Local artist Lisa Wooldridge has already begun spreading the festive cheer by designing her very own Christmas cards dedicated to number of the nearby villages.

The inspiration behind the creation of Lisa’s cards were the communities of Cuckfield, Lindfield and Horsted Keynes and as she describes, because ‘each one is quintessentially British and has a lovely warm feel to them’.

Her village designs are Christmas themed collage cards; each being at night with sparkling stars in the sky and lots of lights twinkling in the Christmas trees.

“The response to my cards has been amazing. I couldn’t be happier,” Lisa said. “The Cuckfield community has ordered over 600 cards from me already! This year Christmas cards are making a bit of a comeback and that is probably much to do with the pandemic. It’s a special way to communicate; sending a card to a relative or friend that we might not have seen for a long time. It’s also really positive to see people coming together supporting local businesses.”

Lisa’s normal commissions are pet portraits but during lockdown she decided to use some of that time to brush up on her skills and learn some new techniques, in particular collage, where she did a number of courses with artist Este Macleod who specialises in textile design.

“I’m originally from South Africa which is where I studied art but I’ve been living in the area now for 20 years now. We used to live in Lindfield and my husband was born in Cuckfield hospital and attended the local school so we know the place pretty well.”

For further information about Lisa and her designs please visit: www.lisartist.com