Welcome to the Gallery

Imagine is set in the Suffolk village of Long Melford.
This is an attempt to record the daily trials, tribulation and pleasure of running an art gallery.

Friday 14 May 2010


A Day once dawned, and it was beautiful
A day once dawned from the ground
Then the night she fell
And the air was beautiful
The night she fell all around

So look see the days
The endless coloured ways
And go play the game that you learnt
From the morning.


This isn't the post that I had intended, plus it's also two days later than I had intended.
But as they say "the best laid plans".

After my last post I was determined to finish working on a picture that was started about two years ago, then to use it as a post and to tell you all about the taking of it.
It was to be a photograph that was my interpretation of the famous 'Lady of Shallot' painting.
The picture was to be created from 25 different photographs that I had taken two years ago,
The model in the picture was the young woman who featured in my last post.
I had put the picture on "hold" after spending a week working on it, putting the different elements together, I had recognized that it was going to be a mammoth task so I "put it aside for another day".
Last week I had a mail from the model [what patience she has].
"How is the picture going"?

I determined that I would finish the picture and make it the focus of this post.

I did finish the picture, and to me it was beautiful and perhaps the best that I have ever done.
Who knows?
No one will ever see it.
As I tried to save the finished picture [that had taken about 70 hours to finish] my computer
decided that" enough was enough", and died, along with that picture.

I was devastated, I had so wanted to show Sarah [the model] how all of her efforts had been
worthwhile [the boat sank, she nearly drowned, I lost my camera in the water, but it was fun].
The picture exists in my mind, and that is where it will stay.
After getting over the loss of that photograph I then realized that the majority of my last 5 years worth of photographs had also "gone forever".
In the scheme of things it isn't that important although I was sad at the loss.

The next day I purchased a new computer [ Apple Mac] and I have spent the last couple of days trying to get "myself working again".

I always play music on the computer, most of it stored, but of course I had lost that also.
I had to listen to something so I played a CD that my son Sam had given me.
"You will like this Dad, I think you will want to play it in the shop".
I had put it aside with the intention of listening "when I had time".
That had been a mistake.
I loved it at the first hearing, it was gentle and seemed like "old good music".
The CD was called 'Pink Moon' and was by Nick Drake.

"He's really good I thought", then did a google search about him.
He had died long ago.
If he had lived he would have been older than myself, as it was he was the age of Sam, my son.
He died a troubled young man who couldn't cope with life and suffered from great depression.
Anti-depressants, caused his death.

I sat here late at night with the lights off, feeling low, thinking of the pictures I had lost, but enjoying this beautiful music.
Of course it had me thinking about life, the post I would have done, the best laid plans, and of course my son. Without a doubt I was feeling low and had tears in my eyes.
Then, a knock at the door.
It was Sam, "hi Dad I've come to see your new computer".
Some things are meant to be.

I had no pictures for a post so I looked through those I had saved to CD and found this old one.
After years of not seeing it I found it "nice".
It suited my mood and I felt fitted the words of Nick Drake's last song.

2 comments:

  1. That's what I thought, or at least words to that effect.
    I think the pictures that I will miss most of all are those I have taken in Ireland, still at least it will give me an excuse to return.

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