An Ironic Snow Angel

You can finally start to order prints of my paintings and drawings from UKPhoto Gallery again. Although the website isn't up yet and running yet, Nigel has started to print the work. I signed a copy of one canvas from the series, 'Snow Angels and No Angels' the other day for my sister-in-law Julia, who wanted the painting which had been named after her. (There are fifteen paintings, each one named after a different female member of the family). I used the image of the snow angel, (which I saw as a negative image, as the snow is  removed) in different ways but for Julia it symbolised the fact that she was estranged from us for over twenty years. Happily she is back with us now, but it did seem ironic that she wanted a copy. Maybe she liked the passion flower, which is the other image in the painting.
(The whole set of paintings can be seen on the Home page of my website www.tedconeysfamilyportraits.co.ukwww.tedconeysfamilyportraits.co.uk)

Shed A Tear For Richard

Last weekend  a french family visited Ted Coney's Family Portraits. While I was showing them my painting ' In Three Our Kingdom ' I started to explain the significance of the empty plate on the table. The story behind the painting was about my mother, who summoned her three sons and instructed them to start dividing up all her possessions, as she had decided to go and live in sheltered accommodation. As we all went for a meal first, I used the image of the table in the painting, to show how we divided up these objects, like portions of food . Only my eldest brother, Richard kept refusing to have anything when it was his turn to choose - hence the empty plate. Only, he didn't need any possessions, as although none of us guessed it at the time, within six months, he would be dead. At this point in my tour, one of my guests seemed so moved, she started to cry, which I am not sure is a good or bad thing! She was laughing later, so hopefully the experience wasn't too traumatic.

Hanging In The Balance

Last night I was the guest speaker of a local rotary club and my topic was ofcourse,
 Ted Coney's Family Portraits. After an excellant meal with lots of wine I gave a short impromtu speech to an all male audience. I chose to start with my tale about the Morris in the Cathedral (you can see the pictures on my Facebook page) because I thought it might interest them. My only visual aid was my flyers which I handed around at the begining. The image on them is my painting 'Diamonds' which is partly seen through my keyhole loggo. I remined them  that anyone over sixty (like me) might remember the character 'Mr Turnip' from early T.V. which appears in the painting to repreent my childhood. After my talk one man came up to me and said he could never visit as the sight of seeing Mr Turnip hanging (his upper body was hidden by the keyhole) upset him too much. I tried to explain that it was only a marionette and in the painting he appeared to be floating (admittedly I had decided to omit the strings) but he wouldn't be placated. He seemed genuinely disturbed by it, reminding one of how an image can affect people in different ways..

Quacks and Cracks

This week we have had one of the builders in from next door to fill the cracks in our walls. They wern't serious but it was all part of an agreement we had with the new owner, Mike, that once all the work had been finished he would tidy things up at our side. Naturally, I am disapointed not to have been able to buy part of the adjacent property to expand Ted Coney's Family Portraits, but there is still the land around the back, so am still hopeful.
Anyway, the plasterer came and we carefully took down two big pictures, so he could do the business.
And the quacks? I'm afraid I have been in the news again, though not of my making. There is an new exhibition at the Babylon Gallery all about Ducks and I was interviewed by the artist, who wanted to get local oppinions on them. I happened to say that I often talk to the ducks as I cycle by and she seemed keen to having me repeat it on film. This now appears on the ADEC website and probably  in the exhibition as well. I fully expect the next time I am quoted in the papers, it will say 'The mad Ely artist, Ted Coney'. 

Junior Tours

We've just had our grandchildren staying for a few days and Barnaby, who is four has just begun to notice my paintings. He particulaly wanted to know about the painting that is hanging in his bedroom entitled 'The Puppets Dream' and although I don't usually do a Ted Coney's Family Portraits tour for anyone under eight years old, I did feel duty bound to tell him about it, as well as I could. I explained that Hazel and I had become puppets while the puppets  had become real. This reality had come from an actual dream I'd had of Princess Anne being swallowed by a whale as she was reviewing the Fleet. All was well however, because she soon appears out of it's blowhole, hat intact and still waiving to the assembled crew. With the marvalous acceptance children have, Barnaby said 'Oh, I see' and carried on playing with his toys.