Wild Mushroom Art

The wild mushroom foray season seems only just to have finished with the first frosts in this part of the world. Our autumn exhibition at the Five Arrows Gallery in Exbury Gardens, near Beaulieu in Hampshire was a great success with both original mushroom watercolours and lots of prints and cards being sold.

We are now gearing up for the spring exhibition at the Five Arrows Exbury with the Four Seasons Art Group where there will be a further selection of original watercolour paintings of wild mushrooms. The exhibition starts on Easter Sunday, 8th April and runs until 10th June. You can find full details on the group's webpage: www.peterthwaites.co.uk/four_seasons_art.html and see everything else that is on offer at Exbury Gardens at http://www.exbury.co.uk/

If you would like any more specific details do get in touch.

mushroom on a sweatshirt

Why not have a little mushroom image embroidered on a sweatshirt. Choose any image from the www.fungiforfun.co.uk website and we can have the embroidery pattern set up. Very reasonable prices, just ask us for a quote.

Mushroom Autumn

It has been a fantastic mushroom autumn here in the south of England - due they say to a very wet August with very mild night-time temperatures.

Peter's mushroom art has headed all around the world this year .... we were invited to take a stand at the International Mycological Congress in Edinburgh in August where almost 2000 delegates converged to talk about all imaginable aspects of mycological studies and research.

We launched a new series of mushroom poster prints and mushroom postcards. These were a huge success with the mushroom postcard end of our stand turning into a signing booth as Peter was asked to sign whole sets of postcards for enthusiastic delegates.

The October Wild Autumn Art exhibition at the Five Arrows Gallery at Exbury Gardens, near Beaulieu in Hampshire, likewise broke sales records - so all in all, a most successful mushroom art season.

The 2011 mushroom calendar which we produced in time for IMC Edinburgh is also heading to be another sell-out this year.

Fungi for Fun and Mushroom Art

Our 2 websites are now well-established and from tentative beginnings we are now firmly placed in the 'mushroom art world'. Peter Thwaites' prints and paintings are prized by those who appreciate the form and fascinating architecture of wild mushrooms. He was greatly honoured to be asked to illustrate both a Pocket Guide and, this year, a Common Fungi Poster for the British Mycological Society.

Last October's Wild Mushroom Art exhibition at the Five Arrows Gallery, Exbury Gardens, between Beaulieu and Lymington was virtually sold out. That was the first time he had ever sold original paintings and we were hugely encouraged by the response. He will be there again this coming October with a new collection of original artwork and prints, both framed and unframed.

We really appreciate hearing from our many customers and, indeed, all mushroom enthusiasts and we have started this blog to channel interest. Who knows where it will lead? We will appreciate comments and suggestions.

One thing we are hoping to do is to record our learning curve in getting to grips with identifying specimens using a microscope. Up to now we have only used visual identification and occasional spore prints - but the not-so-common species are more tricky to name.