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.

Bake Off, With A Bike

With great trepidation, I carefully wheeled the two parts of the wedding cake home, on my bicycle. I had put the mock wedding cake in the basket and hoped I didn't loose too many flower decorations on the way. (they are made of royal icing)
I was reminded of our own wedding, over forty years previous, when I had to drive the cake some three miles to the reception. When I got there, to my horror, all the icing had been shaken off! I carefully pieced it altogether again and all seemed well until we did the traditional cutting. The bride and guests were surprised when all the icing keeled over, simultaneously.
Anyway, I got my new cake safety back and have begun drawing and making colour experiments of it for my next painting, ' Bicycle Thieves'.
I'm picking up the three brides next week. Wish me luck.

Live To See The Day

I've taken two bookings for my outreach lecture for October, recently.
It was only after getting involved with the planning, that I realised they are for October 2016 not 2015!
My talk 'On The Edge' is about some of my family paintings which hover between abstract and figurative  images and I mix live performance with video clips of me talking, from over thirty years ago. The contrast between my two ages is going to be even greater next year.
You can see more details of the talk on my website and bookings can be taken for this year and next. Perhaps it would be pushing it, to look even further into the future.

A Blog Reblogged

Ely I - a magazine about life in Ely, asked  if they could use one of my blogs in the September issue.
I had written a piece about my 1931 Morris Minor breaking down at the annual Aquafest and being rescued by the A.A. The patrolman had signed off his report form with the words 'Worn Out Member' and that became the title of my blog.
In the magazine, the article comes complete with a picture and you can still see it at the top of my NEWS AND REVIEWS page.
It's easier to spot now as Daniel has moved all the Radio, Film and Television material (OK, only one TV appearance, but I'm working on that)  to a new MEDIA page.