THE ART OF BEING FREE
Two signed A3 fine art prints. £200 each, or both for £300.
310gsm Hahnemühle German Etching fine art paper · A3 · Signed
£200 + shipping
BUY SIGNED PRINT
Gold foil on 324gsm Eggshell ultra-white fine art paper · A3 · Signed
£200 + shipping
BUY SIGNED PRINT
Two signed prints, carefully packaged together · Combined shipping
VIEW THE PAIR IN OUR SHOPOrders will be dispatched before 1 December 2026. International delivery times vary.
An Inventor’s Tale is a love letter to living with imagination.
The book that reveals the story behind the art. A natural companion.
Follow the story. Discover new art. Occasional notes from the artist.
The original can only be seen inside HMP Winchester. A rather exclusive gallery, and not an easy one to leave.
Not for sale
An evolving record of works made inside and outside.
Some survive as photographs; others were given away, lost, stolen, traded or left behind.
Every work has a place in the story.
Catalogue sequence may shuffle about while archive work is added
CATALOGUE 000
The underworld mirrors the heavens and Wonder is the dance in the middle.
Back to catalogue2 August 2025 — 15 April 2026
CATALOGUE 001
And so it begins.
Left for the officers at Melksham police station.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 002
An affirmation to self.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 003
So much was going on in my head and this somehow made sense of it.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 004
A drawing passed between friends.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 005
This was a title page to a prospectus of detailed drawings about my patented vision for regenerating desert soils.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 006
I made this to cover up the television screen.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 007
The acoustics of a room that has no carpet or soft furnishings is good to om inside.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 008
A reminder to self.
Back to catalogueCATALOGUE 009
I painted an alphabet for the neurodiversity wing.
I deliberately got the order wrong.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 010
Thanks Jonesy.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 011
It was autumn and I was remembering playing conkers.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 012
The staff asked me if I might help other people to express themselves so I thought of a Wonder Club. Wonder - wonder - wonder - WONDER CLUB. Sung like the theme song to Thundercats.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 013
Make believe or make belief I could never decide.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 014
A sign for my ad hoc Wonder Club on the landing of our wing that became something of a talisman.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 015
Something I drew because I was bored. It’s true though, everything is as it is.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 016
A Christmas present for my friend Matt.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 017
Inspired by a flag a saw in film I watched about Scott’s adventure to the South Pole.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 018
My covert Christmas project when the education department was closed over Christmas.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 019
Something strange happened.
Back to catalogueCATALOGUE 020
Big Jamie had an infant son who he missed.
I drew countless envelopes for him so that it brightened up his day when daddy wrote.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 021
Well it doesn’t. You learn to see that.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 022
I missed my boys and felt our light for one another beam through the walls.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 023
I planted two sunflower seeds with the most beautiful woman in the summer and I imagined them grow.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 024
Well sometimes, yeah, fuck it. I’d had enough by day one.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 025
Someone from New Zealand on TV mentioned Kiora and it was a Saturday so what else are you going to do?
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 027
I am bound to this thing.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 028
I imagine them all of the time.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 029
I say this every single day and I mean it.
Back to catalogueCATALOGUE 030
Davey was missing home.
Many of his family were in different prisons.
His Mum was at home.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 031
Mr Edwards told me about this poem by Ozymandias that mentioned King of Kings.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 032
A poem I wrote but also a meditation I did because these take a long time to finish.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 033
I sang Across The Universe with friends around a camp fire a few years ago.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 034
I wanted to draw a page that we could all read from.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 035
When people ask, where are you from? I say I am from the stones.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 036
I think I will carve one one day.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 038
Beyond this mind there is a place where we are always together.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 039
Just a candle in a shrine where I sat with you and everything felt fine.
Back to catalogueCATALOGUE 040
Dean was from Devizes.
He looked like he had attempted to rake cheese but that wasn’t why he was here.
Strange happenings my friend.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 041
Have you ever felt like a fox being hunted by wolves?
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 042
I was imaging making this in felt. Thick felt. A horse man.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 043
A few of the 120,000 words I wrote that later became a book.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 044
Everything is in a state of eternal equipoise, whether you realise it or not.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 045
A lyric I think that rang true.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 046
Take a deep breath.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 047
My hand. 1:1 scale.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 048
Can you imagine it. I can.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 049
One of the boys in art asked, what are you drawing? Another said, chicken or beef.
Back to catalogueCATALOGUE 050
Handcut concentric circles.
Thirty six of them.
I asked Miss Ralph to distribute them across the wing at Christmas.
But to tell nobody that I made them.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 051
I haven’t seen the sun for a couple of months. Our cell is in the shade.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 052
A drawing for a colleague who was facing a six week trial for murder.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 053
It was a Victorian prison with lot of stories and gallows in D Wing. At night I drew visiting ghosts and practiced my portraiture.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 054
Each of them had been here for a time and for a reason and not all of them made it out.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 055
I would imagine them, their story and the face and in some strange way it gave me comfort in the dead of night.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 056
Of course, I have never really seen a ghost.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 057
But I listened to stories and others had. Especially the guards. There were places they wouldn’t go.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 058
I was a test to draw so many different faces, each with a character and story of his own.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 059
Poor old Larry. He was always sneezing.
Back to catalogueCATALOGUE 060
A stairway to heaven that looked like it was painted in ice cream.
I gifted it to the chaplaincy but it was stolen.
From inside a prison.
At least we know it’s still here. Somewhere.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 061
To tell the truth. I made up the Reverend’s name.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 063
No doubt an estranged ancestor of Neil’s.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 064
I rarely showed these pictures and then one day a chap came to visit me. Asking to see my work and he said, that’s Smiler. I knew him. He hung himself a couple of years ago.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 065
Dog eat dog. So stay out of debt.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 067
Do what you can but always ask for help.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 068
Bradley Pitts has got the shits.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 069
Alfie cooked us Christmas dinner in the kettle. Tuna, onions, garlic, spices and noodles. It was delicious.
Back to catalogueCATALOGUE 070
A pyramid of 108 inverted beads to encourage Jamie to take deep breaths.
A visual aid to help with meditation.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 071
There are so many contenders but who will win the trophy?
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 072
Hyper complexity often appears as chaos so the invitation is to stand back. Way back. To see the order of it all.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 073
This was fun. To imagine a garden.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 074
I’d like to carve something like this.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 075
Summoning psychic protection against unwanted energies.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 076
Don’t fool with what you don’t understand.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 077
Man down. Again.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 078
Thinking of the awesomeness that is my two sons.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 079
I feel an urge to wear a tie.
Back to catalogueCATALOGUE 080
An expression of the cosmic interconnected nature of things for a friendly cell mate called Craig.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 081
I made a grid and drew one picture. Then I passed it to Alfie and it came back again. After two days it was done.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 082
Wondering if you could build my kinetic sculptures inside a prison workshop.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 083
I seem to be the only person on the wing with a pencil sharpener and they keep breaking. I’d like to make a better one.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 084
A picture I drew with young Alfie to pass the time.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 085
Billy Connolly tells a funny story about an itchy bum. This is for him.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 086
She means the world to me.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 087
My boy is going off travelling and he is always in my thoughts.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 089
What does the sun feel like on your skin?
Back to catalogueCATALOGUE 090
I liked Fernando. He was from Brazil and had good energy.
He was going through a very tough time.
I drew something for him to help keep his spirits up.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 091
It’s happening. Everywhere. All the time.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 092
The path appears as you walk it. Try not to lose the thread.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 093
Somehow, this became my favourite picture. I drew it with a T-shirt over my face because Henry had explosive diarrhoea.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 094
Taking my pen for a walk while Henry is poorly.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 095
Discernment in knowing which path is for you and which isn’t.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 096
The Minotaur isn’t so bad.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 097
Inspired by an aboriginal artwork I own on the outside.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 098
Can you see through the illusions you set yourself?
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 099
There’s no way out of this one.
Back to catalogueCATALOGUE 100
Vic was going through a challenging time as one of only two Sikh members of the prison community.
I drew his beloved golden temple to help him find peace.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 101
Painted for a friend who was having a difficult time.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 102
I haven’t really seen myself in a long time.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 104
She’s in her moon cycle.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 105
Sweetcorn and all.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 106
Well you do. If you feel fine, you no doubt look fine.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 107
Ah, my meditation friend. Mr Lee.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 108
Dab dab dab and so they got themselves a drink.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 109
I really like that picture by Picasso called Guernica so this is inspired by that.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 110
We are all angels to each other in ways we may never know.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 111
Do you know the secret?
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 113
Light and expansion and eternal life.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 114
It’s simple really.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 117
Don’t be afraid of what you don’t know.
Back to catalogueCATALOGUE 118
And so it ends.
Back to catalogueOctober 2026 onwards
CATALOGUE 200
I love you in a place where there’s no space or time.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 201
This is where it started, again.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 202
An angel I made on Martin’s barge near Newbury.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 203
When you can’t see the sun you have to imagine it.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 204
Make your own luck.
Back to catalogue
CATALOGUE 205
You are the lock. You are the key.
Back to catalogue
We hope you enjoyed your visit.
Please come back again.
The Art of Being Free is only just beginning.
If you'd like to follow the story, discover new work and hear about what comes next, you're very welcome to leave your email.
No noise. Just occasional notes from the artist.
© Tom Lawton 2026
Unauthorised duplication is going to get you into trouble.
But who knows, maybe that will be good for you.