JANUARY 2007
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Still struggling with the camels. In the evening I hear Bel Mooney introducing the Late Book on Radio 4 ; tonight's being 'How to Win Friends and Influence People'. Bel bought a painting I had donated to an Oxfam exhibition some years ago.
Another day trying to tame the camels.
Return to Karl Monday's Winning Post and also a little more refining on Night Life.
Lovely planted basket arrives from Gill, my sister, saying 'thank you' for Christmas.
Coincidentally my sister rings at lunchtime and asks me to guess who she has just met on her way to a meeting at the headquarters? it's Sheila who is now working as a freelance consultant, on this occasion with their specialists for children with physical disabilities. They are going to have lunch together when Sheila is next at the Centre where Gill is based. She is just about to address a large number of nearly qualified teachers to encourage them to apply to her region for jobs,
I do a bit more to Night Life before R delivers it to Cantilever Bars.
Final bash on the Winning Post - quite a long bash as it takes me all day then right through the night and ......
.........I'm still working on it when R came over to the studio at 9 am so I go to bed as he leaves and don't rise again until I phone him in the afternoon just after he has left the Monday's where he hung the painting in Karl's office (and says it looks just right there). He then drives to the other side of Yorkshire to visit his Uncle John who is 90.
Cheque from Brian Sinfield and an invitation to 'dance the night away' and 'bring along your muse' at a party given by the international art consultants in mid January.
When I open the porch door I'm greeted by the most glorious basket of beautiful flowers sent by Karl and Sharron who e mailed yesterday to say how pleased they were with their painting and R got chocolates too!
All my energies are now going into the camels; Alistair in Saudi Arabia has at last received our e mail; I think their system had been deleting us as we tried to e mail details of the latest image in mid December but it didn't get through so I think he has now managed to white list us!
I hear the concluding part of Tolstoy's Resurrection, the Classic Serial on Radio 4 this afternoon; the religious chants and music remind me of the timeless Russian Orthodox service and its participants at the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Tallinn.
A strange sort of day ; R takes a call from the Art Consultants re the "14th March" painting saying their clients have just asked to be invoiced for it. They had asked me to hang onto it for a couple of weeks in November but as nothing had transpired it is back with Brian who was reproducing it in his new newsletter, which is currently at the printers. R phones them and finds that they are taking the final proof to Brian today! I phone him to explain the dilemma and offer an alternative image - we're just in the nick of time!
A lovely surprise in the post from Loughran, my artist friend in New York, a Metropolitan Museum of Art Diary illustrated with beautiful paintings, prints and photographs (including Edward Hopper, Milton Avery, Walker Evans and Alfred Steiglitz) from their collection of pictures of New York: where as Loughran says, her family first became Americans. Her studio is just about five miles from the Museum. Loughran paints exquisite one winged angels.
Very nice e mail from Margus with a photograph attached of him presenting President Ilves of Estonia with my painting "Angel of the Sea" at the Presidential Palace in Tallinn. He's also invited us to Estonian Independence Day in February in London which this new President will be attending.
Spoke to Donna Tribby whose new gallery in West Palm Beach opens tomorrow evening; they were just hanging the gallery in readiness. We got to know Donna when she was in partnership at the Gallery Centre in Boca Raton with Theo Waddington who moved back to Ireland (his home country) to deal from there a couple of years ago. This gallery, Donna Tribby Fine Art is a 'must' if you are in Florida.
I'm beginning to feel quite pleased as I've now resolved the Camels, adding two young black beasts (one at either side) and also changing a large one more central to the composition to black. We were told that they are actually painted with tar (like the Tar Baby) to protect them against a skin infection. The contrast makes the painting a lot more exciting. So I'm feeling that completion is within sight and also feeling pleased that both Night Life and Winning Post are done, dusted and delivered. But my joy turns to despondency when R appears in my studio and tells me that we've had an e mail from Karl and Sharon who have discovered a small piece of bubble wrap attached to the bottom of the frame of their painting. I advise them to gently rub or pull it off which they manage to do but it has apparently left it's impression so R valiantly volunteers to go and collect it tomorrow. They are very sweet and apologetic.
When R brings the painting back he has a sleep whilst I rework the small area. It's actually just made the paint shinier in those parts so after sanding and a repaint it's ready to go again. Luckily Karl and Sharon are night owls like us as it's 2 am when he gets there and 6 am when he gets back here, a round trip of 760 miles.
The plumbers are here again, finishing off installing three more radiators.
R goes to London dropping off The Queen of Hearts at the Fosse Gallery en route, to replace the Circus painting which I have decided to donate to Yes To Life, a new cancer charity that will offer alternative care within hospital facilities in memory of the founder's daughter Bryony who died in her early 20's. The auction and dinner is being organised by the dealer Andy Curry at the Wallace Collection. Jon Snow is going to auction the paintings and Jerry Hall will be among the guests. The paintings can be seen next week at Curry & Popkek, 87 Wimpole Street. R's also collecting three of my small paintings, one that I bought at a Christie's auction and two very early (tiny) pictures of Henrietta and Nathan riding or with a lion from a collector. He is then going to visit Nathan.
I've been mixing up colours and blocking in the composition on the commission for Mrs Leonard. The frame already having been made up and then primed. But am busy working on the Camels again when the phone rings, it's the Associate Director of Art at Work, UBS in New York who says they are interested in acquiring some of my work for their Manhattan office. She says she has already contacted Barry Friedman (who only has one larger piece) so I say will send images of anything available which R does on his return.
E mail form Alistair, all good feedback on the last two paintings and also enquiring about having prints and cards made.
Early call from Alistair to see if any of the paintings are ready to go if the shippers came to collect them today!! Richard explains that they still have to be photographed for transparencies and that I have to take each one out of its frame to paint the white gessoed edges of canvas that are obscured by and lie under the rebate of the frame in case they move in transit or with variations in temperature. So I spend the day working on the edges and refining the Jeddah Street Scene, apparently there will be another shipment being flown out next weekend. R also got a call from the Melton Carnegie Museum to say they were postponing delivering the Day at the Races exhibition back until next Thursday as the gales that causing havoc right across Europe and killed eleven people in the UK, could blow the paintings out of their hands when loading or unloading. Yesterday Eddie climbed up a ladder precariously balanced, to lop off the two tops of our Eucalyptus trees, just in case. This fearless 73 year old has the most amazing sense of balance and understanding of the way the tree tops would fall with Wayne on the ground pulling the rope attached to them and R supporting the ladder at it's base.
Call from Butch to discuss an idea; he says that Victor is in the air flying back from Gibraltar at the moment for Ascot on Saturday but that he's had a call from the Clerk of the Course this morning saying that it's waterlogged at the moment. he asks if we will be at Cheltenham during the Gold Cup Festival in March and says that their marquee will be in the same position as usual.
Now focusing on getting the Arabian paintings finished for shipment next week.
E mail from Joan Martyn at the gallery in Toronto who says we haven't been in contact for a while; they have now merged with a major Canadian gallery, the Loch Gallery. She says she knows I am very busy but wonders if there would be an opportunity for them to have three or four paintings to exhibit - the new owner is very enthusiastic about my work.
Working on the Old Town Jeddah Street scene
Monday 22.1.07
Today the Jeddah Fish Market.
Invitation from the Estonian Embassy to Estonian Independence Day celebrations where the President will also be, in London next month.
In the evening phone call from Wallace.
Call from the shippers: the Arabian painting need to be in London by the 31st; they are coming to collect them on Tuesday morning at 9.30 am! Think I'm in with a chance of getting them all ready by then.
The Pilgrim Sisters have again absorbed the day.
About half past twelve Addy from Leicestershire Museum Services, arrives with John an archaeologist from the same, to deliver back the Day at the Races exhibition from the Melton Carnegie Museum. After they've unloaded I join them for a lunch of soup and cheese that R has prepared. Am fascinated to learn that Addy shares the same birthday as me and his father with my sister. He also says he interested to see that one of my works The Naming of Parts (Imperial War Museum) is in the book as he recalled doing it at School - forgotten about until this reminder when he looked up and re read the Henry Read poem which eloquently described to John( who didn't know it ). He also showed us some wonderful photographs he had taken when mountaineering and ice climbing. Back to the Pilgrim Brothers.
By coincidence the big catalogue of the Imperial War Museum collection of paintings arrives today which illustrates The Naming of Parts and Other Mothers Sons. Martin Bailey had sent us a photocopy of the page earlier in the month.
R takes my Mum up to London with him to deliver back The Bet to Uncle Les; my cousin Neil had bought it for him from the Day at the Races exhibition. He had memories of waiting outside betting shops for Uncle Les when he was boy. My Mum has lunch with Les and Vera whilst R goes over to see Nathan and takes him and Rebecca out to lunch where they discuss projects.
Meanwhile I'm working on Pilgrim Brothers and the Souk. Am beginning to run out of time as they and the Camels need photographing tomorrow as the shippers are coming early Tuesday morning. I work until 5.30am but only the Pilgrim Brothers is finished enough for R to take into the Darkroom to have transparencies made.
When I get up R's already been to the Darkroom and comes in looking very pleased when he tells me he's just had a call from the shippers who say that the clients are not going to be in London till next week so I have a reprieve-such relief!!
An e mail from Alistair asking how much the Camel Herdsman is; yesterday it occurred to me that I ought to offer it to MJ first of all as it had been inspired by the Saudi Arabian trip though I had been saving it for my next exhibition it seemed right to offer him first refusal so that if he decided he would like it, it could be shipped with the other works next week. I did show it in Gloucester City Museum and Art Gallery and Chenderit but didn't let Rob Whittle have it for sale when he spotted it in my studio and asked if he could show it at an art fair.
I'm just speaking to Chris Taylor on the phone, arranging for the delivery
of their painting Pantomime Horse, borrowed for the Day at the Races, when
R gets an e mail from Alistair saying that MJ would like the Camel Herdsman
and would it be possible to crate it and send it to Japan for next Wednesday.
So everything suddenly changes and all of both our efforts are redirected
to this project. R makes a crate in the evening whilst I work on the Camel
Herdsman because as usual there are a few things I decide I would like still
to do on it........
SEPTEMBER 2006 - OCTOBER 2006- NOVEMBER 2006 - DECEMBER 2006 - FEBRUARY 2007 - MARCH 2007