I found this print at The Great Yorkshire Shop in the Corn Exchange in Leeds. It’s a great shop with a small selection of prints, ceramics and homeware from local artists. I loved the simplicity of the image at first sight and I couldn’t walk away from it. The mustard colour is really rich too.
The Corn Exchange is a favourite haunt for Happy Anorak. It’s somewhere I always come back to when I’m visiting Leeds. Stepping off the busy street in a not-so-pretty part of Leeds City Centre, you suddenly find a huge space with elaborate detailing and a sweeping staircase leading to a balcony above. It’s going through a popular phase but even over the past fifteen years I’ve seen it first full of independent, alternative shops, then empty and sad, next revitalised with a fancy restaurant, and again empty with just a few businesses still open. At the moment it’s back on its feet, mostly fuelled by coffee shops and other eateries but occasionally with art and craft markets.
It never loses its graceful beauty but sometimes it loses its sparkle for a while. It’s a reminder that we need to visit the special places, support the independents, buy the odd mustard coloured magpie print – keep them open!
