew Etsians from Hebden Bridge! Go and have a look at her beautiful paintings. She really captures the landscape around here. I love her colours.

Helen Musselwhite

Helen Musselwhite has been one of our top sellers this year at Radiance. Everytime I get one of her parcels it never fails to make me smile. It's exciting unwrapping each picture as every one is different and each creature has it's own character. Here are some of her owls, Arthur and Amy who arrived yesterday. They are £29 each.