The Wrong Stretchers

I've just taken my latest painting 'Forget-Me-Nots'  to be framed in readiness for the exhibition at the Babylon Gallery in March (see NEWS AND REVIEWS page on my website) and Jonathan was appalled by my choice of stretchers.
As I wanted a linen canvas, I had chosen a frame with thicker stretchers, which apparently makes it much harder to frame.
After much discussion I am going to have the canvas restretched before it is framed.
The good thing about this is I can have two inches lopped off the top of the picture as the background was always too big
 You can now see the finished painting on the DISABLED VISITORS page. 

Scratching At The Surface

I invested in a set of wire brushes just after Christmas to experiment with rubbing down the surface of bits of my painting, 'Forget - Me - Nots'.
I wanted to give the impression of some of the images fading away to represent loss of memory.
Luckily I tried the brushes on a preliminary canvas first, as I nearly overdid it!
The painting is now finished and you should be able to see the end result when it moves to the DISABLED VISITORS page in the next few days

Art Opposites

'Art Opposites - Different Approaches to Oil Painting' is the title we have finally decided on. Francis Jeans and I are doing a joint exhibition of our work at the Babylon Gallery, Ely starting 16th March.
You can read all about it on my NEWS AND REVIEWS page on the website. It is the second story down in the REVIEWS AND ARTICLES section.

Postcard From The Past

While working in Hertfordshire about forty years ago I came across a postcard of the home of a great, great uncle of mine. The name of the house was Garston Manor and it looked rather grand. We knew my relation had known George V and mixed in royal circles. We also knew that after his death, most of his money had been frittered away by various nephews and the house was sold and later demolished.
I lost sight of the postcard - until recently, when it was found at the back of an old photo album.
 I've now had it framed and plan to use the image in a painting I hope to do in the future.
 A painting with a moral, obviously.

The Miniaturist

When my grandchildren were here over the holidays, they asked if I would open up the dolls house so they could inspect it more closely. My grandson was particularly keen to move the drum kit around as he explained, it was incorrectly positioned. As he is a brilliant drummer of nine years old, I was happy to let him take over.
The dolls house is on display at Ted Coney's Family Portraits because it has been used several times in my family paintings.
The last time was in 'The Rashamon Effect' which you can see on the CONTACT US page of my website.
You can learn more about the painting if you take the VIRTUAL TOUR .

Tracking Him Down

Max managed to track down a small ceramic figurine I wanted, of Mr Toad  on E-Bay.
For a future painting, I want to use Toad as a symbol of greed and selfishness to mirror what happened to my family over many years.
To have a three dimensional image of him will help , as he will appear more than once in the picture.
The fact that he is dressed in Edwardian motoring clothes and his image is based on a drawing by E.H. Shephard is also a bonus.
Shephard is reputed to have used Ely courthouse as his inspiration for the scene of Toad's downfall,  another image I hope to capture in the painting.
I also plan to get my 1931 Morris Minor in there somewhere!

Another Door Opening

Just before Christmas I was asked by an old friend of mine, to open an art exhibition at Michaelhouse in Cambridge. It was a display of his students work produced at an evening class at the sixth form college, where I used to work for many years.
Who could resist the invitation when the poster read 'opened by Ted Coney, Head of Art, Emeritus'?!
Ofcourse I took some flyers to advertise my pop-up gallery and used my (very short) speech to make the point that we were all students of Art and never stopped learning. I explained that I was about to embark on some experiments with wire brushes (more on that in another blog) on my latest painting, 'Forget-Me-Nots'
Immediately after my talk I was asked about this by one of the audience. Next day I received a booking from her. for one of my  tours,  so I must have said something right.