Friday 26th June
First this week a bit of art news:
Police raiding a house in the Paris suburb of Champigny-sur-Marne on June 15 got a welcome surprise when they stumbled upon a stolen Pablo Picasso painting.
Though the specific canvas has not yet been identified, it is reported to depict the artist’s lover and muse Marie-Thérèse Walter, reports “Le Parisian”, which indicates that the canvas, valued between about $13.7 million and $17.1 million, belongs to a collector from Singapore. It was allegedly stolen by a worker at an art storage facility in Paris, who claims he did it to highlight security.
The police found not only 40 pounds of cannabis resin but also several thousand euro in cash and several hundred thousand euros’ worth of luxury clothing. Four people arrested in the case had their initial court hearing on Friday. The trial is tentatively set for August.
One of the most storied romances in all of art history began in 1927, when Walter was shopping in Paris and caught the eye of the Cubist painter, who told her, “You have an interesting face. I would like to do a portrait of you. I am Picasso.” She was 17 and ironically was unaware that Picasso was a famous artist; he was 45 and married to Russian ballerina Olga Khokhlova. They at first kept their relationship secret, but a her distinctive face began to appear in his works shortly after they met. They remained together for eight years.
On the home front, I haven’t done much painting this week. I’m afraid I’ve got my usual World Cup head on. I’ve watched every game live or recorded and only 2 highlights games. I know I’m privileged to be able to do this and it is taking a toll on me (no sympathy from anyone) but it is only every 4 years and it’s what I do!
Not being used to doing nothing, I did the next 2 months quizzes (which usually take me about 3 hours) and updated my accounts whist watching the games. I’m also still walking Luna but only in the early morning in this hot weather!
I’m lucky that I’ve been able to fit in limited painting time around the games and at the moment I am under no real pressure to supply galleries with much more work and am keeping up with what I need to do. Surprisingly, social media doesn’t help me in these situations. I follow a whole bunch of artists whose work I like or I’m interested in. Daily posts about their work, projects and exhibitions does make me feel inadequate! I am aware that social media gives a false impression of someone’s life but they all look so busy and committed. It sometimes makes me wonder if I’m not taking my job seriously! I’m not great with promoting myself on social media. I don’t post enough of the work I do or the successes I do have or even update my website. There are some reasons for this lack of promotion but I wonder sometimes if it’s just laziness on my part or a lack of commitment to that type of promotion or I’m just not very comfortable with technology. As an excuse, I do have a lot on my mind at the moment. I can say this in my blog but of course, I have to keep reminding myself of how lucky I am to be in my position. Many, many other people are dealing with much bigger problems than me.
I did manage a days work on Thursday, and with Luna in Doggy Day Care, I finished my collection of small Lakeland paintings. I have received my tray frames and I am working on framing 4 “seasonal” paintings for Beckstones Gallery for their “ Season to Season“ Exhibition. I did sell a watercolour there last weekend.
I am going to spend some time producing some small Northumberland paintings with Art in the Garden in mind. I have some more 40cmx30cm canvases to work on and have ordered some 20cmx20cm canvases and some 25x25 cm canvases in order to do some Northumberland “miniature“ paintings which tend to prove popular at AITG.
With an imminent clear out a possibility, I am happy to keep working on a small scale until I’m asked to do some larger work. I am finding this situation all a bit surreal. I’m sure when the proverbial hits the fan it will all change but for now, my life as a “part time “ painter is fine.
We have booked this weekend in George at The Barn at Beal opposite Lindisfarne which we are looking forward to and we also booked 4 days in George at the “Lindisfarne Festival“ in early September, with a whole host of bands including The Proclaimers, Faithless, Razorlight and Ferocious Dog. We won’t get a Summer holiday this year with all the house move stuff so it’s nice to have other things to look forward to in the calendar.
I’m on the microphone tonight for my June Greys Inn quiz (they seem to come round so quickly). Tonight we are supporting my friend Ian’s Hospice Charity with some special raffle prizes so it should be a good one. Usually, shaven headed, he’s growing his hair for a year to promote the charity. He’s only 6 months in and looking pretty scruffy. He’s understandably not very comfortable in this weather!