An artist who saw redundancy as her \u201csign from the universe\u201d to be a full-time creative is documenting Newark\u2019s buildings and couples\u2019 big days.<\/p>\n
Claire Harrison took the leap to pursue her business WTF Illustrations full-time in November 2025, after a 30-year career in design \u2014 including a stint at the Newark Advertiser in the late 90s.<\/p>\n
The painter puts her talents to use creating unique wedding keepsakes, live illustration sessions, greetings cards, and commissioned work for businesses such as estate agents, with a particular interest in recreating historic and beautiful buildings on her canvases.<\/p>\n
Artist Claire Harrison of WTF Illustrations with one of her paintings. Photo: David Dawson\/Iliffe Media<\/p>\n
While new as a business venture, Claire has long been pursuing her passion on the side \u2014 with paintings sold off the walls in a Newark restaurant, and cards created for family and friends.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve always been in design, I went to art college and always painted,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI started just posting on Instagram and Facebook initially in 2018 \u2014 and it was called WTF Illustrations because my friends wanted rude things on their cards.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy friends at work really pushed me to pursue it as a business. One of them paid me in McDonalds, I\u2019d paint cards and we\u2019d go for a Friday office McDonalds.\u201d<\/p>\n
When she was made redundant in November, Claire took it as a \u201csign from the universe to go for this full-time\u201d.<\/p>\n
Now, alongside her personalised cards, she offers live illustration for weddings, parties, and corporate events, and is commissioned to create illustrated cards for vendors and purchasers when a property sale completes with Buttercross Estates.<\/p>\n
Artist Claire Harrison of WTF Illustrations with some of her art work. Photo: David Dawson\/Iliffe Media<\/p>\n
Claire said: \u201cLive illustration has become more and more popular over the past few years, and I also love painting old buildings.<\/p>\n
\u201cA hotel in Rugby has even commissioned me to paint their venue every time there is a wedding, so they can buy the picture and give it to the couple as a gift. I\u2019ve also created paintings with the venue and a border around where all the guests can sign as a keepsake, instead of a guest book.\u201d<\/p>\n
The artist\u2019s work is predominantly watercolour, and incorporates iridescent features as she is a \u201cmagpie with sparkly paints\u201d.<\/p>\n
Looking forward, Claire is keen to expand her partnerships with estate agents to create more paintings of homes and buildings for buyers, paint event more weddings, and also continue to sell her work in venues including Newark Art Gallery.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve sold a few out of there, David Moore has been massively supportive,\u201d Claire added.<\/p>\n
Artist Claire Harrison of WTF Illustrations. Photo: David Dawson\/Iliffe Media<\/p>\n
\u201cI just love Newark, I was born in Bassingham so I\u2019ve not come far, and went to school in Hykeham. I lived in Witham St Hughes for a little while, and then came back to Newark.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a really nice community and I\u2019ve found that even more so since starting my business. People with other small businesses in town are so supportive. Also being in the Midlands, it has a lot of scope for travelling for weddings and events.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An artist who saw redundancy as her \u201csign from the universe\u201d to be a full-time creative is documenting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":529349,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[6225,6485,6486,84,1120,96,192,10646,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-529348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-business","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-human-interest","tag-newark","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=529348"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529348\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/529349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=529348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=529348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=529348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}