Suffolk artists go wild for a good cause

Suffolk's wildlife has been captured on a series of beautiful Christmas cards by the county's top artists. And all the proceeds go to a good cause!

Suffolk's wildlife has been captured on a series of beautiful Christmas cards by the county's top artists. And all the proceeds go to a good cause!

Artists have donated their work to what is being described as Suffolk’s first ever “100 per cent charity Christmas cards.” The set of five eye-catching designs created by artists Brin Edwards, Robert Gilmore, Carry Akroyd, Michael Coulter and Sheila Tilmouth for the Suffolk Wildlife Trust will be on sale in most card and charity shops in the weeks before Christmas.Audrey Boyle, publicity manager for the Trust, said: “The idea follows news from the Charities Advisory Trust that businesses are giving as little as two per cent to charity yet are still labelling products as charity cards.“In addition, some retailers may be selling cards at loss leading prices with the benefits to charities becoming miniscule. With our cards, every penny spent (they are �2.50 for a pack of six cards and envelopes) goes directly towards preserving Suffolk’s wildlife.”

“I like the clues that show creatures come out to play when humans are at home watching telly. Or go to roost as late as possible, in the case of stay-out crows.”

East Suffolk-based Michael Coulter said he was delighted to be able to help the Trust. In addition to his watercolours of wildlife as diverse as otters, an egret, some widgin ducks, a barn owl and a marsh harrier – all at Snape marshes – he composed three other seasonal scenes which will all be used by the Trust as posters.Carry Akroyd said she made her little watercolour of a wintry, moonlit night after a walk at Arger Fen. “I was amazed by the badger sets among the bluebells, which I’m sure will turn up as another image sometime. “I wanted to create a sense of the place without being too accurate, somewhere between a map and a memory. I like the clues that show creatures come out to play when humans are at home watching telly. Or go to roost as late as possible, in the case of stay-out crows.“I was very pleased to have been introduced by the Trust to bits of Suffolk I knew nothing about.”The Assington-based artist Brin Edwards says that the waxwings in his picture are winter visitors from Scandinavia and turn up regularly on the East coast. “The birds in the painting are based on sketches I made when 14 waxwings took up residence in the car park at Colchester Asda. They were feeding on the cotoneaster berries on the bushes planted around the edge of the site. They stayed for several days and were quite tame.”

For more details call 01473 890089 or visit www.suffolkwild-lifetrust.myshopify.com