This weekend is the last chance to catch Gordon Picken's fantastic exhibition at the Old Ambulance Depot in Edinburgh - it finishes on Sunday. Picken, who is from Kirkintilloch, has been described as the best painter working in Scotland today. He is interviewed here by fellow artist and admirer Ian Moir: Clearly you work from a single photograph. How much time do you spend on each segment of the mural. Some ...

Avocado Sweet is delighted to be giving away this Celia Birtwell book as a competition prize. The book was published by Quadrille this week (3 October 2011) and is worth £30. As you might expect from a textile designer, the hardback book is a piece of beautiful design in itself filled with colourful sketches and designs from throughout her career. The book charts her life, from working with husband an ...

After forty years of being represented by men; favourably by good friend David Hockney in Mrs and Mrs Clark and Percy (above), and later, less flatteringly in ex-husband, Ossie Clark's diaries, designer Celia Birtwell is publishing her own story. She chose style writer, Dominic Lutyens to help write about her life and work.  In a refreshing contrast to the current trend in autobiographies she has a ...