Reward Yourself With A Great Night Out!

It has been a very strange day, the weather has had more multiple personalities than Sybil. If you are a child of the eighties you will know what I am talking about. That being said it has been a bit quiet. But the best news that I have had today is nothing to do with the gallery. My friend Alex got under my VW camper van and within half an hour he succeeded where many others had failed. He got Sheldon going and now I am full of optimism. That's two of my vehicles fixed in one week.
I will be camping in comfort in a few weeks time.
I am hoping that tomorrow will bring some much needed sunshine as the rainy weather makes Swanage really quiet.
I don't know obviously if music is your thing but tonight The Dub Pistols are playing in Swanage and it is a very rare thing to have a band this big playing somewhere so small but perfectly formed.
I think there are still some tickets left, at Replayed Records and for those of you willing to pay a little more it's £15 on the door.
I'm going and you should too.
It is the weekend and I hope that you have got something good planned.

Busy But Still Blogging!

Well today has been supremely busy and I am sat here now thinking that my list of things to is a bit too daunting. That's how it goes when you are a list writer. I may well have to adopt an ostrich principle and do a bit of head burying before I get stuck in to the hard work. Hence, I am now writing my blog.
My landline at the gallery has decided to stop working which is a huge problem. I am going to have to get that sorted asap.
I knew something was wrong when someone told me that they had left me a long message and it does not appear to be anywhere. That and the fact that it just rang and I picked it up and then nothing happened and it made a curious peeping sound then went dead.
These things are sent to test us. I don't really enjoy the challenge.
Because living in Swanage means that access to new phones etc is extremely limited unless I want to spend a small fortune.
On a more positive note it would seem that Brian and Vic are hitting the right note when it comes to the local audience. Far from being offended which is a response that they have had in the past people are being very positive about it. They appreciate the fact that the female form can be painted/sculpted without any sexual overtones/undertones.
Well, I best get back to it!

Visitors and Rain Flooding In

I got my car back yesterday and it is all fixed. I had the pleasure of driving to work today which is good as I have just looked outside and it is pouring with rain. A nice dry journey home for me. There was a rush of visitors this morning and they all loved the new exhibition. That makes me very happy. I did a printmaking workshop and it went really well with both people very pleased with their outcomes. One of them was Jan Dagley and she fell in love with three sculptures in the window and has decided that the minute that she makes any serious money she will be getting in touch with Brian about buying them. If that isn't a compliment I don't know what is.
I love the fact that visitors to the gallery enjoy a good stroke of the wooden sculptures as they walk around the exhibition.
If you like tactile objects then this definitely the show for you.
I am going to start putting together the next exhibition later on this week and I will be interested to see exactly how it all looks together.
I need to remind you about the Kimmeridge Open Exhibition if you are thinking about entering work for it can you please let me know.

Laid Bare

Brian Smithies

It was a quiet but lovely Private View, I don't know how I couldn't persuade people with my offer of free drinks and nibbles. It was a shame as the work and the artists were on top form. It was the people that came in off the street that really made the evening special as they saw the work and liked it enough to come in without an invite.
I had to make a swift exit on Saturday night as I had to get to Northampton to be there for my Dads surprise 70th birthday party on Sunday. It was great to see all the extended family and friends and suffice to say my Dad was suitably surprised.
I am looking forward to the new exhibitions that are coming up. You should be too. Please keep looking at the website to get more information.

Vic Smith

Where have I Been? Nowhere!

It's official I am back! I know that you must have missed my daily diatribe of the gallerys highs and lows. I have been busy trying to have time off. In the words of the youth of today I achieved an 'epic fail'. It really didn't pan out that way. I ended up with one day, that other than answer a few emails completely free of gallery related chores.
It took me three days to fill the holes left by the last exhibition. That was depressing in itself. I am going to insist that I am in charge of hanging in the future because astonishingly Sharon does in fact know best.
So it's just as well that I have booked my summer holiday today. I will be going on an underwater adventure to swim with dolphins and turtles hopefully. I cannot wait.
The big news is that there is a new exhibition starting today which I hope that you will come and see. It is full of nudes so if that sounds right up your alley please to come and see it. I resisted the urge to call my blog Privates View. but it made me smile so I had to mention it.

I will be serving Pimms and nibbles from 4.00 until 7.00 so please come and join us and see some great art at the same time.

It is a sculpture and painting show, something for fans of both 2D and 3D art. I have already selected my favourite pieces but as per usual they are so beyond my price range I will have to just make the most of admiring them for the two weeks that they are at the gallery.

Monday Is Now The New Saturday

New Exhibition Starts Saturday

So this how it all ends, more of a bang than a whisper! I am happy to report that the final day of Sheila Girlings show was busy. For those of you who didn't see it, your loss.
I have a quiet week this week so please don't be surprised by the lack of blog action. You can get too much of a good thing you know.
I'll be mostly repairing walls and catching my breath before the next exhibition.
I have left writing my blog to the last 15 minutes of the day so that I cannot waffle on about other trivia. I heard the universal sigh of relief then. It's fine I am not that easily offended.
That will teach me, when the last 15 minutes of the transpire to be the busiest 15 minutes of the day. Hence no blog post.
I am posting it today as there isn't going to be much else coming from me this week. If you get withdrawals then can I suggest that you re read any blogs that have witty paint references in the titles as that will be what I will be doing this week.
I hope that you all had a good weekend I did. Crammed a lot into two days but it was all good.

I Need To Get A Grip!

I have spent the best part of the morning trying to get things done and all of my attempts have been futile. There are days when you are in the zone and then there are days like today. You start jobs and then realize halfway through that you have not actually got the necessary powers of concentration to see the task through. That is me today. I am annoyed as I really could do with getting all of these jobs out the way so that I can focus on making some paper and doing my own work.

Maybe I am approaching this all the wrong way round, maybe I need to make the paper first then try and refocus my efforts?

Well, the south west wasn't washed away last night as the weathermen predicted which is lucky. In fact Swanage today is basking in glorious sunshine. Is it too little too late in terms of visitors I'm not sure. If I didn't live here and I read the weather reports for today I wouldn't have dared take the risk of being washed away in a torrent of flood water either.

If you ask a Swanage local about the weather here I would bet you that within the first two minutes of that conversation you would hear the words 'micro climate' mentioned. We are a town obsessed with the fact that whatever weather is predicted for here is invariably wrong because we have our own micro climate. 

I would love to see my theory in action, next time you are here ask a local about the weather in Swanage and let me know how you get on.

Gallery news, well there isn't much to tell really as it has been very quiet and I have been sat here trying to compose speculative letters in longhand which has resulted in multiple crossings outs and and several sighs of defeat.
Now I have had my third coffee I may well be able to do a bit more this afternoon.
It's the last day of Sheila Girlings exhibition tomorrow so if you have not seen it then you should definitely try before it goes.