Dog Owners Of Swanage Take Heed!

Now these brown packages I can deal with!

If you are a dog owner and you live in Swanage I really hope you scoop the poop and you bag it and bin it. I had to virtually do poop scotch on my walk to the gallery. I am a big dog lover but their little brown packages piled up in stink are certainly not one of my favourite things. I have no idea why there are such ignorant people out there but they should be fined extortionate amounts of money. Sorry rant over but it is vile.

I had a dream...............but apparently there are people out there who want to give me total nightmares. To be honest I can't even be bothered to talk about them. Suffice to say they know who they are and I am going to ignore them from here on in.

When I arrived at the gallery I consulted my ever present list of things to do and for about ten minutes went about doing the choredom listed. I managed with fantastic style and finesse not to complete any of them. Obviously, this was not part of the plan. In fact it was so far from the plan it was a small island in the Pacific, Nofking Kloo. I am trying my hardest to sort out some more advertising but it would seem that my memory (forgetful) stick was at home and there endeth the tale. Could do precisely nothing without it.

Abstract Open exhibition is filling up I feel I am giving all artists due notice that when the space is gone it is gone. It's the exhibition to be in as it follows Purbeck Arts Week so the arty crowd will be in the region.

I spent the day painting today and it was nice to paint a canvas and not a wall. I'm not going to tell you what it is but I'm photographing it at each stage of development so you will get to see it eventually. I'm working with the students at the college tomorrow hearing their ideas for their show in March. It should make a welcome change.

Late blog due to rubbish broadband service!

Reflection

Reflection seems to be my mood for the day. I have been thinking how easy it could have been to not be a gallery owner. How fortunate I am that circumstances prevailed and pushed me to live the dream. I know that I moan about the lack of people through the door but really it's all good. I am my own boss and I'm a fairly reasonable one. Except for the inordinate amount of cleaning that I have to do.
I had a truly sh***y thing happen this morning, I arrived at the gallery to find a letter from a magazine that I have spent my whole advertising budget with telling me they'd gone bust. I'm £400 lighter and no money to rethink/redo advertising. This is major arse. I will however, in my eternal optimist head space try and find a creative solution to this annoying occurrence.
The gallery has been pretty busy all day and people have started to collect the work that they bought at the opening. I have had lots of friend visitors too which is always nice especially when it's people that you haven't seen in a while.
I have been drawing and drawing and it is amazing how addictive it can become. I'm experimenting with my drawing styles as I am predisposed to drawing everything very accurately and this is not necessarily what I want to project.
I'm going to enjoy my day off tomorrow, I'm going to fill it with roast dinner and a well deserved glass of wine or two. Oh yeah and the sunday papers, I am an absolute glutton for chewing(metaphorically speaking) my way through the mass of paper that is the weekend papers.
I hope that whatever you are doing this weekend that it is loads and loads of fun but spare a thought for those who are having possibly the worst weekend of their lives so far.

Lost For Words........

Not a day for frivolity. John Jesse Jones has been found and unfortunately it is not a happy ending. Living in a small town means that you are connected to people who know other people and their lives end up indirectly touching yours. My thoughts are with his family and friends at this very sad time.

There isn't much to report as it has been quiet at the gallery, I have had some friends visit which is always nice. I have drawn more in the last week than I have in ages. I'm really enjoying it. A bit deflated so I'm going to keep this short.

Artists get your bums in gear you need to let me know if you want to exhibit in the Abstract Open Exhibition.

The Sun Always Shines On TV

The sun shines when I work and when I play the sun goes into hiding and rain prevails. I thought that only happened at weekends when I used to get them off. Another glorious day and the optimism of Spring is in the air. I am, as always hoping that with the sun, will come visitors to the gallery. I was half right as there were more people today that yesterday.
I need the kind of people to walk through the door with deep pockets and an exceptional taste in art. I'm afraid the deep pockets trip them up long before they get to my door and they empty their pockets else where.
As a glass half full kind of person I am just biding my time as I know that with patience comes great rewards. When Patience gets here I let her know we are all waiting.

I designed a poster for a forthcoming exhibition today. I'm going to show you but I have updated the final draft with the correct dimensions. If you are in Swanage come and have a look I know you'll be impressed. The work we have selected should blow you away.
Spent the rest of the day drawing so that way great. More of the same tomorrow before I embark on a painting next week.

Just because I know a lot of people from all over read this, there's local lad missing in Swanage his name is Jesse John Jones he is 24 and has been missing since Saturday. If you know anything or have heard anything please phone 01202 222 222. Do your bit if you can.

Hope you had a good day and another one to follow tomorrow!

Busy Doing Nothing!

It's been a long time since I spent the day thinking about drawing and considering it was my day off. I think my creative fire is well and truly lit. Can't wait to go to the gallery and do some more drawing and painting. I was hoping to see some art today but I think I was looking in all the wrong places. I'm sure it was there but it wasn't obvious.

I had to satisfy myself by just taking in the scenery and enjoying the persistent drizzle. I now have five takers for the Abstract show in June. It will be just after Purbeck Arts Week so there will be a good arty vibe already in place.

I would welcome some printmakers and painters so if you are one, you know one or you live next door to one let them know about the Abstract Open Exhibition at L'Artishe Gallery.

I have a feeling that Saturday is going to be full on hectic as it would seem that quite a few people are descending on Swanage and the gallery at the weekend.

I hope that they like what they see.

I'm trying to think about what I can do for Comic Relief as I want to do something at the gallery. If you can think of something that I can do let me know.

Boredom Is Not An Option

I wish I had the dog for company

I am beginning to remind myself of a custodian at a museum. I sit here straight faced and straight laced with a knowing silence and a vigilant eye. The silence bit isn't actually accurate as I am often talking to myself whilst doing some job or another. I am so used to talking to myself that I have found out to my horror that it doesn't stop when I am in the presence of other people. Why am I such a weirdo? Years of practice I guess.
I would love to be able to charge window lookers. They get to look at great art without the commitment of ever stepping over the threshold. There's a word for people like that but I'm far too polite to write in my blog.
Another fairly uneventful day at the office/gallery. I have been drawing obsessively (a duck skull) playing with as many different mediums as possible. I intend to fill a sketchbook with drawings of skulls.
Matt has hooked me up with the Skull Man, he is a groundsman and has access to many deceased things apparently. I can't wait to see his wares.
I have also been watching some very highbrow programmes that are on BBC 3. The Beauty of Books is well worth a look if you are a bibliophile like myself.  Then Romancing the Stone, the history of british sculpture. Very entertaining if you like art programmes.
Well, how quickly it is Wednesday. My day off looms. I intend to flee Swanage and visit somewhere else. I hope that I can go and nose around some other galleries and steal any of their good ideas.
To blog or not to blog? Will be the question of the day tomorrow.

Look, Luke, Buy!

The half term beginneth(sic) and thoughts of a busy Swanage are on every business owners mind. So there are a lot of busy heads with less than busy businesses. I am one of those very lucky individuals. It's hard being on the receiving end of half term. I am usually swanning around in a cloud of self satisfied, self indulgence. Not anymore, the new me has to door watch and send silent prayers to the patron saint of galleries St Look of Thenby. Actually, the patron saint of artists is actually St Luke so there you go.
I have spent the morning designing a poster for a forthcoming exhibition. It looks ok but I am going to look at it again tomorrow to see if I still like it.
I spent a very lovely Sunday afternoon with Andrew Piesely. We went through the majority of his work and have narrowed it down to the pieces that we intend to show. I'm very excited as there are some really stunning pieces of work that I would happily have in my home so let's hope the visitors to the gallery feel the same.
I have been putting off getting started with my creative pursuit for the day as I am trying to keep my business head on so that tomorrow can be totally free for art.
I've had three takers for the Abstract exhibition so far I hope that by the end of the week to have quadrupled that amount. remember there's only hanging space for about 20 paintings. I hope to hear from some more of you soon.
It would seem that a boot full of paintings is portentous. Last time I spent an hour  in torrential rain trying to persuade a wayward horse to go back to the field from whence he came. Today, a man was knocked of his bike and injured and I had to stop to make sure he was ok or if I could help in anyway. He wasn't and I couldn't but luckily there were people that could. I really hope that he is ok and that the ambulance arrived before too long.