Friday 13th February

Despite being Friday 13th the only horror this week has been the weather. It seems to have been raining here for a month. It's just water and mud everywhere making dog walking miserable and even getting to my studio treacherous. 

I decided to do a whole series of small paintings. They all turned out to be Scottish.

I had 9 12"×10" canvases. I decided to use oils and I wanted to keep them simple with little detail. Most of them are of mountain scenery.  I enjoyed doing them and they look good as a group. I completed the 9 small ones and then did 2 slightly larger ones (20" × 16"). These were a little brighter and involved both brush and palette knife and beautiful beaches.  They are all on standard canvases which at some point will need framing. If neither of my 2 Scottish galleries take them I will offer them in a small painting sale on Facebook. 

I finally got paid this week for my commission to Watson Gallery in Edinburgh. I also had a slight scare with my Buckinghams paintings. I had packed them, for ease of transportation, in 2 parcels. Although they were due to be collected on Monday, they were actually collected last Friday. This caused a bit of concern which was amplified when Buckingham’s had only received 1 package initially.  However, to my relief, they did get the 2nd package containing 7 paintings, later in the week. Although they are insured it would have been very annoying to lose them for 2 reasons a) I really liked them and thought they were good paintings and b) I would probably have to paint 7 more. As mentioned in other blogs this again brings up the perils of sending paintings by post/courier. 

Once photographed and framed they will now be part of Buckinghams "Spring Event" in March. I also sold 2 more paintings with them last month, which all justifies my decision to continue contacts with Buckinghams, something I was very unsure about this time last year.

I also posted my 2 commission paintings to Beckstones Gallery on Monday. It worked out cheaper than a) a Lakes trip or b) using Beckstones Gallerys own courier. 

I delivered my paintings to Gallery 45 last Friday for their "Wild Northumberland " Exhibition with 2 other Artists. It was opened on Saturday by Paul Mooney from BBC Look North Weather, someone I have met and been photographed with in the past.

I managed 2 full days in my studio this week with 2 other days between dog walks. It makes a difference and allows for a little indulgence.  Most of my galleries have plenty of recent work apart from Tallantyre who have quite a bit of older stuff. The problem is since The London Affordable Art Fair last year, they've sold nothing. I probably could do with a refresh with them but I get hesitant when sending work to galleries that don't sell any of it. It's a bit of a catch 22 situation. 

I do have some big news, that I'm withholding for now,  that will drastically change a lot of things but for now it's business as usual.