"River Fragments" artist book

I am delighted to report that my book "River Fragments" won the John Purcell Artist Book Award Ist Prize in the recent Society of Bookbinders International Bookbinding Competition 2026.

The book is based on the river Thames and features a short poem inspired by the wildlife in and around the river, also its connection to human activity and the treasures washed up on the foreshore. The pages are deckle edge Khadi paper, which I stained and painted with watercolour. The calligraphy is in walnut ink and the miniature illustrations are watercolour with gold powder sprinkling and black ink.

I bound the book in individual sections sewn directly onto a paper cover with a decorative leather spine. The cover features a painted strip of Wasli paper with hand made leather buttons, designed to resemble coins. The fastener is a decorated strip of Wasli paper cut from the deckle edge and secured with a hand made cord. The book is housed in a clamshell box. The colours chosen for the project reflect the brackish nature of the river, sometimes muddy and full of silt, other times golden and sparking in sunlight. This was my very first entry into a bookbinding competition and I was suprised and honoured in equal measure. Thank you so much Society of Bookbinders.

Art of the Book

I am delighted to announce that I have joined Art Of The Book, an online gallery for original book illustration and signed and rare books. You can see my paintings here at Art of the Book.

Royal Miniature Society Exhibition.

Please accept my invitation to our RMS annual Exhibition at Bankside Gallery in London. I have been busy preparing a new collection of miniature paintings and it would be lovely to meet you there. All work will be on sale and if you can't make it to the exhibition you will be able to view and buy online when the exhibition starts. I will write more about this on my blog.

Recent Collaborations

I recently collaborated with Dapper Notes to create a limited edtion notebook featuring my Herb Garden notebook. I am delighted to say that the edition completely sold out within hours of the launch. If you would like to see how this notebook was created you can watch a little video on YouTube here-

Miniature art Exhibitions

I have been busy prepearing my submissions to these two miniature art exhibitions. The Hilliard Society Exhibition will be held in Wells Town hall Saturday 7th to the 14th June, closed Sundays. The second exhibition will be held in Nature in Art Gallery, Tigworth Gloucester from the 6th May to the 8th June. Both exhibitions are selling exhibitions, I hope to see you there! I also have some miniatures for sale at The Norton Way Gallery

My Folksy Shop

After much deliberation I decided to move my online shop to the Folksy Site. You can find me here at Acornmoon

RMS Exhibition 2024 at Bankside Gallery

 

This year I am delighted to announce that I will be exhibiting a total of eight miniature paintings in this years Royal Miniature Society of Miniature Painters, Gravers and Sculptors annual exhibition to be held at Bankside gallery in London. In addition to the six paintings shown above I have two portraits and one larger works. All paintings are for sale and if you cannot make the exhibition you can view and buy online from Wednesday 26th June.

Bankside Gallery Exhibition

 Earlier this year I took part in the Art in Miniature Exhibition at the Bankside gallery in London.

I had a total of six miniature paintings chosen by The Royal Society of Miniature Painters, Sculptors and Gravers.

The Hilliard Society 40th Anniversary Exhibition.

 

The Hilliard Society of Miniature artists held their annual exhibition in Wells this year.

I entered three miniature paintings and was delighted to receive The President's Choice Award for my painting of a tawny owl.

Award Ceremony, The RMS 125th Exhibition.

 

The Royal Society of Miniature Painters, Sculptors and Gravers is now underway at the Mall Gallery in London. Yesterday I was delighted to receive two awards for my paintings including the best set award. You can read more about them and the Exhibition on my blog Acornmoon. The Exhibition runs until 5th December 2021. The photograph above shows myself and the Society's President Ray Winder PRMS.

Spring News

I am delighted to learn that this years Hilliard Society's annual exhibition of miniature paintings will go ahead this year in June.

The above painting is one of my contribution to this years event and you can visit the show for free.

Full details are on the society's website

Hilliard Society

Some of my miniature paintings have been licensed to Pattern Weights. These are small but highly decorative metal weights used by dressmakers to hold pattern pieces instead of pins. You may have noticed such weights being used on the popular TV series The Sewing Bee.

You can see designs here My Pattern Weights

A New Year and a New Lockdown.

 

I have been getting back to my roots and playing around with pattern design.

You can read more about my recent projects here on my blog Acornmoon.

Stay safe everyone, stay warm.

2020

Due to the worldwide Pandemic it has not been possible to exhibit any of my paintings with The Hilliard Society or The Royal Society of Miniature Painters, Sculptors and Gravers. Here's hoping for a brighter future for all of us next year!

Royal Society Of Miniature Painters, Sculptors and Gravers Exhibition 2019

This year I had six miniature paintings and two larger works included in this years RMS show at The Mall Galleries in London.

R.M.S. Annual Exhibition Invitation 2019

It's that time of year again and preparations are under way for this year’s annual exhibition of The Royal Society of Miniature Painters, Sculptors & Gravers. Anyone can enter their miniature paintings and full details are on the website.

All entries must be approved after submission, which starts this Sunday November 17^th. I am happy to say that my Fox Mandala painting has already been approved by the committee and will appear in this year’s catalogue.

The Exhibition opens on Thursday 28th November and closes on the 8th December at The Mall Gallery in London. I do hope you will visit, entry free!

To see more of my work please visit my blog or Instagram page, links in the sidebar.

The Hilliard Society, Wells.

Miniature watercolour painting of a Little Owl by Valerie Greeley R.M.S., H.S.

Four of my miniature paintings were accepted into this years annual Hilliard Society Exhibition in Wells. This was my third year to exhibit with the Society and was delighted to have been elected as a full member. I can now add the initials HS to my name. 

This year marks the four hundredth anniversary of the death of Nicholas Hilliard, an occasion which has been marked with several important exhibitions, including one at The National Portrait Gallery in London earlier this year. Hilliard came from Wells, Somerset and became famous for his portraits of Queen Elizabeth 1st and other notable figures. 

Yellow House Art Licensing

Over the last few weeks I have been busy sifting through my archive of work and sending it over to Yellow House Licensing who will now handle my new licensing enquiries.

I am excited to be represented by this company and feel happy to be in good company. You can search my images on their website, look under artist portfolios letter V.

R.M.S. annual Exhibition 2018

Earlier this month I took part in The Royal Society of Miniature Painters, Sculptors and Gravers Exhibition at The Mall galleries in London. This year I had six paintings in the main exhibition and four commissioned portraits in a side exhibition of Granville Family Tree portraits. If you missed the exhibition you can now visit online here-
I was thrilled to be awarded full membership (RMS) and received this wonderful news "Due to the exceptional quality and consistency of your work the President and Council members are delighted to grant you full membership".

I have written a little more about the exhibition here on my blog-

The Nicholas Hilliard Award 2018

This year I will be exhibiting two of my miniature paintings in The Hilliard Society Of Miniaturists Annual Exhibition at The Town Hall in Wells, Somerset.

The exhibition will open to the public on Saturday 2nd June to Saturday 9th June, closed Sunday 3rd June.

I am delighted to learn that my painting "Mouldywarp" has won the The Nicholas Hilliard Award 2018.

Victoria Magazine Artist-in-Residence 2018

This year I am delighted to have been made Artist-in-Residence for Victoria Magazine. You can read all about it here and find details on how to subscribe on the Victoria website.