Josh Hollingshead At The Gallery Now!

The little guy is how I feel when stood next to Josh's Paintings.

I told you that they were big didn't I? Well they are the biggest pictures that I have ever hung. We could only fit 7 in, just. It was a tight squeeze. But does it look good? It looks amazing.
Luckily, I had Josh there to help me because there is no way I could have hung this exhibition on my own. If you want to be amazed then come and see it. It is truly epic and I can't wait to spend some real time looking at it.
I am thinking about running a competition as one of the pictures is of a gallery and it is filled with tiny reproductions of famous paintings.
The person who gets the most will win a bottle of wine.
I will be open tomorrow, but if you fancy a glass of wine and a shmooze then come along on Saturday to the P.V.
I have still got a ton of work to do and I have bought it home with me to do as people kept interrupting me.
But I just had to let you know how it went. I totally notice the difference when I don't write my blog. My readers all but disappear, but as you know there is just me at the gallery and I do everything.
Tomorrow I am teaching a printmaking workshop so another busy day ahead. If there is an absence of blog you will know why.

Out With The Old And In With The New!

I just get overwhelmed with work and then I can't write my blog. The positive thing is that I have been doing my own work. I finally got down to it. I have made paper and printed on it this week. I have to say that I am really happy with the results.
It has given me the much needed boost to get on and get the work for my exhibition produced.
This is the last day of the Graeme P exhibition and then there is Josh Hollingshead. I have to say if you want to see something completely different then his show is an absolute must see.
You will never see work on such a large scale with a level of detail that is not dissimilar to Heironymous Bosch.
I have included one called Moscow, the image is at least 4ft by 5ft it is huge. The jpeg does not do it justice.
But it does give a taste of what it is like.
I'm going to whet your appetite with another one.

This is just a detail of the image, again this is painting on a monumental scale. 

The PV is next Saturday and I urge you to come along as you will not be disappointed. 

I hope that you are having a great weekend and are able to enjoy the late summer sun. It's a stunner out there.

Not Much Time To Sit Down

It's always eventful and why should my day off be any different. I am in the process of formalizing my official ownership of the gallery, well the bricks and mortar. Scary stuff, but two years in and I think that it's about time.
So solicitors meetings, letters, searches and lots of other pointless but expensive things later in about a months time I'll be a grown up business and premises owner.
It has been a busy day for me but the gallery not so much. Enough to be not dead but quite quiet.
I went to select some paintings at Josh Hollingsheads yesterday as he was lucky enough to have four of the paintings that I had previously chosen selected by an Open Exhibition. I wish him the very best of luck.
I received my Trip Advisor recommended business sticker yesterday and I am proud to say that it is in the window already. So if you would like to leave me a stunning review then I would be very grateful.
I have spent the afternoon making paper and then printing some new images. I am really pleased with the outcomes but you will have to wait until March to send them.
Anyway, I have still got other jobs to do so I'm offski!

Josh Hollingshead Coming Soon

Another week is upon us and if you are wondering why I have not written a blog in a few days it's because I was at Bestival on the Isle of Wight. It was great but I have come to the realization that I may be too old for such a big festival. I was extremely tired on my return and I still am playing catch up in terms of sleep but it was worth it.
In my absence Shirley sold my favourite picture by Graeme Perkins and it's the one that was featured on the poster.
That was a nice thing to return to yesterday morning. It would also seem that there are far more people mooching around and visiting the gallery. That hopefully will result in a few more sales.

But I have to let you know about what is coming next and that is Josh Hollingshead. He paints these crazy pictures that are epic in scale and detail. You need to see it to believe it. The PV for this exhibition is on Saturday 22nd September and it starts at 5.00.
Please do come along and support Josh with his first ever solo exhibition.

Naked Birds

A while ago I told you that I was going to start writing to artists to try and get them involved in future projects well that is what I have been doing today. I am on a roll and I intend to get a lot more written before the end of today.
I am not however, going to hold my breath, as my own imminent death is not on my list of things to do. It is however an opportunity for artists to give something back to the people who made them famous in the first place.
I have placed the moral ball firmly in their court now. I will obviously keep you updated on how I get on but for now I will keep the names out of my blog as it won't get me anywhere to start talking about them just yet.
On a completely different note, I am forever struggling to get current exhibitors to do what they said they would do. I know that it is difficult and how year long deadlines suddenly loom like they were only set last week. But seriously people you have to do your jobs so that I can do mine.
If you like drawing why not go and draw something today and think about entering into the Drawing Open that will be taking place at the gallery in April.
You will hopefully be in good company. I may even submit a drawing myself. Who knows. I do have to get my act together for my own exhibition in March and the working title for that is 'Naked Birds'. So if you fancy coming along and ogling some naked birds then you know where to be and when.
I hope that you are managing to enjoy this late summer sun. Better late than never I suppose, you try telling that to all the school children and teachers who are all heading back to work in the glorious sunshine.
I am going to get back to my groveling letter writing. They are not too brown nosed, just sufficient to communicate that their work is brilliant (ish).

It's A Stitch Up

Jenni Cadman

Yvonne Morton

Patricia Forshaw

I just thought that you would like to see what is coming next to the gallery after Josh Hollingshead. There are some truly beautiful pieces in this exhibition that incorporates textile art in a rich variety of styles and applications.

I hope that you can make it along to see this exhibition.

There are workshops coming up in Watercolour and Printmaking get in touch if you are interested.

At The End Of The Day

If you are wondering where I have been then the answer is nowhere. I have just been busy doing a variety of gallery related things that have made me too busy to write my blog.
I hope that you have all had a good Bank Holiday, it is always nice to have a short week when you get Monday off. Although as you know I was working.
It has been a strange week as I have had some fairly strange things happen. An angry person wanting to rip their work off the walls. Being called greedy for wanting 35% commission. Oh they should try running an art gallery in a recession. They would probably be charging 50% on sales if not more.
But no more whining it's Saturday and the sun is out.
I have Graeme P's exhibition up now and it has been attracting lots of window smudgers. That same old story of the open door that nobody wants to walk through. there are some really good pictures in this show that have been made using a variety of very interesting techniques.
It's picked up a little since I started writing this so let's hope that it continues to.
If you hear someone say a certain phrase more than 100 times in one day does that allow you to poke them in the eye?
Let me know what you think.
Some workshops are coming up this week and next week and there's room for few more if you are interested get in touch. Papermaking and printmaking are what are what is on offer.