SOLD! Harvest Reaper II – the South Sands Ferry

It’s a delight to support local good causes and charities.

Each year, as a member of the Salcombe Art Club, I’m on a rota to exhibit in the Redfern Health Centre, Salcombe.

I’m told by many who have cause to visit the health centre that, while they wait their turn to see the doctor or nurse, they enjoy admiring the work of local artists.

I’ve exhibited eight times to date and this year, once more, I had a sale.

 

SOLD! Harvest Reader II
Harvest Reaper Beyond Fort Charles

Harvest Reaper Beyond Fort Charles

Harvest Reaper (featured image above) is the name of the South Sands Ferry.

To travel in a boat is a must for every visitor to Salcombe, especially the very young. What better way to travel but on the Harvest Reaper?

The Fisher Price colours of yellow and blue make the South Sands Ferry look as if it’s popped out of a child’s toy box.

The journey from Salcombe to South Sands on the Harvest Reaper takes only 15 minutes, and then it’s the turn of the tractor to ferry the passengers ashore.

On the return journey, the prospect of driving back into the sea to await the incoming ferry can worry some youngsters. However, any apprehension is easily forgotten with the promise of an ice cream at the end of the journey. Salcombe Dairy ice cream is the finest. (They also make chocolate too now.)

The views each way are spectacular, along the beaches of the ria and out to sea. On a Saturday afternoon, the passengers can also take a close look at the dinghy sailors racing past.

 

More paintings of Harvest Reaper
Ferry to South Sands

Ferry to South Sands

I have painted the Harvest Reaper many times. The original of Harvest Reaper Beyond Fort Charles was also sold when on exhibition at the Redfern Centre.

Then I created

 

All of these are now sold, and I really ought to paint this wonderful craft again. But, these images are still available, as fine art greetings cards and/or as prints.

 

Affordable art!
Harvest Reaper III

Harvest Reaper III

Over 60 of my images are available as fine art greetings cards.

Blank inside, you write your own message.

Only a short distance from the Loft Gallery, you have the choice of buying these ‘man cards’ at Bonningtons, the newsagents, or at Salcombe Information Centre.

 

Prints also available

If you would like a high quality giclée print of any of my originals (sold or not), contact me. Prices depend on size and quantity but are a fraction of the cost of an original. Supplied as a canvas, you can choose your own mounting and frame too.

SOLD! Ebb Tide at Batson Creek

It’s a delight to support local good causes and charities.

As a member of Salcombe Yacht Club, this year, during Merlin Rocket week, Anne and I spent nine days in The Chart Room at the yacht club, welcoming the Merlin sailors and their families, and exhibiting my original works, limited edition prints, and fine art greetings cards.

The weather was too hot for me to paint, but I enjoyed watching the sailing, photographing the Merlins and talking with lots of art lovers, while Anne ‘manned the shop’.

 

SOLD! Ebb Tide at Batson Creek

Ebb Tide at Batson CreekAs well as over 100 cards, I sold a painting, which swelled the donation to the Salcombe Yacht Club.

While I am happy when any painting sells, I’m especially so when I meet the purchaser and know it’s going to a good home.

A purchaser is a local person, someone I will see often, and I’m sure he’ll enjoy his purchase.

My paintings grace many a wall in Salcombe, and elsewhere.

See if you can spot one of my originals next time you go visiting?

 

Which cards were the most popoular?

I had painted two more Merlin compositions especially for Merlin Rocket week, and used them for new card designs, bringing the number of cards featuring Merlins to three: Merlins, Merlins Crossing the Bar, and Watching the Merlins Race.

Merlin cards for sale of Ebb Tide at Batson Creek

All three sold well, but they were pipped by two other designs: Salcombe Estuary Trots and Dappled Light I, a watercolour which is now sold but very much like the still-available oil painting Dappled Light III.

Salcombe Estuary Trots for sale of Ebb Tide at Batson Creek

Salcombe Estuary Trots

Local artist, supporting local causes

This year so far, I’ve made donations to The Friends of the Redfern and Salcombe Yacht Club. If you would like me to support your good cause, contact me.

Anne and I are happy to attend events and we have specific cards being sold through charities, such as Salcombe Regatta and Hope Cove Lifeboat.

Dawn at South Pool Creek

SOLD! Dawn at South Pool Creek

Dawn at South Pool Creek is an acrylic painting of the early morning view from my studio in Beacon House.

The tall ship is a sail trainer which I believe is called Leader. It is often moored at ‘Crossways’ in the Salcombe Estuary.

 

Sold! To visitors to Salcombe

Dawn at South Pool Creek was sold recently to visitors from Switzerland and, I’m told, it will grace the walls of their holiday home in the south of France – or maybe cover up a damp patch!

 

My art: Far from home?

Without giving away the precise location of the new home for Dawn at South Pool Creek, I can reveal it is 945 miles away from Beacon House. By ferry and car, it would take about 20 hours to reach the destination.

I wonder which of my paintings is on display the furthest from Salcombe. If you own one, and it’s more than 945 miles away, let’s put it on the map.

 

A 50% deposit secures any painting

If you see a painting on my website that you like, but want to see it ‘in the flesh’ before committing yourself to buying it, that’s not a problem. A refundable 50% deposit secures a painting until you are able to visit Salcombe to see it for yourself.

 

NOVEMBER IS SALE TIME

It’s sale time! For the month of November: £50 off any painting – that’s a third off those currently priced at £150.

 

WHY HAVE A SALE?

Work is due to start soon to provide wheelchair access to Beacon House, so all my artwork will be taken down and packaged for the duration of the works.

 

WHEN ARE WE RE-OPENING?

We hope the refurbishment will be complete in time for re-opening at Easter 2017.

Meanwhile, if you would like to buy a painting at a reduced price, contact me here.

SOLD! Sunlight on Avon River

Sunlight on Avon River – one of the crop of 2012 – is sold. It’s been on display in Beacon House House Gallery for a long time – and been to various exhibitions too – and we’re sad to see this beautiful painting going to a new home.

I hope the new owners enjoy it as much as we did.

A tree-lined river bank with dappled light competing with lively reflctions is a huge challenge for the artist. The sound of constantly moving water is a delight to hear but, sadly, I cannot capture that within my watercolour painting.

 

A 50% deposit secures any painting

If you see a painting on my website that you like, but want to see it ‘in the flesh’ before committing yourself to buying it, that’s not a problem. A refundable 50% deposit secures a painting until you are able to visit Salcombe to see it for yourself.

 

November is Sale time

It’s sale time! For the month of November: £50 off any painting – that’s a third off those currently priced at £150.

 

WHY HAVE A SALE?

Work is due to start soon to provide wheelchair access to Beacon House, so all my artwork will be taken down and packaged for the duration of the works.

 

WHEN ARE WE RE-OPENING?

We hope the refurbishment will be complete in time for re-opening at Easter 2017.

Meanwhile, if you would like to buy a painting at a reduced price, contact me here.

SOLD! Baltic Exchange III Standing By at Island Terrace

Baltic Exchange III Standing By at Island Terrace – the featured image above – was one of several paintings I produced in 2010 as part of my one-man exhibition in support of the Salcombe Life Boat. Since then, it’s appeared in several exhibitions and, at last – on display at Avon Mill – it has sold, and is now on its way to Australia.

Six years ago, I was living in a flat at Great Gates – above what was then the Marine Hotel and is now The Harbour Hotel – and, each time I heard the lifeboat go by, I’d rush out onto my balcony and take photos. So, I had plenty of resource material.

This painting of Baltic Exchange II was donated to the Salcombe RNLI and raffled at an event held in The Fortescue Inn.028-baltic-exchange-2-72dpi

Salcombe Heroes was bought by the mother of one of our lifeboat crew.025-salcombe-heroes-72dpi

Return to Base is one of the few original painting not for sale. It hangs in my own gallery at home. This is because I donated the image to the Salcombe Lifeboat and, by donation, you can obtain it as a fine art greetings card in the Salcombe RNLI shop.052-return-to-base-72dpi

The original of Baltic Exchange III was sold to a Japanese visitor to Salcombe’s Summer Exhibition in 2010. 033 BALTIC EXCHANGE 372dpiRESIZEDSquare

I’ve now moved house and rarely see the lifeboat unless I am taking in the view from the terrace of Salcombe Yacht Club, or by leaning out of the window of Salcombe Art Club. It’s on my list of images to revisit soon.

 

AFFORDABLE ART

Baltic Exchange III is also available as a fine art greetings card. As one of my best sellers, it’s on sale just about everywhere: Salcombe Yacht Club, Salcombe Information Centre, Bonningtons (the Salcombe newsagents) and at Malborough Post Office.

Just think: for less than 1% of the sales price of an original painting, you can invest in a fine art greetings card. Send it to a friend or frame it for yourself. Whistlefish sell frames that fit … about £10 each.

SOLD! The Swan Inn at Noss Mayo

Knowing that a new gallery would soon be opening in the Revelstoke Room next to the Village Hall in Noss Mayo,  I decided – a year ago – to focus my attention on capturing scenes local to Newton Ferrers and Noss Mayo.

Although I now live in Salcombe, and most of my paintings features scenes close to my home, Newton Ferrers and Noss Mayo are also close to my heart.

Decades ago, when my children were young, we would rent Rose Cottage, next to The Dolphin. When the tide was in, we’d visit the Swan Inn by boat. If the tide was out, we’d cross the causeway on foot. We also often ate at The Ship and enjoyed the views across to the Swan Inn. I have very many happy memories of those times.

Choosing which scenes to paint was therefore easy – and so it was that Low Tide at Newton FerrersBridge End, Newton Creek and The Swan Inn at Noss Mayo were added to my portfolio of paintings.

116 Low Tide Newton Ferrers72dpiRESIZED

Low Tide at Newton Ferrers

117 Bridge End Newton Creek72dpiRESIZED

Bridge End, Newton Creek

All three images were on display in that new gallery – The Gallery Project – until recently, and this week, with all three of them back in my own gallery at home, the original of The Swan Inn at Noss Mayo has been sold – to someone whose house appears in the image.

 

AFFORDABLE ART

All three images and many more are also available as a fine art greetings card.

Gallery ProjectThe Gallery Project in Noss Mayo stocks a selection of my cards. It’s open Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays 11am-5pm from Easter until the end of September and from mid-November until 24 December.

There is also a Gallery Project at Avon Mill, and they have a selection of cards for sale (photo of me with all 12 designs).

In Salcombe, my cards are available within walking distance of the Loft Gallery: at Bonningtons the newsagents, and at the Salcombe Information Centre.

The full range is available at Malborough Post Office. View while you queue!

Just think: for less than 1% of the sales price of an original painting, you can invest in a fine art greetings card. Send it to a friend or frame it for yourself. Whistlefish sell frames that fit … about £10 each.

Going, going, gone! Sold …

In the past week, I’ve sold three paintings. Going, going, gone! Sold!

057 Sunlight on Avon River72dpiRESIZEDThe first was  Sunlight on Avon River, a watercolour, and one of the few of mine to be predominantly green.

There is water, as ever, but it’s not blue, and there’s no blue sky. And no sailing craft in sight … or seagulls …

This painting has graced the walls of Beacon House Gallery for some time now. Painted in 2012,  it will be missed.

113 Dawn at South Pool Creek72dpiRESIZEDThe second sale was Dawn at South Pool Creek, an acrylic painting of the view from my studio window.

It’s rare for me to be up so early. I am a night owl and enjoy sleeping late. However, my wife, Anne, is always up before dawn and, if it’s an especially beautiful one, she will wake me. I take photos and go back to bed, and she goes back to her computer.

Last but not least to be sold: Paddling at Burgh Island – a painting which captures one sunny day when Anne and I visited her friend, Sheila, and we walked across from her house to Burgh Island.

114 Paddling at Burgh Island72dpiRESIZED

Like many of my paintings, Dawn at South Pool Creek and Paddling at Burgh Island are available as fine art greetings cards.

When the original is not square, the card image is created by cropping – and you can be seen the difference between the two if you compare the featured image (far above) with that shown immediately above. I decided to focus on the two lady paddlers and the island and to lose some of the left-hand part of the image.

 

AFFORDABLE ART

You may be surprised to know that 52 of the 127 original paintings I’ve created to date are available as a fine art greetings card.

For less than 1% of the sales price of an original, you can invest in a card. Send it to a friend or frame it for yourself. Whistlefish sell frames that fit… about £10 each.

 

Where can you buy my cards?

The complete range of cards is available at Malborough Post Office. View while you queue!

bloomers-florist-of-knigsbridge-shop-frontBonningtons (the newsagents) and Salcombe Information Centre are both a short walk from the Loft Studio and stock a range of cards.

Cards are also on sale at The Gallery Project (at Avon Mill and in Noss Mayo), and at Salcombe Yacht Club.

If you are visiting Kingsbridge, our newest stockist is Bloomers, the florists, 37 Fore Street (about half way up the hill!).

SOLD! Harvest Reaper III

The phone rings and it’s a delighted steward reporting that she has sold one of my paintings.

What lovely news!

Now, I have to think about which painting should replace it. Watch this space!

SOLD! Low Tide at East Portlemouth

It’s a pleasure to make a sale when stewarding, made even more rewarding when it’s one of your own paintings.

Yesterday, one visitor to Salcombe Art Club – a regular visitor to Salcombe – bought two paintings, one in the morning and one on my watch in the afternoon. She was seeking gifts for her family and solved her challenge by selecting paintings which reminded her of her happy times in our town.

 

What inspired me to paint Low Tide at East Portlemouth?

Until recently, Anne and I lived in a flat, my ‘holiday flat’ in Great Gates, and our view was across the estuary to the East Portlemouth side. With each new day, we’d take our morning coffee on the balcony, drinking in this wondrous sight.

In those days, it was so hard to drag myself off to the studio, a back room with no view at all, to get on with the latest project. In my new studio, I have a stunning view, which can be somewhat distracting … I am sure both situations evoke no sympathy in you, my reader!

 

And now?

Now, having sold this painting, I’ll be deciding which of my current stock of paintings to take down with me today to fill that gap. Watch this space!