Light and Hope Themed Winter 23/24 Roundup

Amanda Howse with watercolour art interior Denmark January 2024

The Scandinavians are expert at creating cosy yuletide interiors and it has been a pleasure to see my hand painted watercolours displayed in a special Danish home setting. The Old Norse term hygge means ‘to comfort’ and comes from the Icelandic word hugr which means ‘mind’.

Moonlit tabby mixed media art by A.Howse

This winter we were inspired by the magical Coronation and the Crown light show event at the Tower of London. Light overcoming darkness and colour beaming through the night sky was also a favourite idea as we enjoyed the many festive lights brightening up what has otherwise been a rather dark and bleak winter for us all for many reasons.

Chichester City Tree Lights (detail) Photo by A. Howse

We were cheered by all the splendid displays of traditional fir trees and many other varieties of foliage festooned with strings of twinkling stars. The Petworth House Christmas tree dressing displays were traditional and beautiful. The Ideal Home Show entrance at Kensington Olympia surprised and delighted us with a sparkling snowy scene featuring a dozen life-size reindeer.

Fir tree display with pastel snow scene at Petworth House Sussex. Photo by A. Howse

The ability for technology to transform and help us mend and create solutions is perfectly encapsulated by the wonderful 3D printers now available to small businesses and craft folk. We have embraced learning more about this way of creating and we combined photography and a 3D printed ‘bauble’ in our handmade Christmas and Happy New Year cards for those we met over the festive season.

It has been fun to discover the possibilities of printing in colour in three dimensions and we look forward to being able to combine this modern tool with more traditional methods of creating and upcycling in the near future.