The Caganer

The strangest Christmas present I received this year was from my nephew, who lives in  Spain.
He sent me a caganer model for my nativity display but as it is rather big, it will probably end up on my  shelf of curios, in the studio.
The 'Caganer' figure is a typical Catalan image placed in the Nativity to represent  joy. It is shown pooing, to symbolise fertilisation of the soil and  if not included, will bring bad luck to the family who own it.
 Andrew had already sent me a 'Shitting Shepherd' many years ago, which sits discreetly at the back of the scene, facing the heavenly host, so I already have that covered.
The new one is in the guise of Salvador Dali because  for many celebrities, it was considered an honour to have their own caganer . 

Beard Malfunctions

I am always looking for opportunities to advertise Ted Coney's Family Portraits but this time of year it is just the opposite.
I have twice played Father Christmas this season and both times had to fight hard not to be recognised.
On the first occasion sitting in an outside grotto, I had a very scratchy beard which drove me mad. I had to keep pulling it away from my face when the children weren't looking. I endured this for three and a half hours.
Hazel had already put new elastic on the beard for my second outing, a ride around Ely by sleigh. However, the beard was too wide for my face and kept slipping down, just when children were approaching to say hello.
I am all for keeping the magic alive and the children really do believe, but it proved very difficult in the circumstances. I only hope they didn't see me wrestling with the wig, hat and beard and ruin all their dreams.
Happy Christmas!
 

Remembering the 6th

Johnathan came the other night bringing back two newly framed paintings - 'Against The Light' and 'Bicycle Thieves'. The latter, he had framed the wrong way around, so had to take it back again!
Whilst he was here, I asked him to open todays door on my painting (of the 37 days of our Christmas) 'Limners'. It turned out to be a picture  to represent Leo's birthday on 6th December and was of a blow up birthday cake, which he had been given as a present.
It was fitting that Johnathan should open the door as had made the frame in 1993 and at the time said it was the most challenging thing had had ever attempted.
You can see the painting on page 2 of the PRINTS FOR SALE page on my website.

How I Cope

I've just had my last tour of the season for Ted Coney's Family Portraits and had visitors from Malaysia, Mexico and China in the group.
One person asked me the question ' Why do you paint ? '
After a few seconds, I replied 'It helps me cope with life'.
At the end of the visit he bought a tour guide and asked me to write the quote on the cover and sign it.
 Perhaps it made an impression..

Blowing In The Wind

Last week an A4 poster blew off a much larger image on my A board whilst it was advertising
 Ted Coney's Family Portraits. I had used it to hide something which was no longer true.
It was stuck over a slogan which had been displayed when  the venture first started.
'Five generations in thirty minutes' it read, both of which have become out of date.
There are now six generations of the family featured in the house and the tour  lasts about an hour.
My new slogan,   'Ely's first pop-up gallery',  is much nearer the mark..

Land Ahoy !

Readers of my blog will know that I have been trying to get more space to display my work for
Ted Coney's Family Portraits tours, for a  few years now. I have  too many paintings to display them altogether.
Four years ago I tried to buy a small room from the house next door (not as crazy as it sounds because we already own a room upstairs, which is part of the other property) when they were completely redesigning the whole space.
I also explored opening up our loft as another room, but  building regulations made it too difficult to do, without spoiling the rest of the house.
I've been looking into putting another floor onto the garage/studio building but feel sure all the neighbours would complain.
However, there is an opportunity we might be able to buy a small strip of land from the company who are building some houses behind us.
Watch this space for more news. 

Sooty And The Mexicans

Some of my  Mexican students came for a tour last week. I did think about showing them my painting 'Offrenda' (you can see it on my PRINTS FOR SALE page) as it was inspired by their Day of the Dead culture, but in the end I chickened out.
I had previously  used the hand puppets Sooty and his friends to represent my parents and eldest brother  in the painting 'Duet'.  They lived in the same area as Harry and Marjorie Corbett and their son Matthew, who were the manipulators of the T.V. characters in the 1950s. The Corbetts also seemed to have the same dependency on each other as my family had.
After my mother died, I used the same puppets again to represent various members of the family in the painting 'Offrenda', making them  appear slightly skull- like.
Who in Mexico would have heard of Sooty? I think the group enjoyed their tour anyway, with one student describing it as 'beyond amazing'.