Dawn at South Pool Creek Archives

31 July 2017 In Art

Supporting Salcombe Town Regatta

Salcombe Town Regatta is an annual fund-raising event and many local charities rely on the success of this week-long fun-filled entertainment to refill the coffers.

It’s timed to coincide with one of the busiest periods in the town. Almost all the holiday homes will be occupied and local campsites too. It’s also the time when residents find friends and family want to visit us.

There’s a packed programme of events for all ages. We look forward especially to the firework display on Thursday 10 August, when we’ll be dining in the Chart room of the Salcombe Yacht Club, among friends from the Salcombe Players Amateur Dramatic group, and marvelling at the sky, full of lights as in the featured image above.

How am I supporting Salcombe Town Regatta?

To support Salcombe Town Regatta, I will be setting up shop (gazebo!) in Island Street on Sunday 6 August, and in Whitestrand on Monday 7 August, selling my fine art greetings cards.

There will all 59 designs on sale, selected from the 135 original paintings I’ve completed in the past decade. Nearly all of them show local scenes that I love.

Why am I supporting Salcombe Town Regatta?

I’ve been visiting Salcombe since I was 9. My parent brought me across from EastPortlemouth and I immediately loved Salcombe as a holiday venue.

For decades I visited Salcombe, staying in rented accommodation and hotels and I dreamt of retiring in Salcombe. Eventually, I became a second-home owner, buying a lock and go flat at Great Gates, in 1997. Then, in 2006, I moved to Salcombe permanently. The flat proved too small as a permanent residence and Anne and I now live in our forever home at the top of Bonfire Hill, looking down over the church and across the ria to the hills beyond.

So, why am I supporting Salcombe Town Regatta? Because Salcombe is now my home …

Such stunning views – perfect for an artist…

The view from the flat in Great Gates was of the beaches: Fishermans Cove, Smalls Beach and Mill Bay.

Low Tide at Fisherman’s Cove

Baltic Exchange III

Tranquility

The view from Beacon House is also stunning! Sunrise or sunset, the rise and fall of the tide provides an ever-changing vista.

South Pool Sunrise

Dawn at South Pool Creek

Gullet Plantation

Affordable art in support of Salcombe Town Regatta

All of these images – and many many more depicting your favourite views of Salcombe – are available as fine art greetings cards. They will be on sale – £2 each, 3 for a fiver – in support of Salcombe Town Regatta on Sunday and Monday.

I look forward to meeting you at Salcombe Town Regatta, and am praying for fine weather!

For more information about the Salcombe Town Regatta, visit their Facebook page.

25 July 2016 In Art

Going, going, gone! Sold …

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

The 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.

The 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.

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-front Bonningtons (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!).

14 June 2016 In Art

Stewarding this afternoon …

Today, Tuesday 14 June, I’ll be stewarding at the Loft Gallery from 2pm until 5pm.

If you expect to be in Salcombe then, please drop by and say hello!

My one-man show is still on show and I’d be delighted to talk you through the 14 paintings on display, plus the five I have in the main exhibition.

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.

What is the Loft Gallery?

The Loft Gallery is the home of Salcombe Art Club and, every year since 1960, the Summer Exhibition opens at Easter and continues until the end of September.

An incredible number of visitors climb the 15 steps to view the exhibition, and more than 200 paintings are expected to be sold during the summer months. A percentage of the proceeds of each sale goes to the Art Club funds and, after expenses have been met, the club donates amounts to local charities. So, buying a painting benefits the artist, the club and the town – and provides a beautiful reminder of a visit to Salcombe. Prices range from £1 for a postcard up to £1000 – and the club now has the facility to accept payments by card, rather than ‘cash only’ as had been the practice for many years.

In the winter months, the Loft Gallery reverts to being a working studio with a full programme of workshops and classes for its members.

Who can join Salcombe Art Club?

Salcombe Art Club comprises a mix of artists: some professional artists such as those who teach our classes but also many amateurs and some very new to drawing/painting. Everyone is welcome!

Membership of Salcombe Art Cub is not limited to those living in Salcombe. Anyone within striking distance is welcome to apply for membership, but it makes most sense for those who live near enough so as to benefit from the classes in the winter, and – if they intend to become exhibiting members – to fulfil their stewarding obligations during the summer.

Step 1 is to enrol as a Lay Member – that’s the first rung of the ladder! Then Salcombe Art club has three categories of membership.

Lay members (for a subscription of £12 per annum) may take part in workshops, courses and social activities and generally assist in supporting the club but may not exhibit, nor vote at the AGM.
Associate members (for a subscription of £17 per annum) may take part in most club activities including exhibiting in the Little Studio section (but not the main gallery) of the Annual Summer Exhibition.
Full members (for a subscription of £27 per annum) may take part in all club activities and exhibit their works in the Annual Summer Exhibition when they are required to carry out their share of stewarding duties.

Who exhibits at the Loft Gallery?

Little Studio Essentially, exhibiting is limited to the associate and full members of Salcombe Art Club. Full members are invited to display up to five of their works in the Summer Exhibition. This is me with some of mine:

Full – and associate – members may also book a week or more in the Little Studio. My one-man show commences on 28 May. In the Little Studio also, our teachers exhibit material of works produced by the various class groups; this inspires other club members to enroll for classes during the winter months.

How do you progress from Lay member so that you can exhibit your art at the Loft Gallery?

The selection panel meets annually (usually in February) to select from Lay members who wish to become Associate of Full members. The usual progression is to become an Associate member for a year and then on to Full membership the following year. Sometimes, the panel may decide to admit a member straight to Full membership.

For more information about Salcombe Art Club, visit their website.

Featured image: Dawn at South Pool Creek

The original of , is for sale at the Loft Gallery and this image is also available as a fine art greetings card, at Bonningtons (the newsagents) and Salcombe Information Centre (both a short walk from the Loft Studio).

23 May 2016 In Art, Exhibition

One-man show in the Little Studio

My one-man show in the Little Studio, at the Loft Gallery Salcombe, starts next Sunday 29 May and runs until Saturday 4 June.

I am displaying a dozen paintings: four each of my watercolours, my acrylics and my oil paintings.

My oil paintings on display will be Dappled Light III, Harvest Reaper II, Harvest Reaper III, and Sunlight Across the Bar.

The watercolours are: Ebb Tide at Batson Creek, Hope Cove Fishing Gear, Low Tide at East Portlemouth, and Reflections at Batson.

And the acrylic paintings are Dawn at South Pool Creek, Paddling at Burgh Island, Shifting Sands at Burgh Island I, and The Church at St Peter, Buckland Tout Saints.

Where is the Loft Gallery?

When will I be there to greet you?

I will be stewarding at the Loft Gallery all day on Sunday 29 May and from 2pm on Saturday 4 June. I hope you see you there!

Can’t afford to buy my paintings!

Nearly all of the images on sale in my one-man exhibition are also available as fine art greetings cards. 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.