Friday 24th July

I came across this article and it made me smile:

A signed print by the British artist David Hockney has sold for more than £41,000 after being found in a book donated to a charity shop.

The print was discovered inside a 1980 copy of Hockney's Paper Pools, which had been donated over the counter to the Salvation Army shop in Lower Goat Lane, Norwich, a year ago.

When a volunteer decided to thumb through it recently, she discovered the original print depicting a swimming pool, signed by the artist, who died last month aged 88.

The book and print were auctioned on the charity's eBay site and an anonymous, but "delighted", bidder paid £41,160.

Long-serving Salvation Army volunteer and local artist Jemma Banks, who found the print, said: "It was a privilege to hold a genuine signed David Hockney print in my hands, and I was amazed that it had remained safely inside the book for 46 years, looking as fresh as the day it came off the lithographic press.

"As a local artist, I recognised that the book might be something special, but I never imagined just how significant it would turn out to be. I'm delighted that something hidden away for so long will now help raise money for people in our community who need it most."

Hockney's Paper Pools book contains some of the artist's most celebrated swimming pool artworks. 

The original signed print enclosed within the book made it an "exceptionally rare collector's piece", the Salvation Army said.

Maj Tracey Bale, who leads The Salvation Army's Norwich Citadel, said: "Thanks to [Jemma] recognising that this was far more than an ordinary donated book, an incredible piece of art has been preserved and transformed into vital funds for our work."

The anonymous buyer told the charity: "I've admired David Hockney's work for many years, so acquiring such an iconic piece is incredibly special.

"I'm delighted that, at the same time, the purchase will help support the invaluable work of The Salvation Army. 

"It's wonderful to know that something with such cultural significance can also make a meaningful difference to people's lives."

The reason it made me smile was that many years ago, when I was with E.J. Arnold working as an educational Book Rep we had to set up our range of books in secondary schools twice a day at morning break and then lunchtime. It was a bit of a killer as we had to carry into schools 2 very heavy book bags, walk miles and set up usually in the staff room with the hope that teachers on their break might come over and engage in conversation! Some hope! They were more interested in getting their morning coffee!

The lunchtimes were even worse as sitting in a staff room full of teachers eating their lunch ignoring the book guy was a) sometimes embarrassing and b) extremely boring. Occasionally we were told to set up somewhere other than the staff room, sometimes in a corridor! Or occasionally in the library. The chances of a visit from a teacher there was remote. My only consolation was that at least I could occupy my time reading some books. On one occasion I was looking through the “art” section and came across David Hockneys “Paper Pools”. With no staff to talk to I read it all. As I was packing up the “Librarian” asked me if I had a successful visit. I looked askance as she had been there the whole time and had witnessed the lack of footfall. I said “no! It was a total waste of my time,” I packed up my books and left. 

The next day in my first visit I unpacked my books and found the copy of “Paper Pools” in my bag. Oops. As I was in a totally different county I didn’t have the chance to return it and we stopped doing the pointless visits shortly afterwards!

So I had acquired another book for my collection. After reading the article I did get it out and thoroughly check for a £40k Hockney print. Illogical I know. I might have noticed that before. It is worth checking these Charity shop books. I did once find a watercolour being used as a bookmark in one book I bought but a) the artist was unknown, probably the previous owner and b) it was rubbish! I live in hope? 

We did visit our very famous converted railway station Barter Books the other day. I hadn’t been for a while. It is a popular tourist attraction around here and as well as a huge collection of 2nd hand books it has a model train running round the roof (which always sounds like running water and makes me want to pee) and a rather good selection of food served in the “waiting rooms”. They have an extensive collection of 2nd hand art books but the prices are crazy often more than the original price of the book. I may be an old miser but I haven’t bought an art book from there for a long time.

I continued in my studio and finished off my pot boilers for AITG. I then became reckless again and embarked on another 100cm x100cm Lake District painting. Again I found the large white expanse of canvas quite intimidating. Once I’d got the sky in things flowed a bit more. The rest of the painting was done with a combination of brush and palette knife trying to keep it loose whilst maintaining the integrity of the scene. There is a lot of green in the picture despite it being late Summer and that poses a problem. There are also a lot of trees. In order to create an interesting variety of colour I mixed a lot of colours on the canvas. With so much green and so many trees it could have become a bit boring but I think I managed to keep it interesting (see image). 

I also managed to varnish and pack up my large commission painting of Derwentwater (100cmx80cm)which I hope to post this weekend. 

On Wednesday night I managed to arrange a meeting with the owner of The Greys Inn, Chris,  to discuss arrangements for Art in the Garden this year which we are holding in the large open garden behind the pub. It is only 5 weeks away now and I needed to sort out set up times and dates, parking during set up, where we are putting our motorhome (where I will be staying, mainly for security), access and promotion. I think it was a good meeting and we certainly won’t be struggling with space. There is a lot to do. Chris has dug out a few old “A” boards for me. The need to be repaired and re- painted and we will need other signage around the pub, grounds, access points , the village and even down at our house and around Dunstan Steads. The many people we have seen in the past who call on the way to or from the beach won’t be walking past the pub. We will need to find ways of getting footfall. I will need a lot more posters this year and although the large pub garden is a great space I am a bit worried that we might not get the passing trade we do down here.

I will be busy from now until the end of August. I just hope it’s worth it!!

The painting is ”High Snab and Scope End Farm, Newlands Valley, Late Summer “

100cmx100cm oil on canvas.