ArtHouse: Illustrator Cathy Dineen is meeting a growing demand from people wanting pictures drawn of their homes and families, which can be converted into postcards.

In repsonse she's developed a €900 package in which the client receives a framed original (the actual picture measures between A4 and A3 and the finished mounted and framed image measures about A2), plus 500 colour postcards and the image on disc so that postcards can be reprinted when the original batch runs out.

The postcards have printed information on the rear, so that they can be used as change of address cards, party invitations, thank-yous, or to give directions to a house. Rather than just paint a house cold, Cathy likes to find out something about the inhabitants. "The more personal information I get about the family, the better the final image," she laughs. As well as the house, the pictures often depict members of the family and this is where the intimate information comes in: many of the people pictures contain family jokes which will tickle those who know the personalities involved.

Cathy Dineen's work has appeared in a number of publications, including the Irish Times, plus a variety of magazines.

Emma Cullinan