Monday 28 December 2009

My After Christmas Mission

Today, I have spent my time trying to finish 'Snow Angels and No Angels'. It comprises of 15 canvases and I have been working on about 5 of them recently. I keep looking at each one and seeing little bits of painting to do. One minute I think they are all finished, the next, I am not so sure. I will keep them on the easle for the next week or so and see if anything strikes me, that still needs doing. In our house in Great Shelford, my easle was in the living room, so I would pass my paintings many times a day. If anything needed changing, I would see it, in a more natural way. Here, I have a little studio (which is great), but my looking is more forced ,as I have to go out into the cold to get there.

Friday 18 December 2009

A Christmas Blog

It's thick snow outside and I am really enjoying opening my painting ' Limners' for the first time over the Christmas season, since coming to Ely three years ago. The painting is set out like an advent calendar with tiny double doors to cover each image. Only, there is 37 paintings! the 24 days of Advent, the day itself, and the 12 days of Christmas. I made the painting about 20 years ago, so I am reminded of the things we used to do each time I open a door. Today, it was a painting of a punchbowl (where did that get to?) and glasses, to represent the carol party we used to organise for many years. The children all used to bring musical instruments to play off tune carols while the adults would sing and drink mulled wine. Happy days!

Monday 14 December 2009

Finishing Off 2

Yesterday, I did my last two tours for Ted Coney's Family Portraits before the winter break. Both were fully booked which made a nice end to the year. I shall reopen in April 2010 but I am already planning and organising improvements. I will use this blog and twitter (when I get the hang of it) to inform you of my progress. I shall also be finishing off my current painting over the holiday, so I can get the new one underway.
However, it will be nice to read the papers on a sunday morning for a few weeks rather than have to rush around getting the house ready for visitors Ted

Friday 11 December 2009

Finishing off

Eleven years ago I produced a painting entitled ' Offrenda' using some of the ideas behind the Mexican way of celebrating death and remembering loved ones. This was because I thought my mother Peggy, who was 81 at the time, was going to die and I wanted to prepare for it. At the time I told her (when she recovered!) that it was picture about her eightieth birthday and she happily accepted this. Peggy is now 91 and this time I think she really is, gently fading away. It seems appropriate therefore, that I have just started the last of my ' Snow Angels and No Angels' pictures and this one is dedicated to her. It will include Peggy's favourite flower, the humble daisey but also records the triumphant arrival of the body of Queen Eleanor of Castille to Westminster Abbey in 1290 (the canvases, as well as celebrating 15 female members of the family also records the journey I made to follow the Eleanor crosses from Harby to London)

Saturday 5 December 2009

Ely and Hollywood

I woke up at 5am the other morning with an idea for a painting! It was probably after watching the film 'Julie and Julia', where two stories from different periods are happening simultaneously, but the common link was french cooking. Anyway, my idea was about looking for a house to buy in Ely (exactly three years ago) while discovering an estate agents booklet for Hollywood from the 1930s and wondering how it had come into my posession?! I did have an uncle who went to try his luck in Hollywood at this time, so maybe that was the link. Anyway, I will keep thinking about it and see if any images appear that could make an interesting picture.