Friday 27 September 2013

Prickwillow Delights

Working in a phone box was not the only thing I was up to last weekend in Prickwillow (you can see the photo of that, on my Facebook page).
I also went to see a very interesting display of 1950s TV puppets in a private house, to rival my own collection. I saw Mr. Turnip, Hank, Muffin the Mule, Andy Pandy and the Flowerpot Men all made by David Leech, for a couple who had remembered these characters as vividly as I had, from their childhood. Ofcourse any puppets and dolls that I have, were all collected as source material for some of my paintings. Quite what my hosts would make of seeing all their favourite characters with pins through their limbs at Ted Coney's Family Portraits, I am not sure.
However, you can see the painting ('No More Twist') and the said TV characters in a short video on the NEWS AND REVIEWS page of my website, but keep it to yourself.

Saturday 21 September 2013

Don't Phone Me

I am in the process of putting up an exhibition in a phone box in Prickwillow. I am using the opportunity to advertise Ted Coney's Family Portraits (of course) and have centred my display around a print of my painting 'Another Year', as I thought the image of Ely Cathedral would have  local appeal. Luckily, I also had some prints of different stages of the painting, so I have put those in there, too.
Of course, putting a display in a phone box was a challenge in itself, and as I write, it may all have fallen down and look a complete mess. Anyway, I hope to go back on Monday to finish it, so I will see how it has survived. One of the things I forgot to take, was a picture of Ely Cathedral, so I could piece together the model which we painstakingly made for reference, when I was doing the painting.
At the moment it looks a very funny looking cathedral, sitting at the bottom of the phone box.
 

Thursday 12 September 2013

I Spy

The only thing  I have left belonging to my grandmother is a small magnifying glass on a long gold chain (you can see a drawing I made of it on the UKPHOTGALLERY website which is linked to my PRINTS FOR SALE page).My grandmother often wore it  and I want to use it in my next painting 'The Rashomon Effect' to represent her. The only photograph I had, where I was convinced she would be wearing it, was a rather faded image, making it difficult to see any details.
However, as luck would have it, I discovered the same picture in slide form, from which the paper version must have come, many years ago.
I took the slide to our local photography shop and they were able to enlarge the image. Hey presto! There was the magnifying glass looking resplendent on my grandmother's person. I can now show this to visitors when explaining  my ideas behind the painting.

Friday 6 September 2013

The St. Albans Connection

I sold one of my prints. My nephew, Andrew purchased a copy of my 'Snow Angels and No Angels' paintings, which was dedicated to his mother, Christine. These are a series of fifteen pictures which were inspired by the journey made by the body of Queen Eleanor of Castile in 1290 from Harby in Lincolnshire, where she died, to Westminster Abbey. Her grieving husband, Edward 1 had crosses erected at each of the stopping points on her two week journey. I made the same journey by bicycle in 2007 and dedicated the subsequent paintings to fifteen (rather than one!) female members of my family.
Eleanor's body passed through St. Albans and although the cross has long gone, there is now a plaque to mark the event. As Christine, whom I remember as a much loved sister-in -law lived in St. Albans, it was only natural that I should choose her to represent this stopping point.
You can see this print (and others) if you go to the link from my website on the PRINTS FOR SALE page to the UKPHOTOGALLERY, who produce the prints for me.