Saturday 29 October 2011

A Basket Case?

Last week I finally bought a new basket for my 1940 bicycle. I had the last one for over 20 years and it was beginning to show it's age. A big hole had appeared at the bottom and one side had started to collaspe. Sounds like old age dosn't it?! While I needed to get a new one for my education work (art catalogues are very heavy) and Tesco shopping, I was sad to see it go from an archive point of view. Visitors to Ted Coney's Family Portraits will know that my old bike is one of the exhibits, linked as it is to so many of the paintings. Still, I musn't get to sentimental, as my new basket looks very handsome and is exactly like the one I bought all those years ago.

Wednesday 26 October 2011

Not Going To The Ball

Followers of my blog may remember that earlier this month I was short listed for a Business Award by Standard newspapers in their Innovation catergory for Ted Coney's Family Portraits.
They had even sent me two tickets for their Bafta style dinner at Ely Cathedral, where the results would be announced. Well now we are not going! I got a call to say that the sponcers had pulled out of the award I was up for, so now the catergory for Innovation had been withdrawn. I never really expected to win and I was even practising the sort of expression I would put on when the results were announced, but it is still a bit disappointing. However, you will be pleased to hear that I am already going in for another award - Visit England , which is more national . As I have the proof on paper, I feel I can still put down ' short listed for Business Awad' in the awards section of the new submission.

Monday 17 October 2011

Thats The Business

I have finally used up the 500 business cards that I had produced when
Ted Coney's Family Portraits first opened. At that time my strapline (which appeared on all my advertising) was 'Five Generations In Thirty Minutes'. I now realise that that was a bit of a mistake as although the actual experience lasted longer than that, (with the introductary film and visit to my studio) some visitors might have thought £3 was a bit expensive for so fleeting a visit. My new slogan which appears on my new business cards is 'Ely's First Pop-Up Gallery' which I think better reflects what I am. Hope so, anyway.

Wednesday 12 October 2011

Voices From The Past

Recently, I discovered some old audio tapes of me appearing on the radio discussing my paintings. One of them was from 1989, when I opened the house in Great Shelford for Open Studio. I even found the piece from Anglia T.V. when I drove the Morris Minor around Hills Road Sixth Form College quad to raise money for charity, for the car's 70th birthday. Daniel, who is in charge of my website will be adding them to the News and Reviews page, so that visitors to Ted Coney's Family Portraits will be able to view them. I might be mistaken (failing eyesight) but I think I look younger now then I did ten years ago when I appeared stressed and haggard on Anglia News? What do you think?!

Monday 3 October 2011

My Educational Inititive

With my background in Art teaching, I have often thought it would be great to help young people get more out of the ideas behind my painting and see how I had used artist's and other cultural references to develop my work. With this in mind, I wrote to eight schools last week, inviting them to visit Ted Coney's Family Portraits sometime. While I cannot compete with Tate Modern (or even the Fitzwilliam Museum!) maybe the fact that the collection is small and the artist is in attendence (!) might offer something different. I have also sent them a list of possible starting points, which are connected to my work, to help teachers see how they might want to use the collection - and I'll get these connected to my website soon. No takers yet (ofcourse I know teachers are very busy people) but I'll let you know how it goes.