Lions, lionesses, pin-badges, scarves, prints and a mended kidney...

Hello there

An awful lot has happened since I last posted. Health-wise, I've been in and out of hospital a fair bit, and had a few operations to sort out one of my kidneys. Thankfully, all is now sorted. I have been thoroughly impressed with the treatment I was given by the doctors, nurses, surgeons, dinner-ladies, porters and everyone else at the Urology dept of Royal Hallamshire Hospital in Sheffield. We are truly lucky to have the NHS in the UK. x

NEW THINGS

Work-wise, this spanner in the works  thankfully doesn't seem to have affected my creative output at all, in fact it has been a really busy creative time! I think I have created over 12 new prints, plus some pin badges and also worked on a range of scarves and cowls with Glaswegian knitting wiz Olive Pearson.

The scarves idea started out as a chat when we were both at the Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair in Manchester a couple of years ago. We finally found some space to think about the project early in 2025, and worked on a repeating donkey pattern to be turned into a range of merino lambswool scarves and cowls. I'm so happy with the result. They are really beautiful garments, and so soft. 

There are still some left on my website, and you can even contact Olive to create a bespoke colour combination if you so wish!

JG/OP Donkey scarves/cowls on Folksy

Olive Pearson website

New prints...as I said, I have created a whole load of new prints, mostly donkey ones. I'm not going to post here about all of them. you can see them in my Folksy shop, but I shall mention a couple of recent favourites.

Donkey Puzzle No.4 - A3 three-colour screenprint

This is fourth print in the 'donkey puzzle' series, a continuation of my theme showing a donkey or donkeys figuring out a tricky puzzle made of strange shapes, on their adventures in donkey-world. This here donkey is taking their time. There is no rushing this puzzle!

It is an A3 size three-colour screenprint, printed on 300gsm white Seawhite paper, in an edition of 34. The print is now in my Folksy shop and costs £40 plus p&p.

Starling A2 screen-print and A3 poster-print

I find starlings fascinating. Not only do they do those crazy murmurations, but their coats have this magical sheen to them with all sorts of colours going on. In the print I have tried to reflect that, and create a very mini-murmuration at the same time.

I have created two versions, an A2 4-colour screenprint, and an A3 poster-print too. The screen-print is in an edition of 24, printed on 300gsm acid-free Seawhite paper, and the poster-print is not limited, and on 160gsm acid-free paper. Both are in my Folksy shop now. The screen-print is £80 and poster-print £15, plus p&p.

Pin Badges!

The last badges I created (for my 2023 'Donkey Nonsense' exhibition) came and went in a flash, so I thought it was about time I made some more. This time, there is a blue and a red version, made from silver-colour nickel and soft enamel, with a rubber clutch at the back. They are 30mm tall and 28mm wide, and £8 each in my Folksy shop. Hope you like them!

Blue pin-badge

Red pin-badge

Pride Of Yorkshire - Sculpture Trail

I have spent the first month of this year working on the Pride Of Yorkshire sculpture/art project, which is an animal sculpture trail around the whole of South Yorkshire, featuring lions and lionesses! 2026 is the 150th anniversary of Sheffield Children's Hospital, and the project is happening to raise money for it, via the trial and the auctioning of the lions/lionesses. I have worked with the SCH charity several times over the last few years, on exhibitions, commissions and the elephant/bear trails, so it has been an honour to be involved in this too! I can't share too much info or too many images, but the trials looks likely to be the biggest and most spectacular so far, with a really exciting range of artists and artwork. 

The trail happens June to September 2026, and I'll be posting on social media and hopefully here too about it, with more pics and details!

That is all for now.. x