Southdown Sheep Society member Claudia Camilleri-Goldup is based in Kent and set up her Purty’s Flock in 2014.
Since then, her interest in all things ‘sheep’ has taken her down some interesting paths.
Claudia explains: “I am a small hobby breeder of pedigree, traditional Southdowns that was originally started from the gifting of a couple of tegs from a local secondary school’s Young Farmers Club closure.
My small flock has steadily grown over the last few years. As also a WW2 re-enactor of Woman’s Land Army(WLA), ATS, Nursing and Civilian Corps, owning my own livestock has been very educational in learning traditional skills and husbandry.
I use my wool for many traditional crafts such as stuffings in pin cushions, pillow fillings, greeting card decorations and I have dabbled in spinning and felting.
During the early days of lockdown I took the decision to revert back to my original vocation as an artist full time as usually this had been kept as a hobby and also for competition in many different areas including County shows, decorated egg classes at poultry shows, national and federation, where I produce fine art on blown eggs!
One piece of work I created in watercolour during lockdown was my Southdown ram.
The techniques used to create the life-like look of the wool was challenging to say the least and took many hours to paint! This painting has now been printed onto limited edition 5x7” greeting cards and A3 poster prints.
All these areas hold themselves together and has keep me focused through challenging times.”
Home front home crafts by Claudia
