Abby+Owen

06/08/2026

Before the colour, detail and final artwork, our S&DR200 series began as these loose pencil sketches.

They were our first attempt to work out the movement, storytelling and composition across eight scenes spanning the Stockton & Darlington Railway story, from early engineering and bridge building to the crowds, music, industry and communities shaped by the railway.

Some of the finished pieces stayed surprisingly close to these first scribbles. Others changed completely as we researched and developed them.

We thought it would be lovely to share the rough beginnings alongside the polished work for once. 😃

04/08/2026

Did you know Who-Ray can frame any of our pieces for you?

Can you guess which illustration was inside this hand-drawn bag? 😅

We love that the co-owner Martin hand-draws each bag and you choose which one when you're at the till, from daleks to mushrooms you'll have a hard time choosing!

They can frame as small as a postcard and as large as A3 too.

03/08/2026

Abby+Owen artwork is now available at our new retail partner, the iconic in Yarm!

03/08/2026

27/07/2026

Now available to collect, our official S&DR200 artworks move from the building of the railway through possibility, public celebration, engineering, arrival and the future.

Each piece stands alone, but together they tell a sequential story of the Stockton & Darlington Railway and the people, places and ideas around it.

The complete series has already found its first collector through one of our retail partners, which was a lovely sign that the story connects beyond the mural itself.

The artworks are available as museum-quality giclée fine art prints. The first 200 of each artwork are specially stamped and numbered, and every print is hand-signed by us. Postcards are available too.

Shop the complete collection here:

https://abbyandowen.com/shop/sdr200

You can also find the range locally at WHO-RAY, Preston Park Museum (and Strickland & Holt from this Wednesday!).

If you know a railway enthusiast, local-history lover or vintage poster collector, please send this their way.

22/07/2026

How do you fit a story that changed the world into eight illustrations?

Years before anyone asked us to create artwork for the 200th anniversary of the Stockton & Darlington Railway, widely celebrated as the birth of the modern railway, we were building a practice shaped in many ways by railway poster art.

We’ve always been drawn to its ability to make people see a place or journey differently, with more heart and hope. That connection eventually led to an invitation from Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council to tell the story through eight permanent artworks.

Over six months, we followed the railway through the people & places that made it. The closer we looked, the more the human story came into view: hands building, crowds gathering, passengers travelling, communities connecting and people imagining possibilities that had never existed before.

The S&DR was never only about a railway. This is a story about people, connection, progress, collaboration and possibility. As two working-class creatives who found each other through a shared love of art, we’ve built our life & practice together here in Teesside around those same values, hoping our work sends a few ripples of its own out from Stockton.

The eight artworks are now permanently installed at West Street car park in Yarm...the railway story began here in Teesside, and so did ours.

Commissioned by Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council as part of S&DR200.

Photographs: Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council

24/06/2026

Museums in Your Classroom at Beech Grove Primary School kindly invited us to their event celebrating the week of learning about World War 2, getting to see real life artefacts and take part in amazing workshops with authors and artists.

We helped them by creating a newspaper based on their stories, ideas and photos, it was so lovely seeing their creative vision come to life. Thanks Middlesbrough Museums for involving us 💙

19/06/2026

A sneak peek at our first ever hand-drawn community doodle mural, going up this weekend as part of the Armed Forces Day and Stockton Waterfront Urban Park opening celebrations! Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council

We were commissioned to create a mural celebrating Leslie Brown’s, the much-loved toy and record shop that stood on Stockton High Street from 1947 to 1991... and it’s been designed to be coloured in by the community!

🧸 🚂 🪀 🪁 🧩 🎲 🧱 🪆 🛴 🏎️ 🚜 🚁 ✈️ 🚀 🎠 🎡 🎨 🖍️ 🎺 🤖

Creating it got us reminiscing about our own favourite childhood toys, chatting to Abby’s parents about their memories of visiting the shop when they were kids, and having far too much fun filling it with little Stockton references, from local history to spoof album covers. We’ve even sneaked in references to Abby’s favourite doll brand, Owen’s favourite childhood monster toys, and a few tributes to our cat and pet rats... Can you spot them?

🦖 🐴 🐰 🐵 🐸 🐱 🐶 🐭 🐥 🏰 ⚽ 🏀 🎈👽 🎉 🍭 🍬 ⭐ 🌈

Please come down this weekend, make your mark and help bring it to life!

19/06/2026

Really lovely to see our donated artwork find a home in ARCH Recovery College’s newly refreshed wellbeing room 💛

ARCH is a brilliant Durham-based resource where people experiencing mental health difficulties, carers and staff can learn alongside one another. Its recovery-focused courses bring together professional knowledge and lived experience, helping people develop skills, understanding and confidence around mental health and wellbeing.

We were very happy to donate two of our Durham prints, featuring The Story and Durham Cathedral with the Old Fulling Mill. We know how much our surroundings can affect the way a space feels, so it means a lot to contribute something colourful, familiar and rooted in the local area to a room designed for rest, reflection and wellbeing.

The whole refresh looks lovely, including the photographs of Durham taken by ARCH’s students. Huge credit to everyone involved in creating such a warm and welcoming space!