Artists Open Houses exhibition

Well it’s been a frantic week since my last post but, I’m delighted to report, also an enjoyable and, dare I say, a successful one! The Park Gate Collective had a small and informal private view on Friday evening, to which I didn’t actually invite anyone! Here’s a picture of the calm before the (relative) storm – a moment of tranquillity when everything that had to be done was done, but before anyone had arrived. I just love the light that floods into the flats at the end of the day!

As the show is in someone else’s flat and space is limited, I didn’t think it appropriate to spread the word to my friends. There was, however, a good many neighbours and friends of the other exhibitors that came along. Enough to create a pleasant atmosphere without it feeling uncomfortable or crowded. It was to my great surprise then that I sold five of my paintings that night. Here are the five that are already winging their way to new homes:

I still feel honoured and humbled every time someone buys one of my paintings and to sell five on the opening night was beyond all of my expectations.

Amidst all of the frenzied activity and heated excitement over the weekend, it was a great comfort and sanctuary to also manage to squeeze in a little painting time too.

This is another Barcelona street view, similar to some that I’ve done before but different in scale. My previous versions of this view have all been half sheet paintings but I was keen to try to replicate this as a quarter sheet:

I was quite pleased with this (in fact it’s already mounted and wrapped ready to pop in a browser for this weekend!) but the main thing for me was the time spent at the easel just painting.

I’ll be ‘on duty’ quite a bit this coming weekend: all day on Saturday and from 11am – 2pm on Sunday. It would be lovely to meet any readers of this blog should any of you be in the vicinity. I’m also hoping to make the most of my time by trying to get a painting or two done as well (so I’m hoping that anyone that does visit won’t object to me muttering to myself as I try to coach myself through any awkward watercolour moments!)

One final thing, in case any readers haven’t yet signed up to receive the American Watercolour Weekly newsletter, full of interesting tips, interviews and articles, I hope that you may consider to sign up to receive it via this link. What you get is the newsletter delivered straight into your inbox every week. If five or more people sign up using my link, I may have the opportunity to have my work highlighted as an Ambassador Featured Artwork – it really is a win win proposition!