On a whim last November 2022, I decided that I would finally set-to to making the advent calendar that I have been planning to make every year, but haven’t ever got round to! In two short weeks, I drew and painted more than 24 images for the views ‘through the windows’, and then took my Poetry and Beer painting and scanned it into digital form. From then on I used Adobe Photoshop to colour the bunting (!) and to turn the scene into a wintry snowy one with glowing lanterns and Christmas-y fairy lights. When happy with the image, I scanned into digital form my small surprise images, and shrank them and spaced them onto a backing sheet to fit behind the wintry scene. I then got front and back sheets professionally printed (with thanks to Penrith Posters – great quality and quick turnaround), and finally started the arduous job of cutting the advent calendar windows to exactly match the back-sheet images. What a labour of love, but look how beautiful she is…!!!

Needless to say, I only finished three or four by the beginning of December, but I have plenty more to prepare before Christmas 2023. Even though I say it myself, these advent calendars really are a thing of beauty, as well as being unique.

Please note: All images are Christmas-y, but not religious, And there is no (real) chocolate in sight!

Particularly special for anyone who knows Packhorse Court in Keswick, but otherwise universally attractive. I will be adding this item to my website shop later in the year.

Here is a sneak peak of the calendar with windows open – spoiler alert…! Don’t look if you don’t want to know!