Vintage High Street: a new book of old London shops

I finally got around to having another look at some of my old drawings of shops, pubs and cafés in London and have collected them together in a book which I hope will be volume i .

You can preview part of the book below and also, if you choose, you can buy it in either soft cover or ebook format.

Vintage High Street by B.E.J.Smith |

Relics and holy icons for our new age - happy new year

Vintage Xmas

It's Xmas! This is how I saw it a long time ago.

News from Hackney

Well, it's not news now. Got off the train at Hackney Central to find my way blocked by a row of HMs finest, telling me I couldn't go down into Mare Street because of a little local disturbance. I found out about it all by following the crowd and their mobes inspecting the riot scene.  I caught up with it all (as we all did) later.

Here is an illustration to a J G Ballard short story with a few new tags. 

A visit to Melbourne

Nothing to add - my London Life always continues in Melbourne.

And my other shop is open.

         What I always had a hankering to do was work on repeat patterns.  I'm very pleased to find this site . It allows me to upload my designs and once technically verified, they appear in my space on the website.  Below is my design 'smoke'  rendered for a tote bag and a pillow.

      I have yet to figure out how to create repeat patterns successfully but I am working on it.

The shop is open

It’s time to talk about my new venture. My London Life has a shop - not in London, but  at Etsy (cue sound of cheering) the U.S. based website. I’ve spent bloody hours and hours looking at the site; inspecting the reams of words written about how to (or not) provide the perfect product at the perfect price. I’ve seen some terrific stuff.  So, the shop is open. the paintings are there.....

The illustration is of my friends’ sitting room.  A warm domestic environment. It will be in my shop very soon.