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. 

Too Many Pins

I've managed to get the reopening of Ted Coney's Family Portraits in both local newspapers again and you'll be able to see the stories on the NEWS AND REVIEWS page of my website, fairly soon. In the Ely Standard I am photographed standing by my painting 'In Three Our Kingdom' and in the Weekly News, with 'Minglelands'. For the latter I was rather surprised to learn that it was normal practise now to make a one minute video as well, to go with the on line newspaper. I thought the results looked a bit scary. It may be because I have my back to the top of the stairs (which is were the painting is)  and I was worried I might topple down, as I do have a certain wild eyed look about me. Also, the photographer was keen to have some movement in the video whilst I was talking, so he got me walking into one of the bedrooms where the exhibition continues. He alighted on the dolls which are each pinned down with large dissecting pins onto blocks of wood and he got me peeling off the cloth, which I put over them when the house is not open. These dolls were used in another painting, 'No More Twist' but without explanation  look as if they might be connected to voodoo. Oh dear, lets hope not to many people see this video, as it might frighten them away.   

An International Affair

Simon came last Saturday to help me get the last things ready for opening the first
Ted Coney's Family Portraits of the  season. We rehung a few paintings so that I could get my  new picture 'Another Year' onto the walls (no, I never did hear from the Dean!). We also managed, with a bit of skillful juggling, to cram another five family photographs into the hallway. Simon also did other much needed jobs such as replacing the gate post which had gone rotten and filling in all the cracks in the plaster. Hazel was very surprised to see me wielding a paintbrush to touch up the walls afterwards. I also did the more interesting jobs like putting the miniature painting (of rough seas - nice touch that) and easel into the dolls house. My first booking was a lovely Russian couple who seemed particularly amused when I explained that my sister-in-law Kari is represented in the painting 'David's Journey' as a hippopotamus. This was because it was seen as a symbol of the great earth mother in some cultures. Maybe it means something else in Russian?! 

The Rashomon Effect

Max bought me a beautiful magnifying glass for my birthday, which is just what I needed for my next but one painting.
It's about an encounter my grandmother had with an old flame when she was nearly ninety and he was eighty, at a prearranged meeting in the Royal Station Hotel, Hull. They had been engaged sixty years before but then both married different partners. He then contacted my grandmother again when he heard she had been widowed. My mother and I both witnessed this encounter and we all had different ideas about the possible outcome.
While thinking this might be an interesting concept for a painting I happened to see the 1950s Japanese film 'Rashoman' which shows the same story but through the eyes of the different characters involved.  The Rashomon Effect, as it is called, gave me the idea of how I might portray my people. To show my grandmothers story in a painting I am going to use lenses of different strengths but looking at the same image. One each, for my grandmother, her old flame, my mother and me. Hence the new magnifying glass.

All Quiet In The Cathedral

At 8:30am this morning I loaded my stuff in the car so Hazel could drive me to Ely Cathedral to put up my display for the Celebration of Business exhibition. It all went very smoothly and while everyone was very helpful, it was a very quiet, uneventful morning compared to last year when I drove down the centre aisle in my 1931 Morris Minor. The main focus this year is my painting 'Another Year' which uses Ely Cathedral as it's central image and while I got several complementary comments, no one has yet rushed forward to ask for it to remain, once the exhibition is over. Still, it's early days yet, as the event is on for a week. I did get someone asking if they could book their art club into one of my tours for Ted Coney's Family Portraits, which was nice. This is for 8-12 year olds, so it could prove an interesting challenge.