THE NATIONAL TRUST: BOOM!

Hello Folks!

Oh dear, AJ has been very naughty and neglected her blog for far too long, I think when you read what exactly all the excitement has been about in the past few weeks then you might forgive me.

I have just signed my first book deal with the National Trust and Pavilion Publishing; its been a dream for 5 years now to work with the National Trust, I feel very lucky and am grateful to my agent Charlie Brotherstone at Ed Victor Ltd, Katie Bond Head of NT Publishing & Peter Taylor, Senior Comissioner for Pavilion/NT Books.

I've always had huge respect for the amazing buildings rescued & managed by the NT.

The book will feature my pencil drawings of both the interior & exterior of NT properties, I have to undertake 90 drawings by August, thats a HUGE amount but just about achievable.

As welI as being a fine artist I am a keen writer and researcher of historical architecture, it fascinates me and courtesy of my chimney & door loving grandmother & my childhood spent with her curb crawling manors, I get all excited over finials & galvanised steel to name but a few. The book will include my historical notes on the buildings; a little of the building's story and the drawing's concept.

The past few weeks have involved careful planning. Last week I carried out extensive research of NT properties, I've read up on nearly 150 of them, firstly the most visited by a staggering 4.1 million supportive members and not to mention millions of non-members, the most visited have 50k or more visitors every year.

I've made sure the book features a property from every county in the UK & Northern Ireland so nobody feels left out!

I believe in the underdog building so once I'd studied the famous and most loved I was keen to delve into the stories of former inhabitants & design of lesser known NT properties, looking for details that I believe are worth highlighting and promoting, and of course there are elements to the exterior or interior that I thought stunning or that are going to enable me to create an inspiring visual work of art. My witt is also playing a role which makes this job especially fun for me and I hope when the book is released in March 2016, will make it all the more enjoyable for you to own.

Pardon, but I must go and draw now!

AJA