Royal Mail launch stamps

All stamps have been painted as small oil paintings.

Six re-introduced species, these include Eurasian Beaver, Osprey, Pool Frog, Stinking Hawk's Beard, Sand Lizard.

'It was a fantastic commission to get, I loved doing the paintings and also all the research that went into this work. When I first got asked to paint the Beaver and Sand Lizard, as round one of the commission, it was mid winter at the time so the lizard was hibernating and beavers are nocturnal, so finding them in position ready to pose for a painting was not going to happen. Also at that time there had been a news article to say that a beaver had been spotted in the wild for the first time in 600 years, so let face it, if I did actually see one it would be a miracle. This meant I needed to do a lot of research to get them right.

When I got through the first round I got commissioned to paint the rest of the species. One by one I got to know them, tracking down information by talking to experts. I wanted these paintings to look real, but not like photo. I wanted them to be different and fit as stamps. Picking out features that would be clear on a tinny stamp was hard, and a wonderful challenge.

Thank you Royal Mail for the chance to do these, and thank you to Jason Godfrey, Godfrey Design for all your wisdom and design work.’