Amanda joins 1066 art show

Max’s health was at a low ebb when his son saw the print at a London Exhibition and bought it to give to his father as a get well present. Now it has pride of place on the author’s office wall.

In his message to Amanda he says he thinks the print is exquisite and captures the essence of that gentle trust that can exist between man and horse. Max wrote “there is a still serenity about it that I found very moving. I am well again now and often take a long look at your picture.” Amanda says she was chuffed and very moved by his words.

Amanda, who teaches printmaking at her studio in Sissinghurst, is at present exhibiting at the Purely Original Print Exhibition at the 1066 Art Academy, Battle at which seven of the region’s top printmakers are displaying their work.

Amanda’s entries include a ‘Horse Whisperer’ print and she has placed a copy of Max’s message next to it. The print was inspired during a visit to Perth, Australia where she watched a man gently coax a very nervous horse to come into the sea with him.

Last year she was the Best Original Print prizewinner at the Pure Autumn Art Fair.

Her successes go right back to her childhood. Aged nine she appeared on television after winning a Tinga and Tucker children’s’ TV programme competition to design a Christmas card.

Two years later she appeared on TV again after winning a competition on Magpie to design a new game, which subsequently marketed and sold for six years, earning a young Amanda more than £1,000 in royalties.

The Purely Original Print Exhibition at the 1066 Art Academy Gallery and Studio inside Costa Coffee in Battle High Street is open Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, 11am–5pm and runs until July 27.

For further details, visit www.purefineart.org.uk