Children’s, Illustrated & Detective Fiction Book Fair – 9th November

I’m very happy to be taking part in this year’s Northern Children’s Illustraed and Detective Fiction Book Fair in Harrogate on Saturday 8th November.

We hope you can join us as this book fair is the only one of its kind.  It provides an opportunity for serious collectors as well as general collectors in all three areas.

A great day out for all the family.  With it being held just before Christmas it is a great opportunity to search for a gift, be that a book or some Bookshelf Art!!

https://www.pbfa.org/fairs/northern-illustrated-childrens-detective-fiction-november-2025

8th November 2025, 10:00 – 16:00

Pavilions of Harrogate, Yorkshire Event Centre, Harrogate, North Yorkshire, HG2 8NZ

Oxford PBFA Book Fair – 18th October

This is a one-day book fair in Oxford, and, alongside me and my Bookshelf Art, there will be around 75 dealers offering rare, collectable and second-hand books, maps, manuscripts and ephemera.

https://www.pbfa.org/fairs/oxford-book-fair-october-2025

Open Saturday 18th October 10 am – 4 pm

Café on site 🙂

Oxford Brookes University, Headington Campus, Gipsy Lane, Oxford, OX3 0BP

Harrogate PBFA Book Fair

The sign of a good book fair
www.pbfa.org

We are delighted to invite you to the

HARROGATE BOOK FAIR – New venue

Friday 21st March, 12 noon – 6pm
& Saturday 22nd March, 10am – 4pm

The Old Swan Hotel, Swan Road, HG1 2SR

To see the exhibitors and highlights please click here.

Download your free entry ticket here

I will be there promoting my Bespoke Shelf Portraits Commissions,

along with some Bookshelf Art prints and cards 🙂

We look forward to welcoming you!

Affordable Art Fair Battersea

A selection of my latest paintings will be exhibited at the Affordable Art Fair in Battersea Park from 12th-16th March

With a Private View on Wednesday 5-9pm

and opening

Thursday & Friday 11am-9pm

Saturday & Sunday 11am-6pm

You will find my work on display with Nicholas Bowlby Gallery at Stand A7

‘Southern Lights’ 30x40cm oil on canvas Roo Waterhouse 2025

You can get yourself a complimentary (that’s FREE!) ticket

for the Affordable Art Fair HERE!

‘Poetry Please’ 30x40cm oil on canvas Roo Waterhouse 2025

Northlight Winter Fair :-)

Northlight Winter Fair

It’s our annual Winter Fair event!


Our fabulous studio holders* will be hosting stalls to showcase their artistic goodies and gifts 🙂


You all get to come and visit, eat mince pies, buy locally made Christmas presents direct from the makers, win a raffle prize perhaps, drink some mulled wine, make a crafty something and enjoy a little festive feeling!


Saturday 7th December 11am-5pm
& Sunday 8th December 11am-5pm

stallholders including:

Roo Waterhouse Art (that’s me!)

Rach Red Designs

Red Mouse Design

Katch Skinner Ceramics

Jane Revitt Mapworks

Don Myers Painting

Toby Cotterill Jewellery

Annie Harrison ceramics & textiles

and more….
Yay!!

#hebdenmakeschristmas Open Studios!

 

On Saturday 30th November and Sunday 1st December I will be joining other artists all around Hebden Bridge and my fellow artists here at Northlight Studios by taking part in the #hebdenmakeschristmas Open Studios weekend 🙂

I’m looking forward to chatting all things bookish and artish with anyone who cares to pop in to my studio 🙂

I’ll be there from 10.30 until 4pm on the Saturday and Sunday

A is for Antarctica

This morning I happened to read that on this day in 1959, a final conference on the Antarctic Treaty convened in Washington, D.C. After six weeks of negotiations the treaty was signed by 12 countries, demilitarising the continent and preserving it for free scientific study.

Hannah Lawson: Wildlife of Falklands, South Georgia & Antarctica, Illustrated seachart.

Which neatly ties in to my next Shelf Portrait painting on an Antarctica theme. Last month I spent a lovely morning with the Antarctic expedition guide, wildlife artist and photographer, Hannah Lawson. We had fun selecting which books should be included in the composition, and looking through her map artworks to choose a possible background for the painting. I’m so looking forward to starting (though I have several bespoke paintings to finish for Christmas before that can happen!)

‘Rainbow of Reads’ Limited edition Print

Of course, I can’t mention the Antarctic without introducing some Penguins, albeit the tattered paperback variety rather than the aquatic flightless birds from the family Spheniscidae of the order Sphenisciformes. !!

The Limited Edition print of Rainbow of Reads is my absolute favourite, and also the most popular, having now sold over half the prints of it’s edition!

Some of the Penguin goodies!

There will be plenty of other Penguin goodies on sale in the run up to (dare I say it…?) the festive season.
You can find them on my website, or see me at:

Derby Book Fair:
Saturday 23rd November
at The Museum of Making

Hebden Bridge Open Studios Winter Weekend:
Saturday 30th November & Sunday 1st December
in my studio at Northlight

Northlight Winter Fair:
Saturday 7th & Sunday 8th December downstairs in the Artspace at Northlight Art Studios

Best Autumnal Wishes,
Roo

Currently Reading: ‘The Bay of Angels’ by Anita Brooker 

Roo’s Shop Here 🙂

F is for Family Portrait

F is for Family Portrait

‘For Your Delight’ RWA2024

Last autumn I spent a lovely afternoon at the home of Russell and his family. They had each selected their favourite books, alongside books that had meaning and memories for them as a family.

It was such a pleasure to paint their Shelf Portrait, especially having got to know the stories behind the choices. The William Morris Thistle wallpaper in the background took the longest time, but was such fun!

One of the quotes I try and live by is Morris’s
“Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.”

The finished painting was delivered last week:

“We’re loving it, thank you SO much – it is already hanging in our hall way at the bottom of the stairs.

It’s been a pleasure being part of the whole process, and the wait has been well worth it.

Rest assured our ‘family portrait’ will bring us many memories for the rest of our lives.”

Thank you Russell and family 🙂

Bespoke Shelf portraits
W is for Wanderlust

‘Pathways’ Limited edition Print

I’ve been busy wrapping more prints this week, as the ‘Pathways’ Limited Edition has been a popular one this month.
With the season turning and signs of autumn beginning to show, what better than to stride out across the moors or wander into the woods, map in hand, to explore the wonders of Autumn.

Find some outdoor inspiration in this Shelf Portrait print. Indulge your Wanderlust from Christopher Goddard’s The West Yorkshire Moors to Wainwright’s Coast to Coast, via The Old Ways and The Living Mountain….

Pathways Limited Edition

D is for Dates for your Diary

Over the next couple of months, on the rare occassions that I’m not busy painting in my studio, here’s where you’ll find me:

Derby Book Fair:
Saturday 16th November
at The Museum of Making

Hebden Bridge Open Studios Winter Weekend:
Saturday 30th November & Sunday 1st December
in my studio at Northlight

Northlight Winter Fair:
Saturday 7th & Sunday 8th December downstairs in the Artspace at Northlight Art Studios

First signs of Autumn

Best Autumnal Wishes,
Roo

Currently Reading: ’10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World’ by Elif Shafak

Roo’s Shop Here 🙂