Sound Of Silence

Yesterday began the filming of a T.V. programme about my work. They had me cycling in the park for footage to go with my new painting 'Bicycle Thieves'. It was pretty cold waiting for the signal to start cycling again while they did a bit more filming.
I had warmed up the studio to a reasonable temperature  as I knew I would have to turn off the convector heater when the interview began.
However there was a problem as the sound system wouldn't work. Urgent phone calls and a trip back to base to get other equipment meant that we got going later than expected. By then I had moved the interview into the house where I knew I could guarantee a much warmer environment. It's very hard to think straight if you are cold. I'll let you know when the film gets it's first public outing.  

The Colour Green

I needed a certain sort of  green for my current painting ' Bicycle Thieves'. I could picture it in my head but it was difficult to pin down. I imagined it as an old fashioned peppermint green, the sort you used to get in children's sweets.
As we have a wonderful traditional sweetshop in Ely and a fabulous Chocolatier (is that the right word?) I decided to try both. The sweetshop had peppermint creams but they were to pale (I guess the clue is in the name) so I tried the Chocolate shop. PERFECT! Just what I was looking for and it's now pinned in a bag to my wall.
How do I want to use it? Well, it's for the colour of the wedding cake and three brides - don't ask.

Another Door Opens

I always tell my students when  rejected by a University for a course they have applied for, that they have 24 hours to feel sorry for themselves and then  need to get working again.
Well, I was rejected by  Ferens Art Gallery recently, so I tried to apply the same rule to myself. It was quite hard to do, as they did seem  interested in having an exhibition of my work. In the end they said that it was too difficult in these straightened times to get outside funding. What they didn't say (but meant) was that no one had heard of me and I wasn't a 'name' who might attract grants etc.
Ted Coney's Family Portraits is yet to go global!
I shall keep trying by sending my portfolio to other galleries but in the meantime another interesting offer has come my way.
There is going to be a TV film made of my work. It's for a new, local station but you never know, it could be scooped up by the BBC.

Brides Head Revisited

Readers of my blog may remember the disaster when my wedding cake started to melt and one of the three bride's heads fell off (see Sticky Fingers - 30th December 2015)
I had originally commissioned the cake and the three brides as models for my current painting 'Bicycle Thieves' and although not a cake you can eat, it does have real icing. However, to my horror the cake started to melt and bits began to drop off.
I had thought it must be too warm and it was melting, but I was wrong - it had got too cold in my studio.
Happily, the bride's head has now been reinstated now and I can begin using it for the painting.

Bicycleness

I've been working on my new painting 'Bicycle Thieves' recently. I have stained (that's rubbing the paint on with rag) the background  colour of each of the two canvases, with a dark blueish purple.
However, I wanted to try to create a sort of 'bicycleness'  feeling to the surface before I put the other images on top.
I came up with the idea of laying tape across the wet paint, giving the edge a rub with my hand and then peeling the tape off to reveal the surface underneath. I found that if I rotated the tape it suggested the spokes of a wheel. Does that make sense?
You will be able to see my efforts soon, once Daniel has uploaded the images I take at the end of every day's painting, onto my website.

What You Wish For

I always hope I'll get a few interesting Christmas presents which will be useful for
Ted Coney's Family Portraits or to help me with my painting.
This year I got a beautiful miniature set of wooden kitchen utensils from Emily for the dolls house (which appears in the painting 'Fools Gold') and a stamp with Sooty on it from a family friend, (commemorating 60 years of Children's T.V), which I'll display in the Sooty Pyramid ( used in the painting 'Ofrenda').  .
Leo sent me a book on Maori meeting houses for a painting I'm planning, after our visit to New Zealand.
I also mentioned to my brother, David (when he asked me what I wanted) that I'd like him to find me a very small suitcase, as the beginning of a collection of five, to represent five great aunts for another painting I want to start researching for, in the summer.
 I did say, if it proved too difficult, he could always buy me a bottle of wine instead.
I got quite excited when I saw the suitcase shaped parcel under the Christmas Tree. Inside it was a bottle of wine!
However, I did manage to purchased my first suitcase today, from our local Antiques Emporium.

Be Like You

I received a 'round robin'  letter from an old college friend of mine from fifty years ago,  she had sent out over Christmas. In it, she stated that she intended to have an exhibition for her 70th birthday in the gallery her husband had built her last year in one of their farm buildings.
She sited me as someone who had organised an exhibition for his 70th - at the Babylon Gallery, two years ago, so maybe she is following my example.
I wish I could copy her  and create extra gallery space for Ted Coney's Family Portraits, as I have many extra paintings and no space to hang them.
Perhaps 2016 will be the year I am able to acquire a few more walls?!