Carpets, Cruise Ships & Greetings Cards

A carpet designer once employed by Hugh Mackay Carpets in Durham to design for

luxury cruise ships, hotels and high wealth individuals, has now turned her hand to

painting land and seascapes, with a selection being hung in a new exhibition, entitled:

“Land, Sea and Sky” at the Allendale Forge gallery throughout June.

Former art student Linda Vine’s talents also extended to textile design, then she relocated

from Newcastle to Yorkshire to work for seven years on greetings card designs, latterly for

Hallmark UK. Her work included contracts for major retailers such as John Lewis, Sainsbury,

Marks & Spencer and WH Smith.

She then found success as a freelance designer, creating and producing numerous

greetings cards for what was then ‘The Paper House Group’ and ‘International Greetings’,

before entering the ministry for twelve years after finding faith in her early twenties. She

continued to use her design background in creative direction, while speaking regularly at

various conferences and events she organised. She enjoyed a season living in sunnier

Texas, before returning to the UK in 2011 with her daughter, now a teenager.

Once back home Linda set up her own greetings cards company but explained:

“I had a strong desire to do something completely different and after a time of artistic experimentation I discovered my greatest passion when I began my first landscape painting. I was completely

hooked, and now feel I have found my niche in creating impressionistic style landscapes and seascapes, often described by others as conveying a certain peace and tranquillity”.

She added: “I find the outdoors with its huge seas, skies and landscapes amazing and wonderful to capture under different light. Whether I’m in the countryside or by the coast, it helps me to breathe deeply, wind down and relax; and it also reminds me that there is something far greater out there, which helps keep things in perspective. I now live in Durham city and continue with my paintings and commissions, particularly of my favourite

locations - Northumberland, Yorkshire, Devon and Cornwall."

info@lindavineart.co.uk www.lindavineart.co.uk