Welcome to 'Life in patches'

Current and upcoming shows:


I will have a stall at the Sighthound Rescue Spring craft fair in The Barn, The Causeway, Horsham on 28 April 2024, where I will have lots of smaller practical and fun items on display.

I shall be at the Horsham Artists Art Trail over the last two weekends in June 2024. Location is not confirmed yet, but do visit my website again or see www.Horshamartists.com for full details nearer the time


All sorts of exciting personalised things made just for you via:
www.redbubble.com/people/ECtje/shop

I am a member of the Society of Architectural Illustrators www.sai.org.uk/illustrator/estherclark


I have always made things, enjoying a wide variety of materials and techniques. Recently I have focused on pen-and-paint drawings and textiles. Wondering if I could achieve a paint-like effect with fabrics led to a new passion; playing with colour intensities gave an exciting abstract effect. This in turn led to Patchwork Portraits, which led to making House Portraits which is absolutely the most enjoyable thing to do….
….which is just as well as these things take hours to complete. And this time factor means it is hard to put a price on my work. In combination with a health dip a few years ago I decided I would donate any proceeds to a charity I feel strongly about. This year any profits will go to Medical Detection Dogs.

I would be delighted to design your house (or car, or dog!) in fabrics; please get in touch via the 'contact me' page, or email Esthervanoostrum@aol.com. In the meantime, enjoy browsing this website!

With many thanks for your interest,

Esther Clark – van Oostrum

Previous charities I have supported are Mesothelioma Research in memory of my younger brother Huck, Cancer Research UK and the innovative charity Medical Detection Dogs. There has been anecdotal evidence for many years that dogs can identify the smell of disease, something for which there is now hard evidence. MDD works with this incredible ability to discover what it is that dogs smell, with a view to develop a simple but reliable test to help diagnose cancer.