Getting Creative

The other week I attended a meeting of Ely Creative - a group of people all working in the creative industries. It was very lively (being at the Cutter Inn helped) and everyone seemed to be brimming with enthusiasm and ideas. As a new member I was allowed to talk about
 Ted Coney's Family Portraits for five minutes and of course I had my flyer's to give out. As a result of this, the organiser, Sue, asked me to write a piece for the Ely Creative website. You can read it (and all about Ely Creative) via the live link from the NEWS AND REVIEWS page of my website. I guess it's another way of me spreading the word.

Virtually A Tour

Recently, my nephew, Andrew has been sending me lots of exciting ideas on the most effective way to market Ted Coney's Family Portraits. One of his most interesting concepts (he said it could make me immortal but I think he was getting a bit too carried away, there) was for me to do a virtual tour which the public could pay for and view on line from my website. I don't know how all that would work, but it could be a way of drawing more people in. In fact I am already thinking of a new, shorter tour on the theme of Simultaneity which might just fit the bill. Of course, I would have to have the video made professionally as it would have to be very, very good, otherwise it could put potential visitors off  rather than the opposite. Still, something to think about. 

No Snow Angels

I have just been to a family christening in Madrid. The last time we went there for the christening of my great nephew, Andy, it never took place due to the harsh weather. We made it all the way from the UK but Andy didn't, because of the dangerous roads. We still went to look at the church where he was due to be baptised and saw little children making snow angels in the garden. I thought then, what a perfect symbol for the missing baby - a negative but beautiful shape with the snow taken away. Over the next year, an idea grew for a painting, with Andy being replaced as the snow angel by his mother, Blanca who finds it very difficult to attend family events because she is a nervous traveller - another negative action. Over the next few years I worked on my painting
 'Snow Angels and No Angels' with the ideas widening to celebrate fifteen female members of the family including Blanca. You can see this painting on the HOME and PRINTS FOR SALE pages  of my website.
And the weather in Spain this time? Well it didn't snow and was similar to here, cold with some rain.

Flexible Working

I did two different tours this weekend for Ted Coney's Family Portraits, and they weren't related in any way except that I didn't do them at my advertised times. Living up to my slogan of being a pop-up gallery, I opened on Friday afternoon for an ex colleague and her aunt and mother. I must have done OK because when I announced that their tour was at an end, it produced a slight ripple of applause. Or maybe it was just relief that it was all over.
A more challenging one for me was the tour I did on Sunday morning for a children's art club. I called the tour 'Detectives' and asked them to work out in groups, what some of the paintings were about. Of course each group had a grown up with them, but they were pretty good at sussing out  the main themes. They were very attentive and particularly enjoyed seeing Mr Turnip's eyes move. One little girl wrote 'cool and really fun' in my visitors book, which livened it up no end.

Water Everywhere

I don't usually comment on our domestic arrangements but my life did seem dominated by water these last two weeks. First, we had leaks in both toilets and we need to get it sorted before the grandchildren arrived. Luckily, we have a very good plumber (though because he's good, he's difficult to track down) who came and mended everything. I've also been doing quite a lot of painting of water recently for my new painting 'If The Boats Come In'. At the moment I'm concentrating on the boating pool end but need to tackle rough seas as well. I've also agreed to demonstrate oil painting on 29th June at Tindalls, our local art shop, which I shall hope to use to publicise
 Ted Coney's Family Portraits (who else?). And what will I be painting? Why, WATER of course.