Friday 10th July

Beckstones Gallery received my 4 small oil paintings of Ullswater for their Season to Season Exhibition in August. In a previous email they had also requested some large, textured farms in the landscape paintings and some more watercolours which they have sold consistently. 

I decided to initially get some watercolours to them. I intended to spend some time producing these but having remembered that I had previously painted some I sought out a portfolio of work on paper I had created during my tidy up.  Remarkably and a bit of a surprise to me I found 10 Lake District watercolours in there. So as there was no need to paint any more I measured them up for framing. 

A while ago, I made the mistake of taking some watercolours to Beckstones in rather inferior frames. They weren’t too impressed! Since then I have balanced price against quality when framing work for them. I haven’t got access to a professional framer here and if I had the cost would be prohibitively expensive for the price I receive for the pictures. I seem to have come up with a solution with Wall Art frames which are real wood which is essential for galleries and real glass. Most companies supplying ready made frames in standard sizes do either/ or ie. Real wood but acrylic glass or real glass with “engineered “ wood, usually MDF with an acrylic wrap. These are OK for things like Art in the Garden but not for galleries. 

These Wall Art frames aren’t cheap but considerably cheaper than using a framer and still allow me to make a bit of money. On the negative side I haven’t to frame the pictures and cut the mounts, tape up the backs, attach the chord, clean the glass  and label them, which all takes quite a long time. It’s a process I have described before so I won’t repeat myself. 

I spent Tuesday morning cutting the mounts and when the frames arrived, mercifully undamaged ( always a risk when glass is involved) on Wednesday, I spent Wednesday afternoon framing the 10 pictures. I have used the packaging that the frames came in to pack them up ready to send.

This week I received an enquiry via Tom and the website regarding a possible commission of Derwentwater in The Lakes. The lady had seen the one I had at Beckstones Gallery but by then it had sold. The classic view of Derwentwater across to the Island and Catbells behind had resonated with her having visited Keswick many times. I received the message on Wednesday morning and by teatime we had agreed a price. With Luna in Doggy Daycare on Thursday I was able to get the quite large (3ftx2ft) painting done in oils. I also managed 4 small (8” 8”) “Embleton Bay” paintings for Art in the Garden.

As promised last week, I can reveal why we decided to withdraw from the purchase of the house in South Charlton. 

The small group of properties built on the culdesac had been built by a developer on land purchased from The Northumberland Estates owned by the Duke of Northumberland. When viewing the property we were not informed by the Estate Agent of any possible restrictions relating to the property but when our solicitor had performed the searches as part of the conveyancing process, he discovered that there were “covenants” attached to the land administered by Northumberland Estates. We discovered that we were were required to contact the Estate for any permissions relating to the errection of any structures temporary or permanent we wanted to build on the land even though we would own it!

It stated in the covenant (the solicitor sent us a copy) that no reasonable request would be denied. We were also told there would be fees applied! At this alarm bells began to ring. We contacted the Estate Surveyor with our proposed plans for sheds, a studio and as an afterthought we mentioned fencing off the garden as we had grandchildren and a dog. We were asked to supply sizes and locations for our proposals but were told that under no circumstances could we put a fence around the garden perimeter as it would affect the aspect of the house! Before submitting anything we decided to clarify the fence situation as it was a deal breaker. The Estate Office repeated their ruling. The whole point of us buying instead of renting was that we wanted to do what we wanted with our own property. We were now being told that we couldn’t. I am certain that on this basis my studio would have been refused as well. We felt we had no option but to withdraw our offer. Despite being out of pocket we reflected on a sense of relief in the end that we hadn’t gone further. I was furious that we hadn’t been informed of the “Covenant “ situation by the trust appointed to sell the property or the Estate Agents who must have known, as we wouldn’t have put in an offer in the first place. I’m not sure who would buy a property with such restrictions placed on it? Until a solicitor is engaged, the covenant situation won’t be discovered. 

We are obviously frustrated that we have wasted 5 months although we have had a damn good sort out. However, we are happy to have walked away. We are now looking again with more awareness. We are hoping to find somewhere that fulfills more of our essential criteria and includes more outdoor storage.

This weeks picture is “Fell Foot Farm, Little Langdale”  framed 20”x16” watercolour.