Ann and I are thrilled to reveal the five latest additions to The Wylde Ones collection…
When we launched the series in the spring of 2025, neither of us anticipated quite how warmly it would be received — nor how many new faces it would introduce to Otherwurlde Studio.
Just over a year on, The Wylde Ones has grown into a family of more than forty original works, and continues to expand, thanks to your support.
As this Journal goes live, we are preparing for our annual participation in Marlborough Open Studios — a special time of year when many of our collectors visit the studio to see what Ann has been working on. This year, however, we will be opening on Sundays only, while our regular presence at the Cotswold Craft Market in Cirencester’s historic Corn Hall continues every Saturday as usual.
We hope you enjoy these new releases as much as Ann has enjoyed bringing them into the world.
With our warmest wishes,
Gary & Ann
Well, hello once more…
For those who’ve been with us from the beginning, welcome back. And if this is your first glimpse into The Wylde Ones, here’s a little context.
Each piece in the collection is hand-painted by Ann on linen-wrapped canvas board — a subtle but deliberate shift from the smoother panels used for Otherwurlde. The natural weave of the canvas, combined with Ann’s gestural brushwork, lends these paintings a softness and vitality. They don’t strive for polish; they carry energy. They hum with intent.
There is one exception in this latest group. You Called? is painted on a deep, stretched box-canvas — the only format that would comfortably accommodate the fine layering of fur and hair the subject demanded. As a result, its eventual framing solution will differ slightly from the rest of the collection.
Colour plays its own quiet but important role. Drawing inspiration from heritage paint archives — let’s call them Barrow & Fall — Ann blends bespoke oil hues that echo those timeless tones: warm, elegant, and at home in lived-in spaces. With this release, that palette has widened. Alongside the archive colours, we’ve begun referencing contemporary ranges, and for the first time have drawn from Little Greene as well. In fact, three of the five new works correspond to Little Greene hues.
Compositionally, these creatures rarely take centre stage. Instead, they hover at the edges, as if just stepping into view — a nod to wildness that is unposed, unannounced, and unapologetic. The effect can feel quietly unsettling, and that’s entirely intentional. Art isn’t here to soothe; it’s here to prompt thought, invite reflection, and earn its place.
By leaving the frame open, we also leave room for story. For ambiguity. For the sense that something might happen just beyond the edge of what’s shown.
With that in mind… let’s take a look at what this latest wave brings.
From the moment we first unveiled The Wylde Ones in the spring of 2025, one question surfaced again and again:
“Are you ever going to paint a donkey?”
Ann explored several possibilities, but none quite felt right for the collection. Donkeys are naturally curious creatures, full of character, and somehow every sketch felt a little too posed.
The solution arrived unexpectedly. What if the donkey wasn’t standing within the picture at all? What if it was peering around the edge of the frame, as though looking over a stable door to see who had arrived?
Suddenly, everything clicked into place.
With a single thistle dangling temptingly in the opposite corner, the scene was complete. Since its unveiling a few weeks ago, ‘You Called?’ has been quietly winning admirers at Cirencester’s Corn Hall, and we’re delighted to share it with a wider audience at last.
For the background, Ann chose ‘Olive’ from the Farrow & Ball archive — a warm, reassuring green that perfectly complements the donkey’s gentle and inquisitive nature.
The image below, shows how we’re framing Original Artworks for this collection. We’re having work float-mounted over a matte background of midnight blue. There’s then a small gap before we get to a fillet of distressed & antique’d effect brass. That allows the blue backboard to show through along with the natural shadows cast by the artwork itself. It’s a beautiful solution. As for the actual moulding, we’re using a gently contoured, inward-sloping moulding in matte-black. We consider this the ideal solution to best support these expressive slabs of colour and allow them to ‘sing’.
Next, we have Helping Myself…
One of the runaway successes within The Wylde Ones has been the little saga of our thieving mice. Beginning with Three Thieves and reaching its chaotic conclusion in Twang!, the sequence has become a firm favourite with visitors. Even so, Ann always felt there might be room for one more mouse — provided it could stand apart from the original triptych.
We couldn’t rush it. Whatever came next needed its own character, its own joke, and its own reason to exist.
After a fair amount of head-scratching, the answer arrived in the form of a lone mouse rummaging for treasure inside a classic wicker picnic basket. Not part of the earlier gang, perhaps — but clearly cut from the same mischievous cloth.
As ever, Ann needed little persuasion to lose herself in the details. The woven wicker, the stitched blanket, the gingham cloth and the tiny scrabbling paws all give the piece a lovely sense of texture and movement. We especially love the way the mouse uses its curling tail for balance, entirely focused on the prize within.
For the background, Ann chose Sugared Almond from the Farrow & Ball archive — a delicate, dusty pink that sets off the brown wicker and gingham cloth beautifully.
Piece number three is Undercover…
Those of you who have followed The Wylde Ones from the beginning may remember Clock Watcher… — Ann’s study of a young fox encountering its first dandelion clock. It remains one of our favourite fox paintings, but this time she wanted something rather different.
Instead of a moment of wonder, she wanted to capture a moment of instinct.
Foxes are endlessly curious creatures, forever investigating, stalking, peering and exploring. So rather than place the cub in open ground, Ann imagined it emerging cautiously from beneath a fallen branch, pausing for a moment to study the world ahead.
We particularly love the sense of movement here. The stretched posture, lowered head and intent gaze all suggest a young animal on the verge of discovery, quietly testing the boundaries of its world.
For the background, Ann chose Pleat from the Little Greene archive — a soft, chalky green that complements both the weathered branch and the fox’s warm colouring beautifully.
For the fourth painting in this release, Ann chose our first garden bird — and really, it could only be a robin.
As with Undercover…, she wanted to capture behaviour rather than simply paint a pretty picture. A robin is familiar to almost everyone, but The Wylde Ones has its own visual language, and that meant finding a way to honour both the bird and the structure of the collection.
The answer came quickly: place the robin high on its perch, alert and bright-eyed, just as the first worm of the day appears below. The old saying proves true once again — the early bird does indeed catch the worm.
There’s a lovely tension in the composition: the robin poised above, the worm emerging below, and all that open space between them. A tiny moment, held just before it unfolds.
For the background, Ann chose Apple from the Little Greene archive — a warm, gentle, summery hue that sits beautifully against the robin’s vibrant breast.
For the final painting in this release, Ann returned once again to one of her favourite subjects: the hare.
As with the other paintings in this collection, we found ourselves looking for a slightly different angle. Not a joke this time. Not a mischievous character study. Just a moment of simple, natural behaviour.
Anyone who has spent time watching hares will know how inquisitive they can be. Here, a young hare stretches upwards across the composition, reaching towards a dandelion clock swaying just beyond its grasp.
There is something wonderfully uncomplicated about the image. No punchline, no hidden narrative — simply a fleeting moment of curiosity, observed and preserved.
Ann is especially pleased with the sense of movement here: the elongated reach, the diagonal sweep of the body, and the contrast between the hare’s soft fur and the delicate seed-head above. If the response is strong, this may well inspire a second strand of more naturalistic hare studies within The Wylde Ones.
For the background, Ann chose Chappell Green from the Farrow & Ball archive — a gentle, slightly cool green that complements the textured fur beautifully and gives the whole piece a calm, summery feel.
That’s it for this latest release — thank you for staying with us to the end.
If you’d like to see The Wylde Ones in person, early summer offers plenty of opportunities. Our renewed commitment to the Cotswold Craft Market at Cirencester’s historic Corn Hall means our Swindon Outlet appearances are likely to become less frequent for the time being. However, July also brings our annual participation in Marlborough Open Studios.
This year, we’ll be opening the home studio on Sundays only, and we’d love to welcome both familiar faces and first-time visitors.
I’ll be sending out a dedicated Open Studios reminder in the next week or two, so do keep an eye out for that.
Whether you’re planning a visit or browsing from home, we hope you enjoy seeing what’s new. Every piece — from the smallest print to the largest canvas — is made with the same care and attention we’d hope to find as collectors ourselves.
Thank you, as ever, for your continued support.
Thanks for staying with us to the end of this newsletter.
Well, here we are — the next wave of The Wylde Ones is out in the world!
It’s been fourteen months since we first introduced the collection, and the response has truly surprised us — in the best possible way. You’ve been extraordinary in your support through a time of enormous change, when technology is reshaping not just how art is made, but how it’s valued. In an age where so much feels uncertain, it means the world to know that Ann’s hand-painted work — created with care, intention, and soul — still speaks to you.
Finally, our heartfelt thanks to you all. Your support and patience over the years have been immense, and we couldn’t do any of this without you. Let’s keep that light shining.
