Although the shop is currently not open, there’s lots going on behind closed doors. I’ve been working with artist Pauline Paterson who I first got to know when we were brought together to work on a children’s book called the Belties of Curleywee Farm, by the publisher, Galloway Children’s Books. We found we got on like a house on fire but after doing the book together our paths took us in slightly different directions. When I took over the bookshop on my own, I decided I wanted a new design for a Wigtown Book Town mug, and I knew just who to contact.
Pauline is a professional artist who is now well known for her company Thistle Heart Prints that produces vibrant images as prints and canvases. Her work now adorns walls all over the world. I knew her colourful and quirky style was exactly what I wanted for a new mug. We worked out how many of Wigtown’s many bookshops could be fitted on the first mug and I went off to take photographs when I was in the town to check on my shop. The first mug features The Bookshop, which is next door to Foggie Toddle Books, Reading Lasses, which is on the other side of the square along the road from The Old Bank Bookshop. I also wanted to include Ruth Anderson’s Well-Read Books, her neighbour The Open Book which is run by Wigtown Festival Company as an Air BnB. Of course, we wanted to include Number 11, the shop run by the Festival Company and then further down the road is the Beltie Books bookshop and café run by Andrew Wilson.
We’ve had a great response to the mugs which are available in two types of ceramic – standard and china, with words and without words. The mugs have been made for us by Caroline Smith of Galloway Arts as it’s very important to Pauline and me to support other local small businesses. So, let me know what you think of the design. We’re hoping to create at least one further design featuring some of the other bookshops and businesses in Wigtown.
Jayne