JANUARY

Wednesday 1.1.25

Thursday 2.1.25

Friday 3.1.25

Saturday 4.1.25

Sunday 5.1.25

Monday 6.1.25

Tuesday 7.1.25

Wednesday 8.1.25

Emma Fawcet came for lunch today. She works for Gloucestershire Ambulance and approached me at the Fresh Art Fair last April but it as taken me this long to find  a suitable date to invite her over to discuss ideas of ways I might be able to help. It’s such an incredibly brilliant way of bringing rapid help to people in need of emergency treatment at speed and a doctor and advanced equipment on board. https://greatwesternairambulance.com/ so I’m giving it thought

Emma is a very engaging person with many stories of miraculous achievements by the Air Ambulance services, which get no public funding.

I promised myself I would start on the new larger canvas today so begin to sketch out in a terracotta paint on a yellow background, figures around a circular table with a small white rendered church in the background.

Thursday 9.1.25

ditto

Friday 10.1.25

ditto

Saturday 11.1.5

Continuing to try to make a coherent compsition with a plausible arrangement of figures grouped aound the table set in a South American/Spanish environment.

Sunday 12.1.25

Richard collects the paintings from the RWA

Tuesday 14.1.25

Today Paul of Orchard Couriers came to collect my two paintings to deliver to the Portland Gallery in London. He was here at 7.30. Paul worked for Sam at Cleeve Picture Frames but when Sam decided to give up the business to get more time to do other things, Paul didn’t want to take over the business from him so he bought a van with his redundancy payment and had it fitted out so that he could transport art and antiques. This was his first trip to London and he ‘phoned Richard when he was back home by 1.30. Florence from the gallery had already let us know the paintings had been delivered.

Wednesday 15.1.25

Continue on the large Harvest Supper painting. These pieces gradually emerge from the blank canvas like writing a story, the players develop their wn personaes and relationships to one another …

Thursday 16.1.25

… the background and the foreground gradually evolve until they ignite and excite my creative energy…

Friday 17.1.25

… enough to make me want to weave an environment or backdrop around

Saturday 18.1.25

As Alban Shipping are coming on Monday I spend the weekend ..

Sunday 19.1.25

… on Paul’s large street painting

Monday 20.1.25

Alban Shipping arrived at just about 1 to collect Paul’s big street painting and his two commissions. Richard helps the driver carry the large painting into the truck where he covered it in blankets and strapped it to the side. The two commissions are smaller a metre square though quite heavy and Paul asked for them about eighteen months ago and has waited patiently for them to go into their new house.

An hour or so later we set out to London for the opening of the London Art Fair tomorrow which has got off to a very good start as one of the two paintings I had made specially for it, Rhinoceros on the Bridge is already sold and the other larger work Super - the Course of Time has been reserved. We arrive at our London studio at about seven o’clock; Kev is there having spent time putting up a new metal day bed as I had moved the one that had been here into my home studio. It’s wonderful having them live next door s we get to them each time we come. Samuel comes round to say Hello; it was his birthday last Monday and it seems amazing to think it was seventeen years since we travelled up to look after Isaac when Samuel was born. Isaac was only two and we rented a house near Greenwich Park. It’s wonderful that they have both now grown into handsome young men. Henrietta comes in too - she is cooking prawn linguine for us to share and we have a lovely evening with Henrietta and Samuel, Kev having gone to play football with the dads. but is back in time to join us for some cake.

Tuesday 21.1.25

An Uber with an interesting Polish driver, takes us to the Art Fair where we arrive about 4.30. After depositing our coats we make our way to the Portland stand where I’m delighted to see on the wall they have devoted to my three works that Supper - the Course of Time now has a red spot too.  It’s good to chat to Florence and Jamie about my exhibition with them opening early in June. We then wander around the Fair where it’s interesting to see how many galleries have a Mary Fedden or two. We also go upstairs and call in at the Portal Gallery where Jess, who now owns it is exhibiting her artists and I chat to Lizzie Riches who noted that I also been in the charity exhibition to raise money for third world transplant patients. I tell her I think her painting in it was the best but she says well Grayson Perry’s went for more and I say well it would because he’s Grayson. I then spot in one of her pseudo historic portraits the same model and I comment on how beautiful he is and she says his name is Blue. We then go for a cup of tea before making our way back down to the Portland Gallery stand where we are meeting Henrietta and Kev. Jasmine the Gallery Manager comes along and greets us warmly. I ‘phone Henrietta who tells me they are already at the Fair and have been to the stand but couldn’t see me or my paintings because they’d actually gone to the gallery at one side as it can be quite confusing as the gallery names stick out like estate agents’ boards. Anyway, eventually, while we are still on the ’phone, she spots me so I’m able to introduce her and Kev to Florence. We chat for a while then we’re off for anther loo around the Fair. We pass Robert Sandelson, my old dealer, several times, who commented that he liked my new space.

After we’ve had another good look around we go to super at the Mexican restaurant on Islington’s Upper Street. It’s so nice to have Henrietta and Kev with us

Wednesday 22.1.25

We drive to the Imperial War Museum where have an appointment with Claire Brenard, curator of art as she had written to me last week asking if I was likely to be in London as she’d like to meet up to discuss my three dimensional work, The Naming of Parts with a view to putting it on display at IWM North which is a fantastic new cutting edge building. I meet her in the cafe at ten past three, a very nice  and friendly  woman who I immediately feel at ease with; we’re also joined by one of her colleagues a fellow curator. and I try to recall as much of my motivation and thoughts when I created the work. Its title refers to the 1942 Henry Reed poem. Sometime later Richard joins us after he had eventually managed to park. After the meeting we discover some of the joys of the IWM collection in the new Blavatnick galleries on the third floor - brilliant period paintings from both the first and second world war periods including of course the brilliant Dame Laura Knight’ portrait of Ruby Loftus, Stanley Spencer’s Dressing Station, Nevinson’s The Unending Cult of Human Sacrifice

We stay until it closes, exiting via the bookshop where we find a prominently displayed book by Claire, beautifully illustrated with all the works we’ve just seen and very many more from the collection.

So we exit through all the magnificent rockets, tanks and a press Landrover then outside the two long 15inch naval guns.

We drive back up to Islington (admiring wonderful views of St Pauls beautifully lit against the night sky)arriving at Martin and Alison’s a little early to give me time call Nathan. Henrietta had already ‘phoned while we were still at the IWM. Nathan is off to the Sundance Festival tomorrow so is staying at the studio tonight.

It’s so good to see Alison, who opens the door to us, she used to be editor of the Illustrated London News. Martin is senior London correspondent for The Art Newspaper and a van Gogh expert having written and researched several books and co-curated several exhibitions on Vincent. We are lucky as we also saw them in October when Martin was talking at the Cheltenham Literature Festival. Such a delightful evening; lots of laughter, some reminiscing and some discussion fo forthcoming projects. Alison is a superb cook, she has prepared sea bass for us with brocolli and pine nuts, sprouts and chestnuts and tiny roast potatoes - all superb. Followed by a fruit salad in clotted cream with maple syrup and broken merangues which was delicious. Followed by a fine selection of cheeses

At about 10.15 Richard begins to make a move and after bidding our farewells we’re on the road homeward bound by 10.30 arriving at about 1.20. We’re please see the big order of oil paints I’d made a couple of weeks ago had arrived so it’s more like 4 before we turn in having sent e mails and unpacked.

Thursday 23.1.25

Good to be back working in the studio on the Harvest Supper.

Friday 24.1.25

ditto

Saturday 25.1.25

Spend the day working on a small three boys playing cards then do just a little on the florist in the early hours.

Sunday 26.1.25

Work further into the florist who now has a small cat on her lap peering through the gap between the table and her arm.

Monday 27.1.25

Someone comes to check the drains for us and all is well

JANUARY 2025

Tuesday 28.1.25

Still working into A Delicate Art piling vases on the top shelf ad adding more to the sides.

Wednesday 29.1.25

This afternoon we go into Cheltenham to the General Hospital where we visit the offices of Linc charity. Lou the CEO is there with her newly appointed colleague Ellie who is I think the chief fundraiser. It’s lovey talking to them about all their recent achievements and fundraising events. Tomorrow they have a special evening to say ‘thank you’ to all their volunteers. But today we are also here because Lou has asked if they could have a photograph of me presenting them with a cheque for £4,833 which is one third of the fourteen and a half thousand we raised from the sale of my miniatures and our raffle - the other two thirds go to the National Star College and the Friends of The Wilson. So I write the amount on a large reusable cheque that wipes off to give a more dramatic impact in the photograph. We also talk about the wonderful people who come to support the open studio and who are also connected to Linc like Colin Walls and his wife Libby and Liz Giles who is the dedicated Linc treasurer but also bought a little painting last year and also a bigger miniature of an owl and  pussycat this year.

Thursday 30.1.25

I spend the day working on the florist painting, trying to bring it all together; although it needs more work it has still come a long way today.

Friday 31.1.25

Richard goes to pick up some engravings that Trinity House had put in store at the shippers Simon Hall before they went out of business.

I’m just about to start working on the large six foot canvas having squirted out various oil colours onto one of my five new pallets that R oiled for me, when Martin rings to see how Richard is. So I’m working and talking at the same time which I can do when the paint is being applied more loosely.

Later still the ‘phone rings and it’s dear Daphne who says that dear Michael, who had just gone into a hospice, has sadly died. I’m so sad for her; she does have two friends there with her. I had been planning for us to go and visit him over the weekend but he was obviously too frail to last any longer. A lovely gentle man who we will miss.

Nathan rings later so we chat about the job he’s just been working on