Better Late Than

Last Sunday I had two visitors booked, who had seen my virtual tour on the website and were very interested to see my painting 'In Three Our Kingdom' for real. I decided to do the tour entitled 'TIME' for them and promised that this painting would be included.
I got everything ready - which takes about two hours to organise and waited in the garden for them to arrive.
The start time is 2pm and at 2:25pm I had almost given up. In nine years of doing guided tours I had never been let down before. I felt like an actor with no audience.
Finally they arrived full  of apologues as they thought it began at 2:30!
Anyway, the tour went well and they were very appreciative.
They found the work very moving - you can see it for yourself on the PRINTS FOR SALE or as part of the tour(real or virtual)

Once Upon A Time

One of the most interesting artists I saw on our travels this summer, was a Kenyan painter called Michael Armitage, whose work we encountered at the Turner Contemporary in Margate.
He told stories, often horrific but very moving, through his paintings.
 I liked his work, partly because he was a terrific painter, but also because of his ability to visualise a story. This is something I also try to do  in my work.
I was explaining to some visitors in my pop-up gallery last week, the story behind my painting
 'Snow Angels and No Angels'. 
Queen Eleanor of Castile died in Harby, Lincolnshire in 1290 and everywhere along the route of her cortege to Westminster Abbey, her grieving husband, Edward 1 had a cross erected to mark her passing.
I followed the same route by bicycle in 2008 and placed a flower on the site of each cross to commemorate/celebrate, fifteen female members of my family. This formed the basis for my picture.
You can see the painting (one image at a time) on the HOME page of my website. If you want to see all fifteen canvases together, go to the PRINTS FOR SALE page and follow the link. 

Getting To Know Me

I will do most things to advertise Ted Coney's Family Portraits, especially if they are free. Well, maybe not running naked through the streets of Ely, but you know what I mean.
So an invitation from the local newspaper to answer twenty questions in their 'Getting To Know You' column seemed like a good opportunity.
You can see the results on the NEWS AND REVIEWS page of my website. It's the first article in the REVIEWS AND ARTICLES section.

Disolving Into Darkness

In my current painting 'Forget- Me- Nots', I have been experimenting with different ways of representing dementia.
During a recent visit to Amsterdam I  looked at how Rembrandt made his objects and people dissolve into darkness and deep shadow.
In my painting, this could represent loss of memory and a lack of  understanding.
 I aim to combine this idea with other techniques eventually, but you can see the results so far, in the NEWS AND REVIEWS page on my website

New Recruit

I made a painting a few years ago entitled 'If The Boats Come In' - you can see it in the
 OPENING TIMES page on my website.
 In it, I represented all the family by their toy sailing boats, returning  to the annual family gathering in Sheringham. The toy boats out at sea (family members in foreign lands) were painted as if knitted and the question I poised in the work was,  are they beginning to unravel, or were they been drawn into the pond?
This year, it was a great delight to take Sebastian, the newest family member, to the shop in Sheringham to buy his boat. As he is only three months old, I am not sure how much he will remember of the ensuing races, but hopefully he will enjoy this family tradition in the years to come.

For Our Convenience

We've just been visiting Sheringham, staying in a very interesting building which David had rented for the week.
It was right on the sea front and was formally a Victorian public convenience . It has now been converted into a very desirable residence, so it was nice to make use of it for a few days.
I had two attempts at the drawing it, one using watercolour and the other, sketching with a ball point pen.
I made it look a bit like Norman Bate's house in 'Psycho', although it was rather sinister when we approached it at night.
p.s. (It is called the 'Wee Retreat') 

Get Real

We came back to Cambridge from a school trip by a strange route I'd never seen before. The architecture looked more like Pisa or Florence.
Hazel came to meet me in  the Morris Minor and I was horrified to discover how rusty and damaged it was. I then realised we were loading up the wrong car. Mine stood gleaming in the sunlight on the other side of the car park.
I then woke up from a dream.
Over fifty years ago something very similar happened for real.
I had been out drinking with other students and we all dived into my Morris for a lift home. I couldn't get the car started but suddenly my eyes cleared and I realised that I didn't own a leopard skin dashboard !
There must be a painting in there, somewhere.