No News but Reviews

Nothing to report on the arrrival of the new grandchild except that it is imminent. I've got a few ideas for doing a painting about it (that and my nephew's wife's baby next month) but we shall have to see, once it all happens.
However, you can view the News and Reviews page on my Ted Coneys Family Portraits website to see how Daniel (my new web designer) has put together all my press cuttings from 1991 until the present day and I think he has made a really good job of it. But then, I'm biased.

Over Complicated and Over Here

Yesterday, I had a charming family from Sweden booked into Ted Coney's Family Portraits. Parents and three well behaved and jolly daughters. I planned carefully beforehand and thought long and hard what I would show them. I chose 'Journeys' as the theme of my tour and started with the 'Snow Angels and No Angels' series, so the girls could see the paintings as they went through the house.Ofcourse I showed them the Morris Minor before they came in, so I could refer to it when we looked at 'Grand Tours' and 'Golden Jubilee Ride' which both feature the said car. I also talked about 'Young Lives' because I knew they could identify with Thomas the Tank Engine, which ofcourse, appears in the painting.
I had also blacked out the room, so that when the family entered, they would see both the dolls house and puppet theatre lit up and shown off in all their glory.
I also introduced then to Muffin the Mule and Mr Turnip and I fear at that point I may have lost them slightly. In my enthusiasm to do a good show I may have over complicated matters. A thing to remember, the next time I have any young people.

Getting Bigger?

The house next door is up for sale. How I wish we could afford to buy it, so we can burst through and make Ted Coney's Family Portraits even bigger. I certainly need more walls to hang my pictures on.
The family are selling it as one house but it is already divided into two flats and I would love to buy the bottom one. I have recklessly indicated that we would be interested in buying, but if it came to it, we would have to do some hard thinking about whether it would make us penniless. Still, it is quite fun to daydream about what could be and even, if I keep working, what might be possible in the next twenty years.

I Made It, But Only Just

To publise the opening of Ted Coney's Family Portraits I agreed to take the Morris Minor to the Eel Day celebrations last Saturday. The car is 80 this year and of course my current painting uses it as a time machine (but more about that in another blog) and I know that it certainly draws in the crowds. Anyway, the car had a very flat battery, and after several attempts to charge it up, I was advised to get a new one (a battery that is, not a car). I arranged to collect it on my bike as the battery shop was fairly near the station, where I come into after working in Cambridge. Disaster! I realised that the front tyre of the bike had a puncture, so I had to run home to get our modern car before the shop shut. With the Royal Wedding the next day, I knew the race was onto get the car fixed that afternoon.
I drove onto Jubilee Gardens with some panache and all my gallery signs and leaflets and spent an exhausting day talking about Family Portraits. Ofcourse, it's the Morris they will remember but just maybe, this will lead to more folks coming to visit.