Toms Taunting Temperance Teaser

After training as an architect, Peter Smith worked in design with companies such as Disney, Fox, Pixar and Marvel. He’s inspired by artists like Salvador Dali and Will Bullas, whose surreal characters and sense of humour bring life to their creations.

Alongside his wife Jayne, he has created the Impossimals series: a humorous collection of characters inspired by British eccentricity. The pair’s home is the perfect studio for their eccentric art, with quirks including a Victorian dining room and a two-foot teapot. Here, they create sets for their artworks, which can involve anything from baking dozens of jam scones to installing a min railway line.

Jayne uses clay to form the shapes, with metals and mixed media for the background. Peter in turn works mainly in oils on board for his paintings, and clay and cloth for the sculptures.

“My aim has always been to make people happy. I simply take a gentle childhood, combine it with what makes me smile, and paint it.”