Old Amersham Museum

I was contacted over Christmas by Emily at Amersham Museum, and after a meeting in January we'd organised that I would do an illustration of the Museum for use on promotional/informational flyers and possibly online.

Due to time restraints I had to keep the illustration quite small, but I don't think it hindered the overall image at all.  The museum is in a lovely building in Old Amersham and has some great original features - it was interesting to draw, and to have a look around the inside too!

I definitely recommend a trip to Amersham Museum if you're in the area.  It costs only £2 and has some great old photos from the town over the years as well as a cute garden out the back.  You can see original features in the building as well as toys and other bits and pieces from the history of Amersham.  It is quite petite, so you won't need long to get a good look around, and once you're done Seasons Cafe Deli is an excellent place to stop for a bite of lunch or a spot of tea and cake.

Old Amersham also boasts a fair few independent retail shops so there is plenty to look at if you're up for a wander down the high street.

Independent Retail shopping crawl and map

The first weekend in December 2012 boasted the first 'Indie retail shopping crawl' for Old Amersham.  This meant that the independent retail shops in Old Amersham, Buckinghamshire, UK got together and produced a map.  On the allocated days you then took your map (available in all participating shops) with you and collected a stamp from each on your map.  You didn't have to buy anything, just to simply go in and ask for a stamp.  Of course I stopped for a chat in most shops and it took me about half a day but theoretically you could probably do it in half an hour.

This lovely little map really opened my eyes.  I discovered shops I didn't know were there, bumped into friends and enjoyed a lovely breakfast out.  I booked appointments and got some Christmas presents sorted.  This is a great event to do with friends or family and is a lovely day/half a day out!

And as a bonus, if you completed the map and got all of your stamps, hand over your map to a participating shop and you're entered into a prize draw to win a hamper of goodies which features something from all the shops involved.  Absolutely amazing!

If you missed out, not to worry!  The shopping crawl will be back to Old Amersham again in 2013.  Keep an eye out on here for updates and in local BUCKS and HERTS magazines and papers.  You can see here about how I first got involved in this project.

The illustrations used in the map of the shops in Old Amersham were also used on Christmas cards.  If you'd like to pre-order then please get in touch by leaving a comment below or emailing charlotte_vallance(at)hotmail.com

A Christening Piece

One of the loveliest commissions I've done ever!  Karen got in touch with me to illustrate a verse/poem for her Nieces who were to be baptised.  The brief was to hand draw the text and illustrate to compliment the script, in a way suitable for children, to go in the girls' bedroom.

' May the long time sun shine upon you




All love surround you




and the pure light within you




guide your way on '

After jotting down a couple of ideas we met for a coffee at the lovely Seasons in Old Amersham to make sure we were both thinking along the same lines.  It's so nice when I'm able to meet with clients to discuss their illustration before I go head on into it.  You can be clearer and get much more across than over email I find.  (If you're on the other side of the world, maybe I can take a holiday?! Or there is always Skype!)

The script is used in Buddhism and while Buddhist imagery would be suitable for adults, neither of us thought so for children.  I focused on the idea of light, and following, being outside (the sun).  I decided to work with a blue (sky) background, with prominent black handwriting text and either kites or butterflies.  Karen loved the idea of butterflies, and we were able to discuss this take on the design and develop it to be relevant for her, the girls and their family.

Do you have a family saying/song/poem that you'd like to see illustrated?  Thinking of my own family, they wouldn't be quite as sweet as this, a bit more jokey, possibly a funny quote from my Nonna that would bring a smile and a tear to the eye all at the same time.

The Diamond Jubilee

The Diamond Jubilee in Old Amersham


Old Amersham community came out with such a positive attitude against the wet, wet, wet, weather we got - it kept us going!


Unfortunately I didn't manage to get any photos of the rest of the street party, but that gives me a great excuse to send you to Amersham People's website here and local photographer Adel Hanna's page here for you to see some lovely shots of the day that I would not of been able to do justice with my little camera.

Myself and friend Alex in our 50's finest!

Tea & Cake with the Queen

Free diamond badges for everyone!

If you'd like a diamond badge for yourself, I have a few left so let me know :-)

To see more photos please also have a look on my Flickr page here.

How was your Jubilee weekend?  Did you join in with festivities or get away on the long weekend?