Latest News and Progress

4 September 2017

Delivery trip to the South of France …

Dawn at South Pool Creek

Delivery trip?

Yes, this past week, Anne and I have been on a delivery trip to the South of France – three paintings purchased last year by my brother, Brian, and his wife, Anna.

Dawn at South Pool Creek
Paddling at Burgh Island
Sunlight on Avon River

Dawn at South Pool Creek is 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 returns to her computer.

Paddling at Burgh Island is a painting which captures one sunny day when Anne and I visited her friend, Sheila, and we walked across from Sheila’s house to Burgh Island.

Sunlight on Avon River shows a tree-lined river bank. The dappled light competing with lively reflections 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.

Paddling at Burgh Island

Why are we delivering these paintings?

Brian and Anna came to our home, to meet up with our Canadian cousins who were visiting us in Salcombe, more than a year ago. But flying, without a baggage allowance, Brian and Anna couldn’t take the paintings home with them.

The previous time we’d seen them was on our wedding day, eight years previous, but now we were invited to their holiday home in the south of France – and to bring the paintings with us.

Drive? No!

We’d prefer to go by train and to take advantage of the places en route: London and Paris.

The route: Totnes to Paradou

Sunlight on Avon River

So, Anne and I have done the trip, mostly by train.

Taxi to Totnes
Train to Paddington
Overnight stay in London, taking in a show: 42nd Street – amazing!
One morning in London, shopping, and then the Eurostar to Paris
One morning in Paris, sight-seeing, and then TGV to Avignon
Car to Paradou
And relax!

It’s a straightforward journey and provides lots of time to read / write / paint. I have a watercolour kit with me …

Our return trip, after a brief weekend with the family, will take in three nights in Paris, so the next blog post will be a ‘Postcard from Paradou’ followed by a ‘Postcard from Paris’.

Do I deliver in person, usually?

Not usually!

But if you live somewhere exotic and would care to invite Anne and I to visit …

28 August 2017

SOLD! Watchhouse to Ferry Steps

It’s always a delight to sell a painting, but even more so when I meet the purchaser and learn why they chose the painting and what it means to them. I always want my paintings to go to a good home!

What made me want to paint Watchhouse to Ferry Steps?

As a child of six, my first recollection of visiting Salcombe was with my parents in 1949 by way of the East Portlemouth Ferry. My father had prudently driven from our holiday accommodation in Littlehempstone to East Portlemouth, preferring to pay for a ferry ride for his family, rather than a parking fee.

Scampering up the steps past the Ferry Inn had my mother racing after me and my brother, while my father popped into the Ferry Inn for a beer.

Later in life, waiting for the ferry gave me time to enjoy the lovely views of water, boats, town and the back drop of farmland.

Ultimately, 60 years after my first visit, I got down to creating my version of this iconic view.

60 years on: Sketch of Watchhouse to Ferry Steps

What attracted the buyer to this painting?

As with many of my original paintings, the image of Watchhouse to Ferry Steps was turned into a fine art greetings card. At the recent Salcombe Town Regatta, I was supporting this worthy cause by selling my cards in Island Street.

One customer exclaimed ‘My house!” and pointed out the Watch House as a family holiday home. The lovely lady enquired if the original painting was still for sale. I was so pleased to tell her, yes.

On the Sunday, now selling cards in Whitestrand to support Salcombe Town Regatta, I had the original with me. The lady (and friends) came to examine it and I’m happy to say it is now with the ‘right’ owner.

The history of the Watch House

I have subsequently discovered – thanks to a book called A Salcombe Photographer: Images of the collection of AE Fairweather, compiled by Tim Burr and Nicola Fox – that, in 1896, the Watch House was occupied by the Coastguard.

Affordable art – helping local charities

In 2018, I will start selling cards to help local charities. My Hope Cove image has been used for the Hope Cove Lifeboat, and I’m in discussions with organisers of other good causes about which image might be used to boost their funds.

If you would like to get involved with this project, please contact me.

21 August 2017

One-man exhibition 13-26 August in the Little Studio at the Loft Gallery, Salcombe

My one-man exhibition in the Little Studio at the Loft Gallery, Salcombe continues until Saturday 26 August.

I’ve space to show a wide range of my art in this one-man exhibition: watercolours, acrylics and oils. Fifteen paintings in all.

In the image below, you can see 12 of them.

2017 Little Studio one-man exhibition

Top row: (left to right) Gullet Plantation, Deliah, Salcombe Yacht Club’s Christmas Camellias, Torcross Wave

Middle row: (left to right) Scoble Point Moorings, Harvest Reaper II, Hope Cove, Dappled Light III

Bottom row: (left to right) Burgh Island from Hope Cove, At Ditch End, South Pool Sunrise, Tranquility

For those keen on a particular medium, these are the oils: Gullet Plantation, Scoble Point Moorings, Harvest Reaper II, Hope Cove, Dappled Light III, At Ditch End, and South Pool Sunrise.

The rest shown here are acrylics.

WHERE IS THE LOFT GALLERY?

The Loft Gallery is situated behind the Fortescue Inn, and above a popular shoe shop, on a delightful footpath called Victoria Quay, which overlooks one of the best views in the UK including the mooring berth of the RNLI lifeboat Baltic Exchange III.

AFFORDABLE ART

Out of 135 completed paintings to date, 59 of these are available as fine art greetings cards.

My cards 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 Project at Avon Mill and 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.