TLC Print Club Story
TLC Print Club is inspired by the simple, heart-warming feeling of receiving happy mail.
As a child growing up in Kenya where television, music and fashion were lightyears behind compared to other countries, where people were never permanent in place due to the nature of their work much like being in transit at an airport, I held a fascination to the outer world and post offices provided that link. Trips with my Dad to collect mail from our post box in Nairobi were a fond memory as was eagerly queuing up at the post office to send letters to family and penpals overseas, written on the classic blue and red striped aerograms with pictures of native birds and flowers and adorned with beautiful stamps. Then there was the excitement of receiving a letter addressed with my name, opening it with anticipation of the latest news. This feeling has never really left me; each time I see a handwritten envelope in my letterbox I know it’s going to make me smile.
These past few weeks have given time for reflection, of navigating the notion of a “sense of home, place and comfort”, especially apt since lockdown measures. Many, including myself, are rediscovering an emotional connection of this sense of security within our homes, borne out of physical limitations. Contact with friends and family moved to a virtual land. Amidst this we found ways to still keep our hearts warm, sending happy post to our loved ones. My little niece and nephews would post out drawings and even a small dinosaur toy at one point (with strict instructions to play with it everyday), and I would send simple art packs to keep their creative minds full of curiosity and adventure. We kept this going for a while. And boy did it fill my heart right up with joy when I’d excitedly open their packages, knowing they’d spent time and energy in making something special, taking me back to being that little girl in Kenya turning the key to the P.O. box. It’s funny how, in turn it has shown how the simple act of giving and receiving can also contribute to a sense of home, place and comfort - as a feeling of inner-home.
TLC Print Club is inspired by the simple feeling of receiving happy mail, to bring this feeling of uplifting joy, of inner-home warmth, to your doorstep.
For you to ceremoniously unwrap your envelope of print joy in excitement, revealing a piece of beautiful visual art.
To enjoy an original, handprinted, postcard-size print in your home or to lovingly gift as a keepsake to the ones who give you a warming sense of inner-home.
The first print as a TLC Print Club member is from my ongoing Garden Plants of Kenya series. “Donkey Tail” pays homage to a family-favourite spot to enjoy the garden, shaded by the hot sun under an avocado tree with the Donkey Tail plant hanging from a branch. It’s been four years since I wanted to make this print; and with all the joy it brought my family, and with all the joy of opening an envelope of delights, it seems fitting to have “Donkey Tail” as the first print of the new TLC Print Club.
Coupled with my printmaking practice exploring botanical flora of the Great British countryside and my childhood home of equatorial Kenya, TLC Print Club postcard prints will convey a colour palette reflecting the glowing light and its luminosity on plants, enhancing the vibrancy of their colours - a concept exploring natural light, colour transformations and inner-home.
You’ll receive four beautifully packaged original print postcards four times a year with gifted tokens of handprinted books and gift stationery surprises added in along the way as a token of thanks for supporting my printmaking.
Each original print will be signed and editioned, produced using traditional printmaking techniques and quality tools of the trade and printed with the same care, time and attention invested in creating a piece of art for you to take pleasure in.
For now, membership is capped at 50 members to the print edition size of 50 original prints per quarter.
If you’d like to join TLC Print Club and begin your delightful original print postcard collection, please click on the TLC Print Club page to become a member.
If you would like to get in touch please use the contact form and I’ll be happy to answer your questions.
Sending print love,
Mandeep