Healthy sales in the pre-christmas market. My new work has been well recieved.

The group exhibition has been going well, half of my pieces sold within 24 hours of the opening and I hope a few more will go before the exhibition is over.
I leave a few more works into another group show tomorrow. If it goes as well as the other I will be very happy. My new work has been received very well, with lots of interest in a quiet market. Sales in general have been down, but my works have sold very well, with further buyers who have shown interest in some of my pieces still to come back to make their purchases according to the show curator.
It has been a pleasant surprise, as there was always the doubt, in that dead fish were not an ideal subject matter to garner sales in a hard market. On the other hand, the old motto still stands true, Quality sells! And the fact is I was happier with this work than I have been for a few years, I feel I am back from firstly my lay-off due to ill health and then further strife with the studio in Marlay Park.

Leaving the studio was the best move I could have made, since then it has improved and lightened considerably. Looking back the latter works from the Marlay studio were all very dark and depressing. Since I moved into the new studio by the pond my work first brightened, and then became free-er and less contrived, I have now come back to more structured work again, but I have managed to keep the life and energy within it.

I am looking forward to 2010, and the promise of a very successful year, both in output of work and sales.

Pond paintings and my studio

I have finished the painting I posted earlier, this is it here. I have also completed another one, painted from outside the studio. You will notice the reflection of the studio in the bottom left corner of the work.

I was going to do some more work from the pond today, but it is overcast with rain forecasted later so I will leave it until the weather is more suitable. In the meantime I have other jobs to do anyway, so I can get stuck into them today and I have a meeting tomorrow I need to prepare for. I will try to update a little more regularly, but I tend to get sidetracked to easily... :)

Organising for an exhibition, and considering a painting studio sale..

I have been selecting some paintings for a show from the stacks in my studio. I am seriously considering holding a "Studio sale" later in the year. I have so much stuff to clear out of the studio. Small works and studies I have been holding on to for later re-use or repainting were easily stored in my old studio as I had plenty of space. My new studio however is a different story, I just don't have the same storage. I am due to do an art fair in the summer, but even so I have more than enough work done for it.
I may have an online studio clearance about April, I don't particularly want to frame them for an exhibition, and I can't use my studio as an open studio to sell them either, it is too small for that.
I have to take the paintings to Clare next week, the gallery down there wants 5 or 6 works for thier Easter Group show. I have just finished phoning my framer, I need a couple of the pieces framed in a hurry......as usual he will oblige. :) I forgot Easter was so early this year. Time is flying by........ I hope to get a few sales from the show, the Gallery does quite well, and Easter is a good time for sales as the area gets a large amount of tourist traffic, as does the gallery. If I take a couple of smaller works (24 inches and under) they usually sell quickly, although the big pieces can sell, but I prefer to keep those for one man, or major shows with lots of space available to display. In a group show situation the gallery can only allocate a certain amount of space to each of thier Artists, so larger works mean less paintings displayed for sale.

Autumn rains

I am currently working on the structural element of my studio access, in short building my 'boat-dock' out to the door. The steel structure is in place and I now can fit the timbers to it. Today though we have heavy rain and wind so I don't see me getting much done. I cannot even try to sort out the power outlets in the wet.
It is looking like a day to go wandering around a few galleries and the art supply shop. I may even spend a few hours socialising in the city while I am at it. I haven't done that in quite a while, I have been too busy since getting back from Tunisia, and I didn't have the time before my trip either.

My studio is now in place

I still have to do work around it though. The tree to the left will need pruning back a bit. I need to build a bit of a porch in front to allow access to the door. I also need to connect a reinforced electric cable from the hous into the cabin. I will probably paint it green too. I will start planting around the edges with creeping/climbing plants to soften the edges and I will build window boxes for the front in the spring.

I have done a small, adjusted photo in paint to give an idea of the size behind the tree. Another gives an idea of what I may do for access

Iam looking forward to moving in.

Preparing for my new studio

I have been clearing the shrubbery at the back of my garden, ready for my new studio to arrive.(Hopefully this weekend) I have still to build the footings for the Portacabin, which will sit against the wall and project over the pond by about 4 feet. I had an earthen bank behind the pond also which I am in the process of removing with a shovel. It's hard work!. My studio will be twenty by ten feet, or 6 X3.3 meters. Not particularly big, but it will suffice, and, as it is going to be a "vandal-proof" portacabin it will be totally secure. The Dog managed to get herself into the photo again, but at least she gives a little perspective to the photo. The pond is 18 feet by 15 feet incidently so I will still be left with with about 14X15 feet of water surface visible, and the over-hang will give the fish more cover too.