I always have this dilemma. When is a painting finished? I think I might have completed my latest work, 'The Counsellor', but then I might not.
You can see it on my latest Instagram and Facebook posts.
I shall do what I always do, leave it for a while and keep looking back at it on the easel.
This year I need to get it to the framers before Christmas but I've still got a bit of time to make adjustments - or not..
I've just sent some notes to the Joy Laurey Archive, detailing a conversation I had with Joy some twenty five years ago. Joy revealed that she had been influenced by a Chinese mask when designing the face of her puppet, Mr Turnip for the Children's T.V. programme 'Whirligig' in the 1950s.
The mask would have very low cheekbones so the top of the face would look very different from the bottom when viewed from very different angles.
As a child watching black and white T.V. I always imagined that Mr Turnip's facial expressions were changing, when all it took was the tilt of the head to convey different emotions.
In my painting 'The Enigma of the Chinese Mask' I have tried to show the emotions on Turnip's face (who represents me!) combined with landscape, to express my impressions of family life.
You can see two details from the painting on my latest Instagram and Facebook posts.
It's finally been arranged that I'm having a three month exhibition of my work at the Norris Museum, St. Ives, starting late March 2024. As this coincides with my 80th birthday it could be an interesting year.
The curator visited again the other day and has started to choose from a long list of paintings they might display. It's quite a small gallery so its going to be interesting to see how everything fits in.
They are particularly keen to show some of the objects as well, which have inspired me. This chimes with them being displayed in a museum setting where objects tell the stories.
The next challenge is to think of a good title for the exhibition: Any ideas?
Recently, I've been using one of the gallery spaces upstairs as a drawing studio. I was making ten charcoal studies of the dolls house for my next painting 'Old Wives Tales'. (you can see some of the drawings in earlier blogs)
As I've got two tours booked in the next few weeks it's been set up as a gallery again, which can be seen on my latest Facebook and Instagram posts. Luckily, all the Installations and display cabinets are on wheels so relatively easy to move things around.
In early December they will be on the move again as I turn the space into a bedroom for family coming to stay at Christmas.
I've just been taking some photographs of my Day of the Dead models for my granddaughter's art project.
I collected the objects together when I was researching for a painting about my mother entitled 'OFFRENDA' in 1997. Although I used Sooty and friends to represent our family I was interested in the idea of building an altar of memories, Mexican style, to celebrate those that had died but would not be forgotten.
You can see the photographs of part of my collection and the painting on my latest Instagram post, which is also available on my website
When I set up Ted Coney's Family Portraits nearly fifteen years ago I went on a business course. One of the things I learnt was that a customer needs to be aware of you about five times before getting interested. It could be a poster, a newspaper or magazine article, a radio or T.V. interview, picking up a flyer , giving someone your business card or coming across your website.
Well, there is a new kid on the block. Ely now has a series of digital kiosks which visitors can access by touching the screen. I'm under 'Attractions' and there is a photo of me with one, on my latest Instagram and Facebook posts.
The last time I had a booking for my art lecture 'On The Edge' (see my website for details) was just before Covid struck.
Therefore, I was surprised to get an enquiry about the talk (painting the family) and even more surprised that the booking was for October 2024!
When I murmured that I would be eighty by then, the caller said she was eighty one and it was only a number.
If my body and brain hold out, I hope to be there.
