This year my big plan was to blog every day from the Affordable Art Fair, with exciting news and gossip, pictures of celebrities – last year we had Rob Brydon – and all sorts of interesting observations – “and now from our intrepid reporter at the scene….” That sort of thing.
But I can’t – my feet hurt too much…
Last night’s private view – all set at to go 5.30..
A few people are drifting by, half an hour later….
Half way through and it’s filling up – thank goodness…..
Excellent – it’s as busy as always…..
Susie Perring‘s work to the left, mine to the right, and you can just see one of Colin Moore‘s in the browser at the front….
A close-up of my work with my linocut, West End Girl, in the middle, and some of my oil paintings to the right ….
The lovely Trevor, who helps us hang the stand every year, with Sonia Rollo‘s work to the right…
And here is Louise Davies‘ work, with three of her oil paintings, surrounded by her etchings….
I’ll post some more photos tomorrow of the first of the two Private Views.
1. Sort out my unframed prints.
2. Clean and trim them.
3. Cut some backing board.
4. Sign and number the prints.
5. Wrap in acetate.
6. Label and price them.
7. Divide them into two piles – one for the browsers and one for the store cupboard.
8. Take them back to the studio ready to take to the Affordable Art Fair.
9. Sell them all.
10. Start world domination.
Here are two new paintings I will have on show at the Affordable Art Fair next week. Shown left is Summer Morning 30 x 30cms and shown right is Winter Evening 30 x 30cms, both oil on linen, £695.
I’ve had some takers for tickets for the Affordable Art Fair (see my last post) but I still have a few more. Let me know if you want one – and you don’t have to buy anything – honest…
A large cardboard box arrived at the studio this week, full of tickets, leaflets and maps – it’s that time of year again. The Affordable Art Fair returns to Battersea Park next month and Half Moon Studio will be there again for the thirteenth (!) year.
And, of course, this is the start of the studio’s annual collective panicking – rushing to get some last minute editioning done, trying (and failing) to produce a workable hanging plan, dashing to and from the framers, etc.
Anyway, as usual, I have some free tickets for either the Charity PV evening (Wednesday 19th October) or the Gala PV evening (Thursday 20th October). The tickets will also get you in for free at any other time if you can’t make it on either of those nights.
I will be there for most of the time, if anyone wants to say hello – and don’t worry, you will be allowed to leave the stand without buying anything – all those rumours flying about last year were definitely not true….
Email me if you’d like one – first come, first served, of course….
Here is another linocut I thought I was happy with. That is, until I got to thinking about it. Below is the original version of One Way Ticket, of which I’d editioned ten and then stored in my plan chest.
Then I made the mistake of opening said plan chest and accidentally looking at them. I found I didn’t like that female figure at all and also, well, where are all the people? Tooting Broadway is a very busy tube station after all……
So with the help of my trusty repair kit, I added three more figures – a couple walking by, hand in hand, and a man striding into the other station entrance. I thought I’d just change the woman in the foreground too – make her hair longer and tone down her top – and add some floor tiles inside. Okay, that’s better….
Hmm – I’m sorry but it’s all so dark. I know, I’ll lighten the sky – make it daytime instead of evening. Oh, and while I’m at it, I’ll change her top again…
I still don’t like her top though – let’s try a different pattern – and, well, why not make the sky yellow and the interior of the tube station blue?
No, sorry, I don’t like any of that and what’s more, I’m not sure if it’s not all too crowded now. Perhaps I should take out one of the figures?
Okay, that will have to do – surplus male removed, blue sky and yellow interior re-instated, and I’ve gone with the original top. And if you think this was a lot of work, I can assure you this is an edited version….
When I was elected a member of the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers (RE) this print was chosen as my Diploma Work. It’s called Rush Hour (linocut, 29 x 52cms.) Apologies for the quality of the image – it’s a bit dark unfortunately.
The RE holds annual elections at Bankside Gallery, London, for artists who would like to join the Society and enjoy the benefits of being a member. Candidates are asked submit a completed application form plus CV and portfolio of prints and drawings/sketchbooks, usually in January each year.
Applicants’ works are assessed by a jury of Society members and usually between 3 and 6 artists are elected from some 40-50 submissions each year. Elected members must pay an annual fee, which helps to cover gallery costs.
If you are interested in applying, you can download the application form here .
On Wednesday, I had a rare day away from the studio. I went up on the train to Oxford to visit the Print Room at the Ashmolean Museum, where the RE Diploma Collection is held.
There I met up with Bren Unwin and Daphne Casdagli, respectively President and Curator of the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers.
Left: Arriving at the Print Room
When an artist is elected to the Society of Painter-Printmakers (RE), a print is selected from their portfolio by the council and delivered to the RE archives, held at the Ashmolean.
We were there to meet Clare Tilbury, Hon RE and art historian, who manages the diploma collection on our behalf, and to hand over the prints from our newly elected Associate Members.
Left: Myself and Daphne Casdagli (right) unpacking the prints.
The Diploma Collection is a substantial historic collection of prints, dating back to the earliest days of the Society and includes work by distinguished past and present members, such as Dame Laura Knight, Graham Sutherland and Norman Ackroyd.
Left: Bren Unwin (left) and Clare Tilbury (right) taking out the relevant storage boxes.
There are over nine hundred prints carefully catalogued and stored here, as the Society has been going since 1881. The collection can be viewed on request to the museum.
And just in case anyone’s wondering what exactly I was doing there, I was shadowing Daphne as I am due to take over from her as Curator for the RE next year.
Left: looking over some of the print collection (and thanks to Bren for the photos – as usual, mine were too disastrous to use……)