A Great Fan

Hurrah! Our wonderful, local art shop has reopened at last. I bought a cloth bound sketchbook ( in preparation for my next painting), and some double nought brushes.
I also purchased a large fan shaped brush to use on my latest picture - 'Eggheads' (more on its progress next week). After experimenting, I intend to lightly 'feather' over the grey background with white oil paint to make the surface more alive. That's the plan, anyway.

Virtually Open

Last weekend would have been the beginning of Cambridge Open Studios of which I was planning to take part .
 I was going to open the downstairs part of the house, including my new garden gallery.
Instead, we had a lovely weekend with children and grandchildren and the gallery was used as a playroom for building Lego and Duplo creations.
Since the new gallery was finished in March there has only been one occasion to show off paintings (during a pre lockdown party) but it has proved very flexible in other ways.
I have used it as a drawing studio for  experimenting with mirrors for my latest work 'Eggheads', an  extra food store and a place for protecting plants against the frost.
As for viewing  pictures, my Virtual Tour will have to suffice for the moment.

The Tank Engine Man

The Reverend W. Audry was known as the 'Tank Engine Man' through his books about railways for children. I've been re -reading his biography  and have been reminded about a painting I did several years ago using Thomas and some of the other characters from the series.
In 1993 I did a painting entitled 'Young Lives' about the ten Coney cousins of our children's generation. In preparation, I instructed them to collect all the ephemera of their lives in a large envelope which was then used to represent them.
The picture comprises of ten DNA structures  used rather like railway lines, with Thomas and his friends moving the material up and down the line.
Audry's characters each have one personality trait, so I have used several for each cousin to try and symbolise their multi faceted personalities.
You can see the painting (its  long and thin) in the photography section of my Facebook page and it's amongst the images showing my retrospective  at the Babylon Gallery.
My three year old grandson is coming this weekend and he has been promised a  play with my collection of Thomas and the other models.

Postcards In Isolation

Our local art gallery has been closed during the pandemic but very active in organising projects for its followers to enjoy.
One of them 'Postcards:Together In Isolation' aroused my interest and I decided to have a go.
We have been taking daily walks, mostly along the riverbank  and I decided to collect flowers and press them. I had a vague notion that I might use the shapes to represent different members of the family in some future painting.
For now I have produced two postcards of drawings using the flowers in black and white for the gallery project. The first one was simply  flower heads all linking together with a bit of spidery writing around the edge. The second drawing is more sparse. It's made up of a series of mechanical dots, regularly spaced out. The last ones, gradually forming into a flower. We have seen alot of diagrams and charts during this emergency. Maybe my drawing is trying to offer a bit of hope?
You can see them, along with many others, if you google Babylon Arts, Ely. Both mine are labelled 'Untitled'

Zooms And Drones

Before lockdown I had only a vague notion what Zoom and Drones were.
We have had several family zoom sessions since then and I have also attended some zoom meetings.
I had an idea that I would do a painting based on a 'Cabinet of Curiosities' in the future with the family being represented by objects of some sort. I still like this idea but see the composition also making reference to a zoom format with nine rectangles to divide up the cabinet shape. Time will tell.
And Drones? My neighbour now has one and I arranged for him to deliver some sweets for my grandchildren who were sitting in the garden and visiting for the first time since Christmas.

Going Virtual

Offering  my Virtual Tour (99p per view) to the NHS Charities Together appeal is beginning to gather apace.
I was on Radio Cambridge to launch it and again on Cambridge 105 radio  last night to encourage listeners to take part.
Photographs and stories of me with my 1931 Morris Minor have also been in two local papers and on several digital platforms.
I reached over 2,000 people on my Facebook page and you can still see the screen shot of me flying back in time to 1930s Hollywood in the Morris if you click on the photography section.  This part of the film explores my painting 'Dear Reginald Owen' and how I came to discover a stash of historical material from that era.

Safety First

When I first set up Ted Coney's Family Portraits over ten years ago, I was visited by a health and safety officer from the Council before I was allowed to open to the public .
One of his recommendations was that we  fitted wireless smoke alarms  on both floors of the house and I was happy to do this as it made us feel alot safer.
I was reminded of this the other week when I realised the alarms were out of date and the rechargeable batteries had stopped charging. We have new ones fitted now and  have promised myself to test them every week.
I was always greatful for the H.and S. Officers' other advice. He could have insisted that I had emergency lighting fitted on a rather gloomy landing. When I explained that I never left my visitors to wander around on their own, he recommended that I keep a large torch near at hand.
I always check the battery before each tour.