Art of the Month

How To Take Part

1. Follow us on social media
2. Submit an image of the piece of art you wish to nominate to the competition
3. Provide a description of the art and also of the artist!

Submissions can be sent in by a message on the chosen social media platform or alternatively email them to [email protected]. As well as the artwork please submit a website URL and social media handles, these can also be featured to give the winner some extra exposure.

Winners are selected on the last Friday of the month at 12:00pm and will be featured later that day below on our website as well as on our social media channels for an entire month!

March 2024 Winner – Hannah Gleeson

The first two-time winner of Art of the Month winner and March’s champion is Hannah Gleeson.

Hannah is a watercolour and acrylic artist, who likes to focus on the beauty of the world around us.  Her work ranges from hazy summer landscapes to fantasy fairy worlds, illustrative photo paintings to animals.  Inspired by the world around us, Hannah paints with feelings of love and hope and strives to reflect this in her artwork to bring a calmness into your space too.

Her winning painting measuring 50cm x 50cm and created with acrylic on canvas is called “Taylor”.  It is a beautiful mix of realism and abstract, with a soft ethereal colour palette.  Hannah says “this piece is about having the power and strength as a woman to push out of your comfort zone, filling the canvas with all the emotions and feelings inside you”.

You can find out more about Hannah and her work on her; Instagram, Facebook and website.

February 2024 Winner – Barbara Schneider

2024’s second Art of the Month winner is designer, illustrator, and multiple-disciplinary visual artist Barbara Schneider.

She has won February’s competition with her print – Born Free or Happily Ever After. This piece illustrates the rights and desires of every child. Including the right to love, education, art and pursuit of happiness, play and healthy life, special care, and protection, and emphasizes the necessity to live peacefully forever. Each print is a unique piece of art, handmade made by the artist measuring 14.5 x 19.5 cm.

Barbara has a great passion for toys & children’s literature, fashion, and photography. Some themes of her independent artworks are re-design, childhood, and the discussion of humanity, our modern life, and our world cultures. She has participated in international juried group art and design exhibitions, projects, and contests and received international awards and recognitions. Pieces of her art are in the homes and offices of international collectors and have been published in international design/art and craft books.

You can find out more about Barbara and her work here.

January 2024 Winner – Pejo Cnudde

The first winner of Art of the Month in 2024 is artistic duo Pejo Cnudde. In their work, they drive to push boundaries and experiment with new materials and techniques resulting in a great variety of glass art and styles. This lead to them creating their own unique style which subsequently resulted in international recognition. They have a diverse exposition history with expositions in The MEAM Barcelona, London, Madrid, Lisbon, Strasbourg, New York, Miami, Zurich, Norway, The Netherlands, Palermo, Firenze, Belgium and a permanent expo in the Museum of contemporary art in Denmark. In 2019, they were also crowned the winner of The London Art Biennale for applied art

The exclusive and unique designs made with the Pejo technique came by just following their urge to discover how far glass will allow them to be bent, coloured and shaped as they imagined it. This led to the creation of this month’s winning entry –  The Big Blue Beast. The piece is a tryptic glass fusion measuring 3 x 46 x 82 cm. In November 2023, it was displayed at the billboard on Times Square New York. The Big Blue Beast is a statement against any aggressor who tries to invade people’s freedom. The expression on the face is one of disbelief and determination not to be defeated, standing tall and ready to defend democracy.

Find out more about Pejo Cnudde and their work on their website and Instagram.

December 2023 Winner – Little Dot Art

The final Art of the Month of 2023 is awarded to Sara Otter aka Little Dot Art! Her styles are very much abstract, modern & contemporary. She is a driven, creative, ambitious and self-reflecting individual who loves capturing the energy of the world around her whether that is in sports or on canvas.

She began her journey as an artist unexpectedly. Sara originally undertook a Physiotherapy degree. Three months before her graduation she had some serious and very unexpected health problems, stopping her in her tracks and throwing all her carefully laid plans into chaos.

November 2023 Winner – Elle Collins

November’s Art of the Month is awarded to Textile artist Elle Collins. Her artworks are especially influenced by rugged coastal landscapes and luscious overgrown woodlands. Drawing inspiration from these sources, Elle creates contemporary pieces that embrace the sculptural beauty of irregular patterns found in nature: either literally or in the composition of an abstract piece.

To create her unique artworks, Elle uses the technique of her own self developed signature knot, alongside traditional hand weaving. Weaving on a pin loom, or weaving straight into her handmade frames which are finished to the highest of detail. Originally gaining her degree in Three dimensional Design & Silversmithing at Loughborough University, she has since been drawn to larger scale wall art using natural fibres, to adorn private residences and businesses all over the world.​

You can find out more about Elle and her work on here; website, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

October 2023 Winner – Charles Fowles

West Midlands-based fine artist Charles Fowles is the winner of PACK & SEND’s Art of the Month in October with his painting – A pièce de résistance. This oil pastel on canvas, measuring 50” X 40”, 2/3, was exported to Norway by PACK & SEND Hall Green.

His style is an expressive free flow, painting anything that comes to mind allowing his ideas to take control. This creates layer upon layer abstaining from brushes, only using his hands as the brush. He doesn’t like to have major meaning behind his work, it’s all about challenging his creativity pushing as far as he can go with the aim of creating a feel of power and energy with colour.

You can find out more about Charles and his work on his Instagram.

September 2023 Winner – Judy Century

September’s Art of the Month winner is North London-based artist Judy Century with her abstract floral acrylic painting – Fancy Free. Judy creates vibrant, contemporary artworks inspired by the natural world. She’s drawn to structure and patterns in nature and mainly focuses on capturing a sense of flowers bursting into life with their elegant, powerful forms. She enjoys capturing the essence of flowers or landscapes, sometimes more abstracted than others, and stylising them to make them her own with expressive marks and patterns. She also plays with bold backgrounds, dramatic marks and scale, to create an interesting contrast with the delicate nature of the subject matter.

From a young age, Judy had a creative flair, and arts and crafts were lifelong hobbies. She attended Oxford University to pursue a mainstream university path, followed by a career in the corporate world running business transformation programmes.

After keeping it on the side for many years, the creativity in her was dissatisfied and she set up Judy Century Art to follow her dreams and to allow her to create everyday. It is a great pleasure to be able to share my work more widely offering colourful, contemporary art for homes and workplaces.

You can find out more about Judy on here; website, Facebook and Instagram.

August 2023 Winner – Charmagne Coble

Charmagne Coble is August’s Art of the Month winner with her painting – Trace. Trace explores the complex relationship between absence and presence and how difficult it is to separate the two. Using the artist’s own body as the medium to express personal experiences of decay and absence by leaving traces of the human body through powders on the skin. Trace analyses what has been left behind yet at the same time shows what is quite clearly present.

Charmagne is a British fine artist based in Manchester, UK. After being a witness to her father’s death at 18 years old Charmagne began to use art as a way to express herself, creating a practice focused on loss, trauma and mental health. The artist also confronts the intense subject of eating disorders through mediums of photography, printmaking and found mediums. Charmagne has a Master’s Degree in Fine Art and has exhibited across the globe with her latest exhibitions including Sotheby’s, London.

Find out more about Charmage and her artwork on her website and Instagram.

July 2023 Winner – Tallulah De Castro Gray

Transcendence by Tallulah De Castro Gray is July’s Art of the Month. This is a 120 x 90cm acrylic painting inspired by eucalyptus trees. The piece was created by spreading crackle paste onto a primed canvas to create a cracked surface similar to bark. Once dry, she employed automatic drawing with oil bars and charcoal to add primal marks to the piece. Next, Tallulah applied washes of acrylic paint in shades of peach, beige and brown to resemble the colour of bark and human skin. Then, using a squeegee she painted streaks of purple, pink, orange, blue and gold, gradually building from washes to impasto layers in neon colours, to create depth and a feeling of transcendence.

Tallulah believes colour has a profound effect on the soul. Her paintings seek to ignite this effect, employing motifs of spirituality through expression, to suggest there is more to life than meets the eye. She uses mixed methods and media to create large, dramatic works that attract the viewer through luscious swirls of colour. She wants my work to provide stimulation, curiosity and well-being to the viewer, on a variety of levels.

You can find out more about Talluah and her work on her website and Instagram!

June 2023 Winner – Studio ABK

Studio ABK are the winner of Art of the Month in June with their acrylic painting titled Summer. The Hertfordshire-based artist has been based in the countryside for many years, where they have enjoyed exploring the natural surroundings physically and portraying it on paper. They are inspired by their walks, photographs, and images seen online. Developing these natural environments into fantasy places provided them with a great sense of escapism and they hope the audience get the same feeling upon viewing it.

They honed their skills by working with acrylic paints and developing them into art pieces or unique designs for print. With a passion for art and a background as an interior designer, they enjoy using colours, symmetry and patterns to create pieces that truly draw the viewers in. Each piece symbolises the endless joy, peace and inspiration nature can provide people.

You can find out more about their work on their Instagram page. Studio ABK also has an Etsy page where you can purchase and see more of their work – https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/StudioABK!

May 2023 Winner – Matthew Turner

Leicestershire-based artist Matthew Turner is May’s Art of the Month winner. He has always had a passion for space travel, exploration, the outdoors and adventure. He studied for a Fine Art painting degree in the 1990s and had an opportunity to study at the Moscow Institute of Architecture at that time. This was very influential to Matthew and his artwork being struck by the technology, the art and the symbolism. He has a fascination with space and space travel which heavily features in his work with big influences from the cold war space race propaganda and Retro Sci-fi art.

His intention as an artist is to work in the great tradition of Artists in the NASA Art Program and Soviet Space artists. To promote, educate and inspire people to the possibilities and achievements of space science from the past, present and into the future. As part of this, he has worked as a secondary and Post 16 Art teacher, using art to encourage interest in space science through his pupils. Matthew hopes to continue to work with space science organisations on future projects to perhaps, re-establish links between art and science, to inspire and promote scientific exploration.

You can find out more about Matthew and his work on his; website, Facebook and Instagram.

April 2023 Winner – Sophia Hood

April’s Art of the Month is awarded to rising artist Sophia Hood. She is a painter based in North Yorkshire and is at the beginning of her art journey, refinding her love for painting during lockdown.

Her winning entry, “A study of light on water” is an abstract painting that was commissioned to add some life to a family’s new extension.

Sophia used vibrant colours and loose brushstrokes to try to capture the effect of lights moving with the ebb and flow of the water.

Inspiration for the piece came from watching the city lights on the River Ouse in York. The couple’s extension had a lot of dark colours, natural wood and industrial-looking steel elements. The blend of the colourful lights and fluidity of the water have been offset against the darker elements of their interior design which really sets off this piece and helps it stand out.

You can find out more about Sophia and her work on her; Etsy, Instagram and Facebook.

March 2023 Winner – Cath Gillingham

Devon-based artist Cath Gillingham is March’s Art of the Month winner.

She is a practising artist and completed a BA and MA in Fine and Applied Arts in her 20s. She has now found the time to fulfil her passion. Cath’s work is predominantly still life with particular attention to flowers, vessels and fruit. She loves colour, pattern and process.

This can be seen in March’s winning entry ‘Golden Pear in Mermaid Kiss’. This mixed-media piece is created with acrylic and oil pastel and is 30x30cm.

Cath’s work has been featured in group exhibitions in the South West.

You can find out more about Cath and her work on her Instagram!

February 2023 Winner – Ben Taggart

February’s Art of the Month is awarded to Ben Taggart. Ben creates intricate and detailed house portraits, transforming the familiar into the remarkable in miniature. These hand-made models of any building are presented in their own box fame or display case. The construction of these truly bespoke architectural models can take several weeks or even months depending on the complexity of the building.

Founding Modelhouses.co.uk over 25 years ago Ben’s work has brought him together with many wonderful people worldwide, the owners of fantastic houses who share his passion for architecture.

February’s winning entry is a recent commission Ben created. The piece was constructed in wood, brass, paper and plastic and every detail was hand-made individually for the commission. PACK & SEND Croydon had the privilege of packaging and shipping the house safely to the USA.

Find out more about Ben and his work by visiting his website, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

January 2023 Winner – Gavin Mundy

The first Art of the Month of 2023 goes to London-based painter Gavin Mundy.

Gavin’s realistic style is inspired by various sources, from great artists of the past to contemporary artists and even film special effects artists. He revels in detail and the effects of light and loves the qualities of acrylic paint with which he paints most of his work. While trained in graphic design, he taught himself many fine art techniques.

January’s winning entry is acrylic on aluminium panel painting titled – BookStack 2. Gavin has always enjoyed the idea of stored knowledge and books’ comforting feel and smell. This series painting is a little exploration and celebration of these overlooked everyday items.

Gavin’s art is owned by private and corporate clients around the globe and he has exhibited in the UK, France and the USA. His awards include Still Life Artist of The Year 2016 from the SAA.

You can find out more about Gavin and his work on his; website, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter!

Art of the Year 2022

We are celebrating all of our outstanding Art of the Month winners in 2022 with PACK & SEND Art of the Year!

As voted for by YOU 2022’s Art of the Year has been awarded to Woz Oliver!

For winning the competition, Woz has earnt himself a shipping voucher to use in a PACK & SEND service centre of his choice to send his artwork to his clients as well as publicity across our website and social media channels.

Enter Art of the Month to be in with a chance of being our Art of the Year for 2023!

December 2022 Winner – Lyndsey Vowell

The final winner of Art of the Month in 2022 is Cornwall-based artist Lyndsey Vowell.

Born and raised in Cornwall, Lyndsey lives in the bustling seaside town of Falmouth. Surrounded by the natural beauty of the Cornish coastline, Lyndsey uses her contemporary style to capture and create paintings that are unique and inspiring. The light, sky and sea conditions constantly change which ignites her passion for painting. Often using acrylic paints, she has the confidence to explore other mediums and techniques to truly bring each painting to life with its atmospheric style.

Lyndsey has had an overwhelming response to her solo exhibitions with celebrity collectors such as the critically acclaimed Stephen Graham and partner Hannah Walters.

Following on from that Lyndsey was recently commissioned for a prestigious hotel in Cornwall and has sold internationally to California and Florida.

To view more of her work as well as up-to-date news and exhibitions, visit her; website, Instagram and Facebook.

November 2022 Winner – Bradley Smith

North London-based artist Bradley Smith is the November winner of Art of the Month. This 90cm x 60cm acrylic painting celebrates British rapper, singer and songwriter Stormzy.

He is an artist who paints portraits of iconic and influential figures from the past right up to the present day. These iconic figures are a range of leading Entrepreneurs and Artists in the entertainment world within Film, TV, Music and Sport.

Bradley grew up in the heart of North London and has been surrounded by culture, art and inspiration all of his life, so his love and passion for painting developed naturally.

Following the art route academically he graduated in Model Design and decided to pursue being a model maker in Film and TV where he enjoyed designing and making 3D models.

After pursuing a corporate career in the City of London for a number of years, Brad realised that his passion for success in the art world was a long-term desire that he wanted to return to professionally but with a unique and contemporary style in all of his artwork.

To find out more about Bradley and see more of his work please visit his; website, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

October 2022 Winner – Hannah Gleeson

October’s Art of the Month winner is Hannah Gleeson. As an artist Hannah specialises in watercolour and acrylic paintings, mainly using the natural world around us as her inspiration.

She says “living by the coast, the sea has always been a place I’m drawn to. The wide-open expanse with no end in sight; it grounds you, makes you realise how small you are in this world, this universe! It is my place to clear my head, to calm me, to rationalise the chaos of life.”

It is important to her to try and bring these feelings into her artwork to be passed on to the viewer.

This month’s winning piece “Break of Dawn” is part of the Hope Collection. This is a collection of beautifully calming sunrise paintings, filling the viewer with the sense of peace and new hope that the sunrise brings every day.

You can find out more about Hannah and her work on her; Instagram, Facebook and website.

September 2022 Winner – Laurence M White

September’s artist of the month is Laurence M White with his painting of legendary reggae artist Bob Marley.

Laurence is an emerging contemporary artist based in Essex, England. He is self-taught and produces unique paintings with a positive message.

Inspired by successful entrepreneurs, artists and entertainers Laurence paints vibrant portraits of the most influential people in pop culture today.

Having always been fascinated by what it takes to achieve success Laurence paints figures who have made it to the elite of society.

His work focuses on capturing the entrepreneurial spirit, hard work and persistence to achieve what’s ever it is that you put your mind to.

Find out more about Laurence and his work on his; website, Instagram and Twitter.

August 2022 Winner – Sue Dickins

Sue Dickins is August’s Art of the Month winner. She is a retired police officer whose life now has a big focus on art. She is based in Derbyshire where she lives with her son and has also been exhibiting her work at the West Studios in Chesterfield throughout August.

Sue specialises in figurative art, just like this month’s winning entry – Tree of Life. This piece is a portrait of her friend Amanda draped in a beautiful tree of life throw. She took the photos and worked from life for this piece.

To find out more about Sue see more of her work please visit her; Facebook and Instagram.

July 2022 Winner – Cristina Schek

July’s winning entry comes from London based self-taught artist and photographer Cristina Schek. Her greatest passion is storytelling and following her curiosity into the unknown, enjoying the freedom of layering and manipulating her photographs into creative montages and, at the same time, trusting her instinct for matching the raw material with the imaginings of her subconscious.

She creates conceptual portraits exploring identity and the nature of representation using literature, films, and art history as inspiration. She usually works as her own model and has captured herself in a range of guises and personas which are often whimsical and a touch romantic, employing amusing and impactful visual puns.

Cristina’s winning entry is called Fern Girl and making its debut at ‘Art On Paper’, in New York, courtesy The Cynthia Corbett Gallery.

You can find out more about Cristina and her work on her; website, Instagram, LinkedIn and Facebook.

June 2022 Winner – Catherine Holland

Landscape artist Catherine Holland is June’s Art of the Month winner. Most of the inspiration for her artwork comes from bicycle or motorbike rides, out in the countryside, where she sees things that delight her, a mixture of skyscape and landscape, light, colours and a little intrigue. Catherine takes some photographs to work from, as she likes to include lots of detail. Sometimes a series comes from one experience.

For a long time art was something on the sidelines for Catherine, but now she is allowing it to take centre stage. She is represented by Purple Gallery in Bournville and has several shows lined up locally in Solihull this year.

You can find out more about Catherine and her work on her; website and Facebook page.

May 2022 Winner – Tommy Fiendish

Tommy Fiendish is May’s winner of Art of the Month. Tommy is a London based artist who has been nominated to the competition by Molasses House art gallery. He has a background in street art, tattooing and typography which are all evident in his modern baroque paintings. As an artist he is quite experimental with his work being thought provoking, romantic and evocative and his images are a dystopian social commentary, often with darkly humorous overtones.

As well as his art, Fiendish has also been a contributing artist to things like; hit video game, Need For Speed Heat and an assistant set designer for 2018 Spielberg film, Ready Player One.

This winning entry, Black Swan Raw in Teal, was made using Acrylic on Linen and measures 160x160cm. The artwork has been safely shipped to its new home in Australia by PACK & SEND Harrow.

You can find out more about Tommy and his work on his website, Instagram or Facebook and Molasses House on their website, Instagram and Facebook too!

April 2022 Winner - Woz Oliver

April’s winner of Art of the Month is Woz Oliver. Woz is an artist from the North East. He started painting in 2013 as a hobby, whilst working as a professional MMA coach but retired to take up art.

His work has been featured in several exhibitions. The first was the Gerry Laffy art collective at Lauderdale House in 2020. The second was Asylum 2 return to the crypt. In new church London. Alongside other artists such as Banksy, Mason Storm, Gerry Laffy and many others. Woz also had a solo exhibition in 2021 Sunderland at FSG gallery called Heroes and Villians.

This winning entry is of Peaky Blinders protagonist, Tommy Shelby. The piece is an oil painting on canvas 33 x 23 inches.

You can find out more about Woz and his work on his; Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

March 2022 Winner - Rosannagh Scarlet Esson

The first winner of Art of the Month is Rosannagh Scarlet Esson. She has been nominated to the competition by Zuleika Gallery with this month’s winning entry – Something in the Air. This artwork is mixed media with sequestered air pollution on board measuring 35 x 27 cm individually and 45 x 95 cm framed.

Rosannagh graduated from Oxford Brookes in 2016 with First Class Honours in Fine Art and was awarded the Fine Art Dissertation Prize for the best critical submission in her year. Her work explores the alchemy of painting by abstracting colour and form through exposure to elemental forces. Symbolic and unconventional materials are mixed in experimental ways that work with, rather than against, the transformative effects of fire, rain, ice, time or gravity to reflect the untameable nature of the elements, and the duality of creation and destruction. The themes she explores include wildness, rewilding, ecological succession and alchemical symbolism. Rosannagh has exhibited both in the UK and Europe and has work in several private collections.

You can find out more about Rosannagh and the Zuleika Gallery on their website and Instagram.

Art of the Week

As of March 2022 PACK & SEND Art of the Week has been rebranded to Art of the Month. Please see our previous winners of Art of the Week below.

Winners now get the opportunity to have their masterpiece showcased for an entire month on our website and our social media platforms, so there is even more reason to get involved!

Winner Week 28 - Sara Mak

In its 28th week, Sara Mak has won Art of the Week with her artwork – Llanddwyn Island Gate. This artwork depicts Ynys Llanddwyn Island gate in Anglesey, Wales. This is Sara’s favourite part of the world.  A much-loved destination and definitely good for the soul to walk to this tidal island. It is an original ink and watercolour on an A4 canvas board.

She rediscovered her love of creating quirky art during the murk of lockdown due to COVID-19. It came at the end of a difficult life-changing year for Sara, and she feels that she has now fully emerged above the muddy waters that surrounded her to appreciate herself, her family and friends… and of course, her art!

Sara loves recreating special places for people – many of her private commissions have been much-missed family holiday locations during lockdown and travel restrictions – both in the UK and abroad. Sara’s art has brought back special memories for many people of happy times or momentous life moments.

You can find out more about Sara and her work on her; website, Instagram and Facebook.

Winner Week 27 - Dawn Conn

Our 27th winner of Art of the Week is Dawn Conn. She is an international figurative sculptor who is captivated by the nostalgia of childhood simplicity, ’joie de vivre’ & embracing life.   Dawn’s sculptures draw on her love of figurative expression, embarking on a journey to capture the essence of my figure, inspired by behaviour, stance and character.  She undertook nearly a decade long journey of academic art education (including art and design studies at the Central St Martin’s college in London).  She combined that with an organic and tactile approach to create her own unique artistic style, fusing techniques, mediums, and inspirations.

This week’s winning entry is called:  ‘Diving into the ocean of life’ It is a limited edition sculpture series with one currently on permanent display at the RHS Wisley garden in Surrey.  Her diving girls are about capturing the essence and epitome of women. Beautiful and strong. Confident and poised. Encouraging and believing in each other and ourselves.  It is not just about the act of swimming ~ it is a celebration of life.

Dawn has used PACK & Send in Oxford and Belfast East to send her sculptures to Europe, the USA, Australia and New Zealand.

You can find out more about Dawn and her work on her; website, Facebook and Instagram!

Winner Week 26 - Peter Clossick

Peter Clossick is Art of the Week’s 26th winner. He is a professional fine art painter based in London. Peter studied at Camberwell School of Art and Goldsmiths College during the early 1970s and has been engaged in professional fine art practice since. He is a member and Past President of The London Group an artist collective established in 1913 and also a member of  The New English Art Club under the Federation of British Artists.

Peter’s work is regularly exhibited both here in the UK and abroad. His work includes this week’s winning entry – Light of my life. This artwork created with oil on canvas, is of Tommy aged three, the son of his daughter, Jane.

You can find out more about Peter and his work on his website and Instagram.

Winner Week 25 - Sheila MacNeill

The 25th winner of Art of the Week is Sheila MacNeill with Chalk Loch. This artwork is inspired by the layers of chalk dust at the bottom of her easel. There is actually a great story that comes with the piece too. Sheila was contacted by one of her Instagram followers who had had a dream about the artwork.

In the dream, they came to her studio looking for the painting. Sheila kept bringing out paintings to show them, but none of them were this particular piece. The next day they searched my Instagram to double-check they hadn’t dreamt the painting up!

They then contacted her, asking if she still had it and if they could buy it. Happily, Sheila was able to say yes on both accounts. With the help of PACK & SEND Glasgow City Chalk Loch was safely sent to The Netherlands to its new home less than a week later!

If you want to find out more about Sheila and her work, you can see more on her; website and Instagram.

Winner Week 24 - Vicki Sullivan

Vicki Sullivan is the 24th winner of Art of the Week with her painting Carnivale ll. This piece is oil on linen measuring H 40cm x W 30cm. It is inspired by Venice and Harlequino who lived near the small village where the Italian side of Vicki’s family originated, in the beautiful mountains of Northern Italy. Harlequino’s house is still there with frescoes on the walls. Harlequino began the Venetian Carnivale which is still celebrated today.

Vicki is a portrait artist specializing in portraiture and figurative work, based near Melbourne Victoria in her Studio in Rye, “Pomegranate Studio” which is open by appointment. Her work is held in Private and Public collections worldwide.

She studied painting in Australia and at the Angel Academy of Art in Florence Italy, with Maestro Michael John Angel. Now she is a member of Portrait Artist’s Australia, The Melbourne Society of Women Sculptors and Painters, the Art Renewal Center, Poet’s Artists and The Portrait Society of America.

She has won many awards for her work, in countries such as Australia, the USA, the UK and China. In 2021 Vicki was awarded the Title “Living Master” by the Art Renewal Centre the largest International Foundation for the promotion and education of Realist Art.

If you want to find out more about Vicki and her work you can see more on her; Instagram, website and Artsy.

Winner Week 23 - Epi

Art of the Week’s 23rd winner is Epi. Epi was born in Bristol but his work first works began to appear in the early 2000s on walls around central Paris- rudimentary stencils combined with quotations from the great and good of the French literary canon- earning him widespread condemnation, opprobrium and the attention of the Gendarmerie Nationale.

In 2014 he returned to Britain and found its audience to have a different perspective on his work, they struggled to embrace an art form that made use of complex and arcane literary quotes in a foreign language. His work is heavily influenced by the Stencil Movement that had its roots in 1960’s Parisian political protest art. To adapt to this new market Epi gradually adapted his style, eschewing the wall for canvas and reinterpreting the visual zeitgeist with a technique that would incorporate graffiti, Surrealism, Minimalism, Pop, and mid-century poster art.

Through his work, he endeavours to depict a fantastical narrative that runs parallel to the pedestrian and mundane- that is, a secondary reality, one where things both conventional and bizarre live together as if bourgeois culture were shifted marginally towards chaos and absurdity.

This week’s winning piece titled ‘Cheers’ is a pastiche of the famous Harland Miller Penguin Book paintings. It’s oil paint on an acrylic underpainting, on canvas, measuring 80cm x 60cm.

If you wanted to find out more about Epi and his work, you can see this on his website and Instagram.

Winner Week 22 - Daniel Constantin Barbu

The 22nd winner of Art of the Week is Daniel Constantin Barbu. He is a self-taught artist inspired by energy and the universe. His digital art, paintings and sketches are one of a kind and they come to him once the brush touches the canvas creating every painting from his creativity and mind.

Daniel likes to tell stories with his artwork that cross traditional barriers such as gender, age, income, education & race to help us understand the most important art of all — “The art of being human”

The goal of his work is to make a connection with the viewer. Daniel hopes in some small way, his work sends a message out into the world. A message of hope, of change and of social justice.

This week’s winning entry Protect the Children vl does just this. It is part of a digital artwork series that explores the idea that art is a way to protect the innocence of children and it’s inclined to social issues. Art is Freedom and with this collection, Daniel wanted to use it to hopefully one day partner with Save the Children and help those in severe conditions of life.

You can find out more about Daniel and his other works on his Etsy shop and Instagram.

Winner Week 21 - John Walker

John Walker is a figurative painter who was born and brought up in Grimsby. He was trained as a painter in the University art department in Newcastle upon Tyne from 1956 to 1961. Upon graduating, he moved to London where he worked in the Civil Service, public and art libraries. For many years he also wrote art criticism for a range of art magazines and taught art history in several British art schools. Now retired and living in Surrey he creates pieces of art just like this week’s winning entry.

This artwork depicts a midwife riding a bicycle set against an industrial townscape of the 1920s in Grimsby. It is created with oil on linen and is 71 x 107 cm in size. If you want to find out more about John and his work, this can be seen on his website!

Winner Week 20 - Geraldine Segre

Geraldine Segre is the winner of Art of the Week in its 20^th week! She is an artist based in Anderby on the Lincolnshire coast. Living here she is a huge admirer of the beautiful coast and countryside and tries to capture this in per paintings. In particular she has a fascination with places where nature and man-made structures meet – sea defences, outfalls, piers and seaside resorts.

Most of Geraldine’s work is painted with chalk pastel because their vibrant colours are well suited to the drama of the English coast and countryside. This week’s winning entry is called Old Chapel Point, it is of one of Geraldine’s favourite local beaches. The area is known for its big skies and she wanted to capture that feeling of vast open space and the clear light of a bright, English summer’s day.

More information about Geraldine and her work can be found on her; website, Instagram and Facebook.

Winner Week 19 - Marina Barnes

The 19th winner of Art of the Week is Marina Barnes. Marina is a self-taught artist from Derby. She likes to make quirky, creative and unusual things in her unique style, outsider art. Her work features such heroes with black eyes and legs like drops as can be seen in this week’s winning entry. They are generally created with ink on paper, mixed media or by collage.

You can see more of Marina’s work and find out more about her on; Instagram as well as her Etsy shop.

Winner Week 18 - Hannah Thomas

Illusion of confusion by Hannah Thomas is this week’s winner of Art of the Week. Hannah is an abstract painter based in Wiltshire. She has worked as a photographer in London, specialising in the music industry, for over a decade before shifting her focus to painting. Her move over to painting was primarily born of a desire to work creatively in a fully autonomous way, with no rules; it was a space to be truly experimental.

Hannah’s work is instinctive and focused on a stream of consciousness approach to painting. Ideas of absurdism and chaos are common in her work and there is a celebration of the flux of life in the appearance of unfinished elements, elements morphing in and out of view, a slightly muddy palette that embraces the textures and residues of life experience on the canvas and a sense of underlying activity and forces unseen.

The energetic paintings she creates are an attempt to make tangible a series of signature shapes and motifs, a view of human confusion and the multi-layered nature of experience. Her art has been included in several group and solo exhibitions over the past eighteen months and she is currently embarking on a new body of work in her new studio in Bradford on Avon.

You can find out more about Hannah and see more of her work on her; website, Instagram and LinkedIn profile.

Winner Week 17 - Anne Baldwin

Pet and portrait artist Anne Baldwin is the latest winner of PACK & SEND Art of the Week. Based in Kent she creates these stunning bespoke portraits for her customers. She aims to bring your vision to life using mostly pastel or coloured pencil techniques. Anne is open to suggestions with her work and will make any amendments requested by the client. All of her work is viewed as a collaboration, with the client, and she will never consider a piece finished until the client is completely happy with it!

As an artist, she has always wanted to capture emotion, especially through faces and eyes. She studied art in school where she was pushed to take her O & A levels exams in the subject early, passing both. Although despite being accepted for a foundation art at college she had to stop her art at this time for personal reasons. In 2020 she re-taught herself through YouTube and lots of books and started creating these fantastic portraits.

You can find out more about Anne and her work on her; website, Facebook and Instagram.

Winner Week 16 - Trina Bohan

Trina Bohan is an artist based in Edinburgh. After settling in Edinburgh she fell in love with the huge skies, which she used to develop her large-format – Scottish Skyscapes. Her work invites the observer to look up from the land to the light in an ever-changing sky as it breaks through to reflect on the water.

Trina tries to capture momentary changes. She takes photographs for ideas whilst travelling and walking which she then turns into her art in her studio in Custom House, Leith. Appointments can be booked here for people to come and see her fantastic work.

Trina uses PACK & SEND Edinburgh East to safely pack and ship her Skyscapes and other work to her customers wherever they might be!

You can find out more about Trina and her work on; her website, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Winner Week 15 - Alasdair Thomson

The 15th winner of Art of the Week is Alasdair Thomson. Alasdair is a marble sculpture based in Edinburgh, Scotland. He has been Italian-trained in the art and has significant experience in carving large scale sculpture and other elements of decorative stonework, both in Scotland and abroad.

He creates sculptures of all sorts of things like; trainers, clothing, perfume bottles and anything else he is commissioned to make! Alasdair has completed sculptural commissions for clients such as Nike, Puma and Arkk Copenhagen, amongst others. This week’s winning piece is a marble sculpture of some Air Jordan’s.

Alasdair has used PACK & SEND Edinburgh East to safely ship his sculptures across the UK and around the world for many years.

If you want to find out more about Alasdair and his work you can see more on his website and Instagram!

Winner Week 14 - Ian Rayer-Smith

Ian Rayer-Smith is the 14th winner of Art of the Week. Ian was born in Farnham, England in 1970 and has spent 20 years working in the distribution and health lifestyle industries before beginning his practice as a full-time artist.

At this point, he had no prior experience or training but was fascinated by the medium and its possibilities. He has now completed a degree in visual arts and encountered a dramatic trajectory into the art world: attracting the attention of prominent collectors, winning several awards, and being featured in various international art publications.

Ian now has his own gallery in Manchester’s vibrant Northern Quarter open by appointment and two art studios in a converted mill in Cheshire and a converted chapel in rural Shropshire. As well as having his work represented in galleries in London, Munich, Melbourne, Toronto, Paris, Lille, Lyon, LA, and Palm Beach.

This particular winning piece is called ‘Hobnobs and Heathens’ and like many of Rayer-Smith’s paintings, it has a visceral yet emotional quality. It has been painted using acrylic on canvas and really catches the eye. He uses PACK & SEND Salford Quays to safely ship his artwork to his customers all around the world!

If you wanted to find out more about Ian and his work you can visit his website, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter!

Winner Week 13 - Scott Edwards

Scott Edwards is the winner of PACK & SEND Art of the Week this week, with this painting of Luna. Scott is a pet portrait artist based in Devon, UK. He commissions one of a kind portraits of your treasured pets which he makes with real attention to detail gaining that real likeness of character.

He loves nothing more than creating realistic drawings of your beloved pets and describes it as the best ‘job’ in the world. This winning piece of Blue Roan Cocker Spaniel Luna is a great example of his work, creating an exact likeness including fine details like all her curls. If you want to find out more about Scott and his work you can see more on his website, Instagram or Facebook.

Winner Week 12 - Rosemary Burn

Rosemary Burn is an artist whose paintings are crafted from moments and memories – tiny events which captured her attention, such as a dripping bath tap and the light carried in the ripples, a fly on the wall, the fleeting expression on a face or a nameless place.

She paints every day searching for alchemy between paint, subject and moment. As well as her love for art and painting she is also a classical pianist. So she is always being creative in some way even if not through her art.

This winning piece titled, Train pain infusion, depicts a cup of railway tea. The piece was designed to summon memories of journeys, waiting, the time between places and hours to reflect and dream. It is painted in an impressionist/realist style using geometric shapes and abstraction, which are also an integral part of the composition.

If you wanted to check out more of Rosemary’s work you can find it on her; website, Twitter and Instagram.

Winner Week 11 - Paul Kellett

Paul Kellett was won PACK & SEND Art of the Week in its 11th week. Paul is an artist based in the UK. He came back to painting in his 40’s largely following a breakdown as a way to support his well being. Painting helps him draw away from the day to day stresses of his job in the charity sector. His work is abstract and largely explores communicating emotion through a fluid process of paint application.

His winning entry, SOAR, was painted as a commission for a client who had lost her husband in tragic circumstances. It was a gift for her daughter and speaks about the ability to overcome tragedy and find the strength to move forward and not just exist but live to the full. It’s about taking the tougher emotions of your life and using them for the good of soaring to new heights.

You can find out more about Paul and his work on his Instagram page!

Winner Week 10 - Lalu Stevens

The 10th winner of PACK & SEND Art of the Week is Lalu Stevens. Lalu is a UK artist from Leicester who now lives in Leipzig, Germany with her husband. She loves painting with bright colours and strong lines. Most of her work consists of painting cityscapes and landscapes.

This winning piece is called ‘Smoky Tops’ it is gouache on fine art paper. The painting is based on an 1800s photograph of the Manchester slums during the Industrial Revolution. It has taken inspiration from the style, thematic content, and colour palette of the famous Mancunian artist L.S Lowry, who inspired Lalu a lot as a child.

If you want to find out more about Lalu and her work you can see more on her Etsy, Facebook and Instagram pages!

Winner Week 9 - Magdalena Biernacka

PACK & SEND Art of the Week’s 9th winner is Magdalena Biernacka. Magdalena is an artist based in North Yorkshire who creates work based on watercolour and ink specifically creating images using ink by creating fine lines. The main theme of her artwork is nature and she enjoys incorporating geometry into her artwork. Therefore creating abstract art inspired by nature.

If you want to find out more about Magdalena and her work you can see visit her Facebook page and her online gallery.

Winner Week 8 - Toni Dade

This week’s winner of our Art of the Week competition is Toni Dade. Toni is based in Portugal where she has been painting since the early 90s and you can see a wide range of work examples on her website.  Many of her paintings and illustrations feature the natural world as can be seen in this delightful watercolour study of a pineapple and she has exhibited her work in the UK and Portugal over the last few years.

Toni is a Fellow of the Society of Botanical Artists and will be exhibiting in the RHS Botanical Art & Photography Show at the Saatchi Gallery in London from 18th Sept-3rd Oct.

Winner Week 7 - Louise Marriott

The 7th winner of PACK & SEND’s Art of the Week competition is Louise Marriott. Louise has nominated this statue, it was created as a promotional piece to feature in Mambo surf stores in Australia. The statue was created 36 years ago by two Australian artists Hugh Ramage and Peter King working under the name Storageman from an original design by New Zealand artist Reg Mombassa.

After being off display for 20 years, the piece came into Louise’s hands after being safely shipped to her from Australia thanks to PACK & SEND Lonsdale. It now sits proudly in her home.

Winner Week 6 - Nikolas Wereszczyński

Nikolas Wereszczyński is a Polish artist based in London. His work is often influenced by his
Slavic heritage, with a focus on nature, spirituality, people and the relationship between the
three. He is largely inspired by folklore, the Golden Age of illustration and Ukiyo-e.
He has produced several works depicting common Slavic themes and Polish legends, as well as images from his childhood in Poland. He hopes that they will allow him to share and raise
interest in Polish as well as Slavic culture, which despite being colourful and rich is not
commonly explored.

As an LGBT artist, he also likes to include delicate queer elements into his work as a way to
represent and include the LGBT community in his own heritage and history.
He enjoys working with a variety of media, including gouache, pen and ink, linocut printing and acrylic painting. He enjoys symbolism and focuses on the sense of beauty, wonder and serenity in his works.

For more information about Nikolas and his work visit his; website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Artsy and Artnet.

Winner Week 5 - Julie Tanner

Julie Tanner is the 5th winner of PACK & SEND’s Art of the Week. Julie is a self-taught sculptor and graphic designer. During lockdown, Julie found herself with a ‘freaky passion for sculpture’ and started to create sculptures of her own whether they be stone, clay, resin or bronze. She does sculptures for commission and also her own private work too.

This week’s winning piece of art is Julie’s sculpture called ‘Flow’. Flow is a bronze sculpture and is limited to 12 editions. The sculpture was the winner of the Lady Petchey Sculpture Prize.

For more information about Flow and Julie’s other work visit her website – https://julietannersculpture.com/ or her Instagram.

Winner Week 4 - Ted Harrison

Ted Harrison is this week’s winner of PACK & SEND Art of the Week. Ted is an artist and writer who divides his life between his two homes in Wales and Shetland. Ted has previously presented shows on BBC Radio 4 and has written in many of the major national publications covering a wide range of topics.

This piece of art that Ted has made is of Skaw beach in Shetland. This beach is the northernmost beach in Britain. Ted has painted it in an imagined bird’s-eye view and the paint is mixed with sand, stones and shells from the beach itself.

For more information about Ted and his work visit his website – tedharrison.co.uk

Winner Week 3 - Jon McRae

This week’s winner of PACK & SEND Art of the Week is Jon McRae. Jon is an urban photographer based in Guildford who prints most of his work onto gloss, matt or brushed aluminium panels. He also has a picture framing business called Otters Pool Studio.

This particular piece is part of his ‘Vertical Existence’ series called ‘Newfoundland’. It is 60 x 90cm, printed directly onto a brushed aluminium panel, and is a limited edition of just 25 copies.

You can see more of Jon’s work on his website – www.jonmcrae.co.uk. His work can also be found on his Instagram and Facebook.

Winner Week 2 - George Ryan

The second winner of PACK & SEND Art of the Week is George Ryan. George is an emerging artist in Reading who studied Fine Art at Arts University Bournemouth.

This entry is a 2m x 2m continuous line drawing trying to depict the intricacies of life. His work mainly revolves around mental health and is painted in the form of abstract expressionism. He does also paint murals and make custom canvases and stencils as commission pieces.

You can find out more about George’s work on his Instagram or you can email him at [email protected].

This is a timelapse of George creating the piece:

Winner Week 1 - Richard Garnham

Our first winner of Art of the Week is Richard Garnham. Richard is an artist from the London area who paints famous musicians and actors/actresses from around the world.

This week’s winning piece of art is of course of the legendary David Bowie. He sadly passed away in 2016 but left a lasting legacy on music and culture.

Richard paints large iconic portraits, like this one of Bowie, of people that he has grown up with either on film or through music. He feels that they always make an impact when people walk into a room and see them.

If you want to see more of Richard’s art it can be seen here – https://www.artfinder.com/v2/artist/richard-garnham and https://www.saatchiart.com/account/artworks/731103