Latest News and Progress

26 February 2018

Salcombe Art Club Exhibition Preview: Sunset at Start Point II

Sunset at Start Point II is one of a crop of six new paintings destined for the Salcombe Art Club Summer Exhibition.

Right now, they are with the framer so they are not available to view just yet. However, if you want to purchase ahead of the Exhibition, and save 10% on the price (they range from £500 to £750), contact me to arrange a private viewing ahead of handing day on 24 March.

Start Point is off my beaten track?

It’s true this iconic sight is a good forty minutes away from my home in Salcombe. However, the image of Start Point lighthouse was captured while Anne and I were living in rented accommodation in Bickerton, a stone’s throw from Hallsands.

We would often walk along the cliff path at the end of a day, enjoying the beautiful sights between us and Beesands, en route to the Cricket Inn for some refreshment.

Acrylic: Sunset at Start Point

On one particular evening, the sail training vessel Leader was anchored and the evening light just saturating everything it touched. Leader has almost a ‘pirate’ presence especially when silhouetted against a sunset.

I took photos, as usual, and then later decided on a composition.

The result was Sunset at Start Point, shown on the right. Being square, it made for an easy fine art greetings card and has been one of my best-sellers.

What made me paint Sunset at Start Point II?

Sunset at Start Point sold very quickly at Salcombe Art Club Exhibition in 2012.

That, together with good sales of the card, indicated it is a popular scene. However, I didn’t just want to paint it again!

So, the tonal slant is very different between the two paintings. Also, the first was an acrylic while this new one is an oil painting.

Oil painting: Sunset at Start Point II

Affordable Art

This new image, Sunset at Start Point II, will also be made into a fine art greetings card – a square version of my rectangular image – as per the featured image at the top of this blog post.

Out of 142 completed paintings to date, 80+ have been sold, but more than 60 are available as fine art greetings cards.

In Salcombe, my card designs are stocked at Bonningtons (the newsagents) and Salcombe Information Centre (both a short walk from the Loft Studio).

Further afield, my cards are stocked by Malborough Post Office – they offer the entire range – The Gallery at Avon Mill, The Gallery Project at Noss Mayo, and in Bloomers, the florist in Kingsbridge.

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.

19 February 2018

2018 EXHIBITION SCHEDULE

It’s that time of year – firming up the 2018 exhibition schedule. My diary is already looking full! Please put these dates in yours.

Once the days and times when I will be stewarding are decided, I will post news on my Facebook page and here also. It’s your chance to ‘meet the artist’!

SALCOMBE ART CLUB SUMMER EXHIBITION
THURSDAY 29 March – SATURDAY 29 SEPTEMBER 2018

Open 7 days a week from 11am until 5pm. Admission is free.

As a member of Salcombe Art Club, I’ve exhibited in the club’s Summer Exhibition for many years now.

I usually submit 5 paintings, and the rule is that none of these original works of art can have been hung in the Loft Gallery in the previous three years. This encourages artists to keep on painting!

Handing in day is 24 March – less than five weeks away and my paintings are currently with the framer.

During the next few weeks, I’ll be sharing previews of these paintings. If you are keen to purchase any of this latest crop, and want to buy ahead of the exhibition, you can save 10% on the purchase price …

ONE-MAN EXHIBITION IN THE REDFERN HEALTH CENTRE
THURSDAY 28 JUNE – THURSDAY 26 JULY 2018

Full members of Salcombe Art Club are asked to display their work for one month – so that those visiting the Redfern have something to admire while waiting to see the doctor. On one occasion, a gentleman recognised Burgh Island in one of my paintings as the venue for his marriage many years previous. He purchased it as a surprise for his wife. How romantic!

It’s an honour to be on the team again and to know that my paintings may provide some cheer to those having health issues. The Redfern benefits from all sales; – a percentage of the purchase price is donated to their funds.

ONE-MAN EXHIBITION IN THE LITTLE STUDIO IN THE LOFT GALLERY
SUNDAY 5 AUGUST – SATURDAY 18 AUGUST 2018

Salcombe Art Club invite members, including associate members, to take one or two weeks in the Little Studio, to display as many of their paintings as they can hang in the space.

More recent paintings that didn’t sell last year can be hung so they usually get another airing.

I’ll be stewarding all day both Sundays – 5 August and 12 August – so that’s a good time to pop in and chat, if you want to ‘meet the artist’.

SHAF ARTS TRAIL
SATURDAY 13 OCTOBER – SUNDAY 28 OCTOBER 2018

The South Hams Art Forum (SHAF) is now a fortnight long, including half-term week.

Viewings at Beacon House Gallery are usually by appointment but, for the period of the SHAF Arts Trail, we will welcome visitors 11am-3pm Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, and 10am-5pm on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. (Closed on a Tuesday)

There will be a private preview evening on Friday 12 October – with wine and nibbles. On the guest list are gallery owners and previous purchasers of my work. If you would also like an invitation to this invitation-only event, please contact me.

BEACON HOUSE GALLERY
PRIVATE VIEWINGS 2018

Beacon House Gallery is not open to the public, apart from during the SHAF Arts Trail, but if you would like a private viewing, please contact me to arrange a convenient time for us both.

12 February 2018

SOLD! Reflections at Batson

Reflections at Batson hung above the TV in our lounge during the SHAF Arts Trail last October, and stayed there until this past weekend, when it was sold, during a private viewing.

The history of Reflections at Batson

This painting – number 96 featured above – was completed in the summer of 2014. It was one of four which I’d created ahead of a trip to the photographer who provides the digital images I use for prints and card.

Only last week, Anne and I made the trip to Plymouth with the latest crop of paintings. This time it was six images, all destined for the Salcombe Art Club’s Main Exhibition. More on those in later posts!

Back in 2014, the four paintings –

Reflections at Batson,

Reflections at Batson

Dapple Light I,

Dapple Light I

Low Tide at the Crabshell Inn and

Low tide at the Crabshell Inn

Racing Past Blackstone

Racing Past Blackstone

– were all watercolours. This year, my crop comprised five oil paintings, one acrylic, but no watercolours. Why no watercolours? Because in March 2014, after three years of traipsing from one rental to another, Anne and I moved into our forever home: Beacon House. Here, I have space, not only to paint, but also to stack my still-wet oils in a large airing cupboard. Prior to that, it only made sense to use watercolour – it dries more quickly.

How many watercolours do I have in stock?

The purchaser of Reflections at Batson specifically asked to see my watercolours. And I only had a very limited number on show.

Of those four watercolours produced in 2014, only Racing Past Blackstone remains unsold, but all four are available as fine art greetings cards – thanks to that trip to the photographer back in 2014.

Like many of my paintings, Reflections at Batson was displayed a number of times before it was sold, for example: in Michael Hill’s Watercolour class exhibition in 2014, in my one-man exhibition in the Little Studio in 2016, and at the Redfern Health Centre in 2017.

Some paintings, though, sell very quickly – within a few days of going on show. And I have to have ‘spares’ ready to hang in their place. Hence the need for six paintings now, even though I can only enter five as a full member of Salcombe Art Club.

What inspired me to paint Reflections at Batson?

If, like me, you walk the short distance from Salcombe to Batson, you’ll see the view that inspired me to try to capture this idyllic setting.

At the top of Batson Creek, a collection of thatched cottages delight the eye. They sit around a triangle of grass complete with its old-fashioned telephone box. (At least, the phone box was there, the last time I visited!) The reflections of these cottages in the water only serve to enhance the tranquility of the scene. Isn’t it beautiful?

The new owner of this painting, I hope, will enjoy this view as much as I do.

Viewings by arrangement

Beacon House is my home and, within it, I hang my stock of paintings in what we call ‘Beacon House Gallery’. It’s actually our hall, stairs and landing! We are not ‘open to the public’ except during the SHAF Arts Trail (13-28 October 2018) but, if you wish for a private viewing, please contact me to arrange a time convenient to us both.