As part of Poets Corner Summer Festival 2005, I was asked by the co-ordinator of the Arts Trail, Janina Karpinska, to produce pieces that reflected
the nature of the shopkeepers business in Portland Road. The pieces of art, poetry and photoraphs were displayed in the windows were to form the 'Arts Trail'. I had produced a piece called 'Birthday' in which the collage was made up of scraps taken from Birthday card envolpes and wrapping paper. As a nod to my influence, Kurt Schwitters I used the stamps from the envolpes as well in the piece. 
This was displayed in the window of Post Office, with lots of stationary items.Hiroshima Picnic. This could also be seen as a 'policital' piece, but was more inspired by the 60th anniversary of the dropping of the bomb on Hiroshima. It shows a married couple having a picnic some 35 years later on the site where the bomb was dropped. I used a lot of green in the picture to portray that out of such horriors, a new life can be born. This piece was displayed in the window of 'Down to Earth' a health food shop.
Mother and Child. This piece was a direct attempt at producing a piece designed for a baby shop in Portland Road and was also taken from the iconic images of the Virgin Mary with the baby, Jesus. This piece was well recieved by Baby B who displayed it proudly in the window. I believe it was the most viewed piece of my work in the whole of the trail.
Craftsman. Produced to go into the window of a hardware shop, unfortunately it was not finished in time. This was the first time that I had used a picture that did not come out of one of the magazines that I had purchased from the charity shop. I made the mosaic sympathic to the colours in the main image. It has been mounted on painted wood and was up to this time the most popular of the pieces that I had produced.
It was a great honour and also very exciting to be involved in the 'Arts Trail' and I am hoping to produce pieces next year for the next one as part of the Poets Corner Summer Festival. It is great that the local traders are very interested in showcasing the wealth of talent that the area has to offer.
