Mary Woodin
 
Mary Woodin   Studio
       
    Studio
Baranski, Marcin
Clarke, Greg
Cobb, Russell
Cohen, Izhar
Cook, Matthew
Dann, Penny
Davey, Lucy
Davidson, Andrew
Gallardo, Miguel
Gatley, Heather
Gibb, Sarah
Kiuchi, Tatsuro
Knox, Charlotte
Kugler, Olivier
Malone, Peter
McMenemy, Sarah
Morse, Joe
Osborn, Kathy
Piven, Hanoch
Rogers, Paul
Rubbino, Salvatore
Scott, Rosie
So, Meilo
Terrazzini, Daniela
Tolpa, Beegee
Ventura, Marco
WinnLederer, Ilene
Woodin, Mary
Wormell, Christopher

 

    A wing of an early Victorian manor house in Blackheath, a leafy suburb of London provides the perfect setting for Mary Woodin’s studio and home with husband Andrew and three children. Her studio, on the first floor of the house, is in what was originally the billiard-room in Victorian times and with its original mouldings intact, it is the perfect setting as studio, gallery and occasional venue for musical soirees. Mary’s interest in gardening began when she married and moved to Blackheath, but she has always maintained an interest in the natural world, working in watercolour, preferably from life.

First trained as a textile designer at Manchester Metropolitan University and later as a ceramic designer at the Royal College of Art, Mary has worked in all areas of surface pattern design. One of her first major commissions was ceramic mural designs for London Underground’s South Kensington station, a commission gained while she was still a student. The transition from her initial training as a designer has been quite natural and she brings to her illustration a designer’s eye and sensibility. Naturally she has maintained an interest in surface design too and along with commissions for Wedgwood, she has also created a range for Crate & Barrel.
Her ability to infuse her sensitively rendered paintings with a femininity that is at the same time tasteful without being in the least bit cloying, has meant that Mary has been in constant demand with design groups internationally, proving ideal for all forms of packaging and stationery projects. Her work is particularly popular in Japan, where it has been extensively used, most often for stationery.
 
     
       
   
       
    A passionate gardener, Mary found that her dream assignment, from Running Press in Philadelphia provided her with the perfect opportunity to record a full year in her garden, season by season. The beautifully illustrated journal and sketch book, published as The Painted Garden: A Year in Words and Watercolours, includes records of planting, harvesting, and blooming throughout four seasons, together with accounts of frequent visits from birds, butterflies, and other earthly creatures. It provided a rare opportunity for an illustrator more used to coping with the demands of short deadlines and a rapid turnover of different projects. As so often happens with a project of this sort it gave Mary the chance to experiment and consolidate a body of work that has undoubtedly extended her range.  
     
   
       
    The work that Mary produced resulted in a successions of other work inspired by the sensive artwork that she created. A regular collaborator with ArtAngels, who publish a classy collection of Greetings Cards and prints, she continues to add to a growing collection of images, many of which are available as prints and of course for re-use.

 
   
     
       
    Most recently, Mary has been experimenting with paintings of farmyard animals as part of the development of ideas for a Children’s book series. A natural by-product of having a young family of her own, Mary’s work is in constant demand by collectors and she regularly sells original artwork, either from showings at her own studio/gallery or through the gallery at The Artworks.  
     
   
A Partial List of Clients
Publishing
Running Press Workman Publishing
Little Brown Art Angels
Marcel Schurmann Portal Publishing
Mitchell Beazley Conran Octopus
Design & Advertising  
Publicis Wolf Olins
Conran Design Leo Burnett
Boots Company J Walter Thompson
Lewis Moberley Newell & Sorrell
Silk Pearce