Tuesday 27 May 2014

Am literally signing my winter project off on Thursday!!!!


Towards the end of last year Amanda from the Priaulx Library and I discussed the idea of working together, and maybe highlighting the rich vein of history that surrounds us both in the New Town of St Peter Port (that's its proper name, even thought its not often used today).  
We decided to produce an illustrated walking map of the area, full of unusual and bizarre stories and it was to be beautiful as well as useful.
One of the uniting things of this area, is the architect John Wilson, who style has feeling of the top part of town, its to him we owe buildings like Elizabeth College and St James.  So after Christmas, armed with camera and sketch pad, I started drawing.  

I have got to know those buildings so well!! 
 I know exactly how many window panes and chimney stacks they all have!  
One mystery though, Castle Carey (John Wilson) has a fair amount of blocked in windows, first I thought it was because of the window tax as in the UK,
 but Amanda, who I have know decided is the fountain of all knowledge re Guernsey,
 informed me that that never existed over here, so its a 'Nobody Knows' moment.

Amanda produced arms full of the bizarre, amazing and a bit creepy
 (please remember I am still scared of ET and Gremlins, its creepy to me!) 
And we worked out a route, which I hope, will open the eyes of both locals and 
visitors alike to the amazing history that is around them.
Then off to the lovely people at Two Degrees North to have them work their magic on my sketches and Amanda's proses, and make them look as we had seen in our imagination.

And wow, we are so pleased with how it has come out, so a big thank you to all who helped, 
I am so proud of it. 
Its A4 size when folded and is printed on what looks like water colour paper, so it has a nice weight to it, which we felt was very important, oh and its the bargain price of £2.50!
 I really couldn't be more thrilled.

Then it as the slightly scary part of launching it, and hoping that people liked it as much as we did.
 And response is good!  
It is now stocked in the Priaulx Library, the Tapestry Gallery, Press Shop, Indica, Evie & Me, Table, Lexicon, Lovely Pops, the Museum and some hotels. Brilliant. 
And we got our selves in the paper!

Then to carry on the momentum, I have produced four of the illustrations as notelets/blank cards, on the same type of paper, with some history and blurb on the back (£1.50)



Indica in the Pollet, has gone as far as putting it in a frame, which I do think looks fantastic.

And to top it all I am joining Amanda, with her new book, to do a map signing at the Press Shop on Thursday this week from 12 till 2, so please do come and see me, really don't want to be sitting there like Billy no mates!


I know you wont let me down, thank you xxx

3 comments:

  1. It's so lovely Caro - seriously undersold at £2.50, what are you thinking?!

    ReplyDelete
  2. We want it to be used and enjoyed by locals and visitors alike, and so it needed to be something that you could just pick up and enjoy, rather than thinking hard about your purchase! But thank you, I am glad you like it xxx

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yes, good point. I will be picking one up when I see one - can't get into Town today for the signing though :( Good Luck!x

    ReplyDelete