In The Driving Seat

For my Artist in Residence event at the Courthouse I commissioned a model of Toad.
This was so visitors could peep into my Morris Minor and see him perched on cushions appearing to drive.
This tied in with my latest painting 'Who Stole The Toothpaste?' where Toad appears and I used the Morris for his car.
You can see him when you visit Ted Coney's Family Portraits but if you can't wait, then view him now at the steering wheel, in the latest batch of photos on my Facebook page.
 Just click  the logo on any page of my website.

Work In Progress

You can now see the current stages of my painting 'Who Stole The Toothpaste?' in the
 NEWS AND REVIEWS page on my website. (click at the top of any page)
I'm trying to get a balance between the two layers - the lettering on the toothpaste pot and the downfall of Toad in the Courtroom.
In the third frame you'll see how I collaged the bits of green, crinkly £5 notes for the three faces of Toad.

A Black Mark

With over a 1,000 hits on Facebook, radio and TV coverage and 161 visitors over  two days, I was tempted to feel that my residency in Ely Courthouse was going really well.
However, the Mayor of Ely arrived in all his robes and chain of office and disaster struck.
I  put a little oil paint  on my palette as I thought that if I had a dull moment I could do a bit of painting. I never did, because there was a constant steam of visitors  to explain what my picture - ' Who Stole The Toothpaste ? ' was all about.
Unfortunately, The Mayor must have draped his robe over the paint because to my horror he had black on the bright yellow edging. I quickly gave the Mayoress some loo role and turps substitute and hoped she would get rid of it.
When I last saw them, she had made it much worse by rubbing it into an even bigger splodge. I felt very bad because the Mayor (a lovely man) had been my chief supporter in the beginning, when I  broached the idea of showing how I had used the Courthouse in my painting .

Art Object

I gave a tour of Ted Coney's Family Portraits last week for  new visitors and some who had been before.
One person wrote in my visitors book at the end
'Not just the paintings, the house itself is a work of art'
No wonder Hazel finds it difficult to live here sometimes.
 I do  wonder if I am becoming an art object as well? Though ofcourse Gilbert and George did that years ago.

Art On The Move

As part of the initiative to get my work more widely known, I will be Artist in Residence in Ely Courthouse next weekend 15th and 16th June as part of the Isle of Ely Festival.
I also continue to give talks about my work and will be in the Cathedral Centre in August to present
 'On The Edge' to a group .
 Though I do need to get out of Ely! I am still waiting for Daniel to complete my on line portfolio but then hope to send it to various galleries. In the meantime I have just put in a submission to Kettles Yard, Cambridge for their open exhibition, so I might get lucky. However, so will hundreds of other budding artists, so I mustn't get to hopeful.

Rare Glimpses

For my birthday, Emily gave me a beautiful book which she'd had printed of her photographs of our house and studio.
The pictures were taken about ten years ago - hence the cat bowl and Jasper is long gone!
Most of the photos are close up and she's even made the ironing look interesting.
You can see a selection of them on my Facebook page. Just click on the icon on the left side on any page of my website and scroll down.
When visiting Ted Coney's Family Portraits,  people seem to enjoy seeing the objects just as much as the paintings and I think Emily has captured this.

Come Hail, Rain Or Shine

I eagerly accepted the invitation to promote my up-coming Artist in Residence  event in June,  (See the NEWS AND REVIEWS page on my website for  details) at Eel Day, where the Isle of Ely Arts Festival was  to be launched.
I selected some of my preliminary canvases and drawings for the painting I 'll be working on -
'Who Stole The Toothpaste?' to encourage interest.
 I even brought along my new gift cards, displaying a drawing of my 1931 Morris Minor  (the car appears in the  painting) and hoped to make a few sales.
However, I hadn't bargained for the weather. Every few minutes the sky would turn black and down would come the rain and even hail at  times. I had to retreat with my mini display into a tiny gazebo along with about five other people.
So it wasn't a great success, though we did manage to give out quite a few leaflets as people rushed home.