Don't Tell The Dean

The Dean of Ely  turned down the offer of displaying my painting, 'Another Year' as a way of advertising the sale of prints of the same image, with  profits going to the Cathedral.
I thought the prints would sell because the image is of dawn and dusk falling on the Cathedral in a continuous, circular flow. You can see the painting on the PRINTS FOR SALE page on my website.
About a year later I took 100 postcards of the same image to the Cathedral shop and they sold them all and asked for more.
Now they have agreed to sell the prints - but don't tell the Dean.

Goodbye To All That

I closed Ted Coney's Family Portraits for the winter, last Sunday and reopen again in April 2016. We now need to reorganise the house, ready for the family coming at Christmas.
I had some nice comments from the visitors who came on the last tours, with one couple trying to pay me £6 each to come in (rather than £3) as they thought it was too cheap. I had to explain that I had a lot of flyers and posters left showing the cheaper price !
Ofcourse, everyone always asks if the painting 'No More Twist' is about voodoo (no it isn't) but I also had some interesting questions concerning the picture, 'Another Year'. This is a painting showing the dawn and dusk falling on Ely Cathedral and you can see it on the PRINTS FOR SALE page of my website. I always explain that there was quite a lot of  preparation for this piece.
As well as taking photographs at different times of day and night, I also made quick sketch paintings on black paper from direct observation.
I even built, with the help of my son  and brother, an excruciatingly difficult model of the Cathedral, so I could light it in different ways, to make studies from.

Remember Me?

Recently, I was invited by my old school - Hills Road Sixth Form College, where I had taught Art for 34 years,  to join their online Alumni website.
As  I have already had former students contact me and visit
Ted Coney's Family Portraits , this seemed a good way of getting in touch.
Soon after I joined, they suggested  I  take part in a Q and A session, to explain what I was doing now. As this was further publicity and  would let people know I was still alive, ofcourse I agreed!
I was asked  for  the inspiration behind the pop -up gallery -  and if the Morris Minor was still going strong, among other questions.
Anyway, you can read the full interview on my NEWS AND REVIEWS page, it's quite near the top.

In The Footsteps Of

Well, I 've finally done it. I've sent off an application form to Ferens Art Gallery in Hull, to apply to have an exhibition there, sometime in the future.
I wrote to a few public galleries after my exhibition in the Babylon Gallery and the Ferens eventually contacted me, to submit a proposal.
Daniel had been helping me for a while, to get together a portfolio for prospective galleries to see, and this seemed a good opportunity to try it out. My portfolio consists of some of my paintings, plus the film made for the Virtual Tour and some photos of the Babylon exhibition.
Why Hull? Well it's about to be put on the map as the 'City of Culture 2017' and I did spend the first 27 years of my life there.
Also, an ancestor of ours, Tom Kirk has three paintings in the Ferens permanent collection.

Brides Of Choice

Max  has just let us know of their wedding plans and we are thrilled for them.
How different from the time up to the second world war, when young women didn't have much choice in the matter, especially if they were pregnant.
I'm currently making drawings of three brides for my next painting 'Bicycle Thieves' to represent my mother and two of her cousins, who all had to get married because they had conceived babies out of wedlock.
They all stayed with their husbands  but I guess my painting begins to ask the question, would they have married, if the convention of the time had not demanded it?
My three brides have been produced in royal icing and I have been drawing and painting them at different sizes and arrangements. Once Ted Coney's Family Portraits is closed for the winter I plan to start the final piece.

Family Portraits 24/7

I was pleased to see that the Ely Standard had published the story about Ted Coney's Family Portraits continuing over the Winter as a virtual tour (which can be accessed from my website 24/7) even though I will be stopping the house tours soon, until April 2016.
My last tour is on 6th December if you want to make a booking.
The accompanying photo with the newspaper story showed me in the studio with my latest painting 'Against The Light' and I am holding  Laurel and Hardy shadow puppets.
That must have perplexed some people!

Can't Take it With You

I was having my annual meeting with a member of the Tax Office recently about my accounts for both Ted Coney's Family Portraits and my education work.
Although the helpful chap behind the desk kept a straight face, he must have been surprised when I said it was disgraceful that so much money was taken away from our hard earned cash in Tax. Surely the Government were meant to encourage us to save for our 'after life care'?
He either thought I was a nutter or had some divine arrangement with the Almighty.