Forget all that slushy nonsense. This Mother’s Day, in keeping with these ‘real’ and testing times, give your Mum something honest and truly northern - a Northern Mother poster or gift. And keeping it topical, here is my Tested positive for being a northerner poster and my latest poster, Withington. Visit the online store at www.statementartworks.com
Mother’s Day gifts and poster
Go on, you've heard it so many times, haven't you? Strike up a conversation with anyone from the Heatons, especially Heaton Moor, and you'll get: "It's just like Didsbury, with so many great shops, bars and restaurants, and the houses are amazing, but so much more affordable." And then you'll hear the 'added value' bit. "And it's so much easier to get into the countryside and the Peak District here, yet we can still get into town in 15 minutes on the train. And we've even got the 192 bus every minute."
Now they've got the revamped, Art Deco style Savoy cinema to boast about too, and who can blame them? It's a stonker of a place. See the latest movie then pop over to Damson, one of the hippest restaurants in the north west.
The four Heatons - Moor, Mersey, Chapel and Norris - form the trendiest corner of Stockport, giving the town a much-neeed cachet. If that gold dust could be sprinkled over the regeneration projects currently sweeping Stockport, then the town will once again be able to lure in the visitors from the affluent suburbs.
This poster is available through www.statementartworks.com
Read MoreWhen I was editing the arts or sports pages of newspapers and magazines, I thought working life couldn't get more interesting, but becoming a full-time artist seems to be trumping that.
Sunday saw me back at Knutsford market following the festive break. It's always a joy to be at - especially when the sun shines - and I had a great day, which included selling some of my work to one of my heroes, presenter and DJ Mark Radcliffe.
Then on Monday I set up a small exhibition of my posters at the fabulous Bistro West 156 restaurant on Burton Road. There is a mixture of A2 and A4 framed posters for sale, including, of course, the 'media whore' Didsbury picture, and my latest poster, Urmston, which has already sold well at markets and received lots of internet orders.
Bistro West 156 is a great little place and is right at the epicentre of the hip Burton Road district. Hopefully the diners won't choke on some of my 'acerbic' observations of north west towns and villages.
On Tuesday I staged my first art sale - at leading Manchester law firm DWF. I was invited to do it by one of the firm's founders. Jim Davies OBE, who bought my Liverpool poster at the Christmas Makers Market in Spinningfields.
After a slow start - the lawyers seemed bemused that art, rather than the usual books, were being sold adjacent to the company's restaurant - the trade picked up and at the end I did as well as I do at a reasonably good market.
Now that I am no longer a corporate events virgin, I will be looking to do a lot more in the future.
The Statement Artworks stand at Manchester law firm DWF