James Bond

I notice that Royal Mail have released some special James Bond stamps. The stamps cover six of James Bond's books from Goldfinger to For Your eyes only, with each extra long stamp featuring four different cover editions of each. I love the James Bond books I have with vintage covers (see below), and when I started designing men's cards and was thinking about what to do, my friend Derek said to me that every man likes to think of himself as James Bond so now when I paint a new men's card I like to keep James Bond in mind.

One of the things I really like about James Bond, aside from his daredevil can do anything antics, and the glamorous locations that he frequents, is that he is a connoisseur with great taste, and is very particular about the refined luxury brands he uses. He likes Mouton Rothschild '53, smoking Morlands of Grosvenor Street cigarettes, or sampling Beluga caviar. Breakfast for James Bond is a speckled brown egg from a French Marans hen served in a Minton egg-cup, followed by wholewheat toast with Jersey butter and Norwegian honey from Fortnum's, with a cup of the strongest coffee from De Bry of New Oxford St.

Of course, one of the things he is most particular about is his Martini, which is actually a vodkatini made with vodka, shaken not stirred to show Bond's rebellious side and served with a twist of lemon peel. When I painted the Shaken not Stirred card above, I was sure to base my illustration on a 1960s Wolfschnitt vodka bottle design, the preferred brand of James Bond, and by being inspired by a 1960s design I liked to think that it would be Sean Connery sitting there drinking it.

Painted images above: the Convertible card and the Shaken not stirred card.