Private views and a glass of wine (or twenty!)

The half term week has flown past in a whirl of activity.  Weddings, private views, spa visits....that's right    I've squeezed a lot into a week.  On Thursday I took 3 pieces of my work into London on the tube and can I say just how careful people were around it.  My work had been chosen to hang with the work of artists from the UK and around the world.  My work was next to paintings of a woman from Australia who painted beautiful landscapes of the Outback.

Getting the work put up along with what felt like 100 other people was a little stressful at times but it was again really encouraging the patience and good will that artists showed each other.

In about 30mins the work was hung and we dashed off to get ready for the private view starting a little later.

Of course the District Line was having problems on our way back into London for the start of the PV at 7.30, so my family and I dashed out of the tube station and into a black cab.  Driving along the Embankment past Westminster and next to the Thames at night is most certainly a beautiful sight and although not planned we really did feel like we had arrived in style!  I wasn't sure how many people were turning up so was very surprised to open the doors straight into a wall of people.  It was packed!  A real mix of people, some in jeans and baseball caps and others in tux's and gowns.  It was straight off to get a glass of wine (which proved to be the only one of the evening as there were so many people that they ran out!).

 It was fantastic to meet so many other artists and it was wonderful to see my work hung among other really great works and if I had only just stuck to the glass of wine you see here in my hand this week - the day after this picture was taken was my best friends wedding, no lack of wine there, it felt like I drank 1000 bottles of wine...taking the work down on Saturday was a LOT harder than putting it up...dismantling with a hangover is not to be encouraged!  But a fantastic few days, a great opportunity for my work to be seen....right now....what next?!

Got my groove on today!!!

It was difficult to motivate myself today as the weather was so wet and cold, and I KNEW that my studio space would be absolutely freezing!  However, I managed with an extra cup of coffee to finally extract myself from the settee and get off to the studio.

Yes, when I got there the front gate was surrounded by what looked like 3ft deep puddles and there was more mud than you could shake a muddy damp stick at.  And yes, when with trembling hands I manged to unlock my studio door I was hit in the face by a rush of even colder air.  I whacked the heater on, poured myself a lovely cup of coffee and waited for my hands to warm up before making a start.

I was in the zone today, belting through my list of "to do's" on the painting and with only a quick break for a Crunchie, I finished with a lot more done than I had anticipated.

It was time to start painting the ground and I decided on a bright and rather garish pink, in-keeping with the notion behind the work.  I painted it with smooth strokes before deciding that it just didn't look right, so used a combination of palette knife and rough strokes.

Then it was onto the front facade of the central beach hut  more masking tape but now I've got my technique down I was onto the painting before long.

And so by the time I made a quick exit before it got too dark, I left it at a stage where i can say the painting is very nearly finished....the oil painting at least.  Next it the spray painting and adding the metallics and gold leaf.  I'm really looking forward to that.  More photo's to follow next week when the fun stuff starts to get added!!

Not a huge amount of progress!

After even more taping this doesn't look like it's going anywhere at the moment...it is...honest!  2 hours of cutting, tearing and sticking and I was about to call it a day at the studio yesterday.  But I just couldn't leave without doing at least some painting.  So here was how it was looking, I didn't take pictures of it once the painting was done and the tape came off, because...there's still.more.tape.to.go.on!!!

I have said it before but not necessarily on here, I don't think(?) - if I ever talk of making a painting with ANY straight lines in again, please someone just punch me in the face.

More pictures to follow later in the week that should show much more progress.  Only a small amount of painting left to go on the beach huts themselves, then I'm adding the spray paint, metallics and gold leaf.  Can't wait!