Printed postcards and greetings cards make my art accessible at lower price points.
Printed postcards sell at £0.50 each and are available in four designs. Originally aimed as pocket money pieces for some younger visitors they have worked for that but also been popular with grandparents looking for something for grandchildren.
The greetings cards range sell at £2 each or in multiples of 3 for £5.
The cards match some prints but not all. They included a range of scenes and activities and the Christmas card ‘Santa over… ‘ series.
Printed postcards
These are 6 x 4 size with postcard details printed on the reverse and are available in four designs. They sell at £0.50 each.
Originally drawn in 2018 when I had a bay to exhibit and sell art at the Purbeck Artisan Yard. I drew this one day when on duty. I sat outside initially then had to take photos to work from as it started to rain. One of the yard issues was always trying to help people to locate it, this was used and still is on some materials for the yard.
I was taking part in some sea kayaking courses at the time and this linked to learning about navigation buoys. The cross section idea was to show different layers of the Jurassic area, completely fictional. Drawing it at the angle means it works as a portrait or landscape issue. Originally intended as a pocket money purchase for children visiting it is more commonly bought by grand parents for their grandchildren.
A popular theme with visiting children, the interest in undersea links to pirates, treasure and sea creatures although we don’t have sharks and hammerhead sharks locally.
A view that most don’t get of Old Harry Rocks travelling past by boat. It takes on a different scale from the water than walking to the top of the cliffs.
Greetings cards
My series of greetings cards have developed since I started AndyKnillArt in 2017. They have remained at the same sales price since I started of £2 each or 3 for £5 and have been a great introduction to my art for many people both customers and recipients.
The card design that launched AndyKnillArt as a business was from an original drawing done on Swanage Beach in December 2016 of the beach huts during the 2016 Artisans on the Beach event.
I approached Swanage Information Centre which at the time was temporarily housed at the back of the Town Hall. They agreed to order cards to sell and asked me to produce some other designs. The following are part of that original set and continue to be good sellers for me.
This was the original design I submitted, the one adapted for Swanage Town Council included an enlarged beach and Ballard Down. I never sold that version myself.
This was not adopted so I sold it myself looking back towards The Downs on the south of the bay.
A historical view as within months of me drawing this the blue spa huts were added. Sales of these have petered out as people remembering this layout are about less.
I then submitted my pen and ink (black and white cards) and two photo designs. Some of these drawings were based on sketches from before AndyKnillArt was a thing.
Based on a field sketch from a geography teachers trip when my camera battery died.
A very simple but instantly recognisable Purbeck landform.
Also based on that field trip and a geographer’s field sketch.
Or as it has become better known ‘Studland Landrover’ as an admirer of Land Rovers on various visits to Knoll beach – both National Trust vehicles and others based there.
This is a card I have sold many hand coloured versions of and is an aspect of my cards that I will return to under a later section as part of original art.
Based on previous holidays pre moving to Dorset along the North Norfolk coast.
Drawn from an original sketch on an Urban Sketchers trip to Cambridge. Stock now sold off.
Inspired by a signpost opposite the drive to the first house we rented in Purbeck but used to show Dorset’s relative position and modified in many hand coloured and added to cards for Christmas, Valentines Day,additional locations.
Based on a stuffed specimen in the Colchester Natural History Museum that I visited on a sketching trip in 2016 – the title of the card includes a reference to the stuffed aspect as the only reason I got to draw this and it took three attempts to get the dimensions correct.
Photo cards
I thought for a while that this might be an idea I would develop more as I take ‘000s of photos every year but in the end these two cards from 2017 have been the only ones I have done.
I was pleased with this shot with the wing tips close to the water. It has sold, never in great amounts and when stock is gone it will not be replaced.
One of the privileges of renting upon Houns Tout for our first 3.5 years in Purbeck was the wildlife that we got to watch on a regular basis. People told me how hares were a rarity, not in our garden – here in the bed by the dining room eating the lavender bed. For several years a popular card and also as a print.
2017 ended with the launch of the series which has represented up to a 1/3 of my card sales at times, much to the surprise of my printer. Moving to the Jurassic coast I was most surprised in 2016 to not find the local landscape and coastscapes represented. Out of this came the ‘Santa over Purbeck and subsequently ‘Santa over Dorset’ cards. I now sell Christmas cards all year round and have many returning purchasers. I shall share the whole set (10 now in 2023).
Based on the view we had grown to love from Durlston Country park and including both Peveril and Ballard points.
More a representation of the end of Houns Tout, with Portland in the background. Not as popular a seller as unless people got out of their cars and walked they didn’t recognise the view.
I still have the original drawing idea in the shop which was modified so the river Frome was included and the strange idea of the quay clear of parked cars.
My biggest card seller and has remained so with over 600 sold now.
My first ever card to include Old Harry Rocks.
In the summer I added two locations further away.
Broadchurch has made this familiar view of the East Cliffs even better known and a place we holidayed in pre our move to Dorset.
Well, it had to be surely, why would Santa fly over the door?!? Now narrowing the gap to Corfe Castle sales above and now over 450 sold.
Based around the idea of an air race using the lighthouse as a mark.
A move to make all the Christmas series 8 x 4 panorama format but continuing the same focus for Swanage as the first card.
The new format allowed a better coastal view in my opinion that also showed Chapmans Pool better.
A late addition to the collection and starting to sell well in 2023. A change in sea colour.
2023 – I did start a new design around September / October but it didn’t work at first and then my flood barrier project took over for the whole of October and the momentum for this year was lost.
I also sell ‘Swanage Pier Reflections’ alongside the ‘Santa over…’ series as it represents the December lights on the pier offering a chance to reflect on loved ones lives.
The fact that this opens out to make a 16 x 4 design appeals.
2018 and my second year of AndyKnillArt saw me developing a wider range of locations within Purbeck and growing confidence in my art.
Drawn after taking a sunset photograph on the drive home from Artisans in the Beach 2017. The distinctive profiles of these two ridges from the ‘top road’ from Swanage through Langton Matravers and Kingston.
One of those ‘it says what it is’ titles. The view from the car park outside the Corfe Surgery on the south west side of the village and one of the few places where the whole of the castle mound can be seen.
Pen and ink black and white version.
My only square design to date. Swanage beach is popular for dog walks and people walking along it but at times of the year others can be seen out on the water as well like this kayaker.
An u usual title and possibly hasn’t helped sales at times but was the first sketching trip I did with Swanage Primary Schooling 2018 and when I managed to draw alongside the children. In subsequent years there wasn’t the chance for me to draw as much
Alternate title could be Ballard Down and is why it normally sells.
This was inspired originally by sitting as an artisan at the beach huts over December 2017. Being there early for a parking space and seeing sunrise (on the drier days) and after 4pm seeing sunset and the night sky before packing up and setting off home. This has had a resurgence of interest in 2023.
‘From Prince Albert Gardens North Across Swanage Bay‘ was the original and far too long a title hence the shortened version I use when recording sales. Popular for showing a range of boats in the bay and the darker patches of sea because of the cloud shadows crossing the bay.
This was drawn based on photos taken from the ferry to Brownsea from Poole Quay. The foreground is the lagoon on the north side of the island which is popular with wading birds.
This is based on a snowy storm coming in over Houns Tout and the path through the woods. That was upside the home that we were renting at the time. This idea of looking up into trees is one have reused since.
Firing the winter of 2018 we had snow on the hills in Purbeck and I would venture out early with the camera to capture scenes before vehicles had tried to get out. This is the road from the woods above Kingston and out towards the Sheep Pen car park, it now looks different as the fields on both sides of the road were fenced off in 2020. My challenge was to draw a snow scene using black pen and it was more successful than I had hoped.
Again a dark stormy sky linked to snow and the outbuildings it used for my Open Studio for Purbeck Art Weeks in 2017-2019. The winter trees also interest people. The building was a source of interest for people visiting it during PAW.
In 2019, the number of card designs decreased and four Christmas designs have already been shown above.
This card has shown how much people like to buy cards based on the location they are in. The coloured houses and the composition of this piece is often selected by potential customers but on turning it over to discover it is in Weymouth means many then put it back.
The original drawing based on the photos taken by Simon Wells a Swanage friend with his consent, I have then visited and sketched in this part of Weymouth on a number of occasions.
These two were drawn alongside each other. After doing the main beach huts several people had asked if I was going to draw other stretches of huts. This area around Burlington Chine and the northern extent of beach huts in the bay is a favourite spot of ours. I went back to try and recapture the style I had first used in December 2016 using a thicker line style. They haven’t proved as successful a seller, but I love their composition.
Two local sunsets. The first had been printed by a Swanage – based printer initially as a print from the original and it wasn’t until I brought out the second piece that I had cards made. Based on a sunset from the end of the woods above Kingston heading towards Sheep Pen. Once I had this printed originally I felt that the trees were limited in style and I spent time over the next year developing my tree work
The Corfe Sunset is based on a sunset I watched driving back from work in Wareham. I kept stopping from Middlebere onwards to take photos. This view was looking back down Kingston hill by The Scott Arms pub, at the top of Corfe Castle emerging above a cloud inversion in the valley below.in the valley below.
Fizz is my cousin’s Collie. They came to visit in 2019 and were walking 1500 miles that year to raise fund for St Mungos. This drawing that captured one of the rare moments on our 8 mile walk from Kingston to Langton Matravers via Houns Tout, St Aldhelms Head and Dancing Ledge when Fizz stayed still- I took a photo in front of a drystone wall a favourite local feature of mine. Card and print sales helped towards the fund raising.
Where we lived up on Houns Tout we were on the edge of a shooting estate so we saw Pheasants all year round. The photo this was based on was taken with me looking at the bird while lying on my stomach. This meant that the tail was not visible. Anne, my wife suggested people would be reluctant to buy it without the tail – this has been the case at times, I stuck to my original view – as an artist listen and think about feedback. I am pleased with the record of the pheasant’s plumage.
<div class='sharedaddy sd-block sd-like jetpack-likes-widget-wrapper jetpack-likes-widget-unloaded' id='like-post-wrapper-123416164-8326-6632e1d40229f' data-src='https://widgets.wp.com/likes/?ver=13.4-a.9#blog_id=123416164&post_id=8326&origin=andyknillart.com&obj_id=123416164-8326-6632e1d40229f&n=1' data-name='like-post-frame-123416164-8326-6632e1d40229f' data-title='Like or Reblog'><h3 class="sd-title">Like this:</h3><div class='likes-widget-placeholder post-likes-widget-placeholder' style='height: 55px;'><span class='button'><span>Like</span></span> <span class="loading">Loading...</span></div><span class='sd-text-color'></span><a class='sd-link-color'></a></div>