The Chrysalis Collection

The auction of the 51 celebrity butterfly paintings on eBay has now finished and has been a great success, raising £8,082 for Keech Hospice Care.
My little effort went for £198 in the end so a big thank-you goes out to everyone who bid. I'd love to hear from the bidder who won my butterfly.

The top seller was the Coldplay picture for £1,260. This was followed by Elaine Paige's butterfly at £770, Katherine Jenkins at £722 and Rupert Grint at £560.

The Chrysalis Collection

You may remember that I was asked to paint a picture of a butterfly to be auctioned on behalf of the Keech Cottage Children's Hospice.
Lots of famous celebrities have also been asked to paint such a piece and the group of paintings will be on display at the Stockwood Discovery Centre in Luton from 1st - 29th March. The paintings will then be auctioned on eBay between the 19th-28th March.



Please follow this link for more details - The Chrysalis Collection

Amongst the many celebrities who have produced a painting are Nick Knowles & Billy Byrne, Gail Porter, Martin Kemp, Noddy Holder, Julian Clary and Coldplay. My name also made the list which was an honor (not to mention a shock).

DIY SOS - Kids in Crisis

If you blinked then you missed us : )

At least our Tardis wardrobe and star ceiling got a little bit of airtime - here are the photos as promised.
I will be appearing in the new series of DIY SOS next year helping out in a project up in Norfolk - watch this space for further information.

DIY SOS 'Kids in Crisis'

It's on tonight on BBC1 at 8:00pm - hopefully we didn't end up on the cutting room floor.

I'm sorry - I cannot divulge what it was we painted - Auntie would have me shot : )

DIY SOS 'Kids in Crisis'

Just to let you know that the transmission date for the extreme edition of 'DIY SOS' has been moved back to Thursday, December 10th at 8pm.

Make a note in your diaries as you are set to be impressed : )

DIY SOS 'kids in crisis'

Just got back last night after a 300 mile journey from Anglesey in north Wales. I was up there with my associate, Gordon Collett, where we were both painting some murals and trompe l'oeil for another DIY SOS makeover. We actually painted two murals although one of them doesn't look all that great in daylight ; )

Unfortunately I cannot reveal any details about what we painted as you will need to watch the show to find out - I will post up some photos of the murals and the gang once the show has gone out.

This episode was a special one and will be broadcast the night before 'Children in Need' on Thursday 19th November (to be confirmed). The scale of the project was phenomenal and involved an army of helpers from the local community - it should be a fantastic show.

Julia Kendell has been busy Twittering about the project at twitter.com/JKDIYQUEEN

I also found out that the show that I was involved in up in Norfolk will now be shown in the new year.(never mind)

Trompe l'oeil Butterfly

Here is the picture that Billy (DIY SOS) asked me to paint. It is for a charity auction in aid of the Keech Cottage Children's Hospice near Luton. Their website can be found here.



The trompe l'oeil has been painted onto a small canvas 30 x 40cm - compared to what I am accustomed to that is microscopic : )
The butterfly depicted is a Peacock and the background is a simple aged stone effect with lots of paint splattering from a toothbrush - apparently they also brush teeth : )

I also promised Billy that I would get my children to paint a butterfly each as well which they duly did.

Billy popped round this evening on his way to the next DIY SOS shoot to pick up all three masterpieces. I will keep you posted as to how they all fare in the auction.