I'm now working on my new painting 'Old Wives Tales'. After making drawings of the dolls house from different angles and the messages pegged to a washing line, I've now collage them together.
You can see the results of these compositions on my latest Facebook and Instagram posts.
There will be five canvases, each one to represent my grandmother and her four sisters. They will be all linked visually by the washing line.
I'm so glad I got to see the 'Real Families: Stories of Change' exhibition at the Fitzwilliam Museum last week before it closed. There were some fascinating images of different sorts of families on display.
One image that caught my attention was 'Business Page' by photographer, Larry Sultain. You can see it on my latest Instagram post.
I was considering using the image of an old newspaper in a future painting and this was an unusual and telling way to convey information. My ideas are to muddled up to discuss now but we'll see how they sort themselves out in the coming year.
There's good news and other news.
The dates for my 80th birthday exhibition at the Norris Museum have been confirmed. 30th March - 22nd June. It's title is probably ' Every Object Paints A Picture - works by Ted Coney'
My painting 'DREAMTIME'' (pictured in my latest Instagram and Facebook posts) is one of the pictures chosen.
This is the same painting which has just been turned down by the Babylon Gallery for an exhibition celebrating Wicken Fen. Although in the early stages I made studies of the fens and collected plants for the painting I can quite see why it was rejected. All those memories of Lockdown are buried deep in the painting as the image of the disintegrating Victorian puppet theatre took over.
You can see the early stages of DREAMTIME on the THE COLLECTION page on my website.
Among my Christmas presents this year were some more objects for the dolls house.
From TVs to toilet roles, you can see them on my latest Facebook and Instagram posts.
This miniature house and its contents are going to feature again (last used about 20 years ago) in my latest painting 'Old Wives Tales', so maybe I'll make drawings of these new items soon.
I've put our sixty eight piece Nativity scene out again, as I try to do, every Christmas. However, some of the figures are now also permanently displayed in my garden gallery as they appear in the painting from 2019 'The Wasp and the Ring' Can you spot them?
Both the models and the painting appear on my latest Instagram and Facebook posts.
Happy Christmas!
I've just been sent a list by the Norris Museum, of possible paintings they might use in my exhibition next year. My task is to send them dimensions, so they can begin to see how many can be fitted in the gallery.
One of the paintings the Curator hopes to include is 'Snow Angels and No Angels'. This comprises of fifteen small paintings, celebrating some important female members of my family. Although they should be seen in a horizontal line I have never been able to manage that as our small cottage.
They seem dotted about, but in fact follow a path around our house which mirrors the journey I made in 2008 discovering the Eleanor Crosses from Harby to London.
The first 'Snow Angel' is our second daughter Fay, who was stillborn. You can see this canvas on my latest Instagram and Facebook posts and all fifteen on the PRINTS FOR SALE page on my website.
Last week I did the final tour of my pop-up gallery foe this season. Usually, I reopen again in April but things will be different because of my exhibition at the Norris Museum. So my next tour could be September 2024!
I had a lovely couple for this booking and apparently I was part of a present. They were old friends and one had arranged to take the other to the Old Fire Engine House for lunch, then onto me.
I hope I measured up to expectations but I did get a nice Email afterwards
