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.

Wednesday 15 October 2014

A First



I had vowed to myself that I would never have a picture of myself on this blog
[for obvious reasons]
But there is a first time for everything, and this is it.

At the moment the gallery is in a state of turmoil as we prepare for this weekends opening
of the exhibition of paintings by
Anne Bachelier.
As we have just returned home from the Cambridge Art Fair there is a lot to be done,
and I must apologise to anyone who visits this week as we are in a state of disarray
[actually it is a bloody mess]
with boxes, wrappings, paintings and sculptures covering every surface.

I certainly do not have time to write a post,
which is a shame as for once I have a lot that I could write about telling you of our adventures and
fun at the Fair.




Our stand was manned by myself, my lovely son Sam and our best mate Paul.
There was a lot of stress and even more swearing
[mostly by myself]
but we all had a good time, and even better, good sales.

There is a lot to tell, so maybe another time, but let's just say that it "opened my eyes".
It seems that a lot of galleries tell "fibs" and indeed a lot of galleries don't even exist until there is an
Art Fair!

Anyway.
I have put aside my misgivings about pictures of myself because otherwise I would not be able to
show the photograph of me and my new customer.
Jeffrey Archer
I have promised that I would not record some of his comments [all good]
in fairness to the other exhibitors.

Since the Fair we have spoken and concluded his purchase of a beautiful sculpture.
As part of the deal he is giving me a dedicated book of my choice.
He asked me
"which book would you like, Kane & Abel"?
An obvious choice because it is perhaps his most famous novel.
I told him, no, I would like
'Not A penny More, Not a Penny Less'
[His first novel]

"My, you go back a long way", he remarked.
Which I think was a polite way of saying "what an old git you must be"
Something that is proven by my photograph.


The picture at the top unfortunately is not of myself,
it is Sam
The other is of "Jeff" [my new best mate] myself and Craig the Art Fair organiser.
In case you haven't guessed I am the old man that looks about 90 years old.

I was young once, "honest".

11 comments:

  1. Hey, I have a Sam!
    Nice to meet you at last. Thanks for taking the time.
    Sandy in Bracknell
    PS It seems there is a little similarity between Sam and the portraits to his right. maybe too much imagination on my part.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello Sandy
      Yes!
      I would definitely say too much imagination on your part.
      Although, I do think the portraits and Sam are equally good looking.

      Delete
  2. Well.......Helooooo! Actually, you look pretty good (says the woman about-to-become-a-great-grandmother-even-though-she-is-only-62!) Congratulations on the new famous customer.....hope he becomes a regular!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Great Grandmother!
      I think the strange thing is Susan that inside we all still think that we are eighteen.
      That's why I hate pictures of myself, they just show an old man, not the young person trapped inside that body.

      Thanks for writing.

      Delete
  3. Me too. And, it all looked wonderful.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I agree Donna, it did look wonderful.
      OK, I am a little biased but I think that both Sam and myself were pretty happy at the way it looked.

      When you say "me too".
      Do you mean you were young once?

      Youth.
      It's overrated, I tried it didn't like it, now I'm giving old age a try out.
      Hhhhmmmmmmm!
      I don't think I like that too much either.

      Best Wishes

      Delete
    2. Yes......Youth is wasted on the young!

      Delete
  4. Good luck with your show. I wanted to let you know one of your images of a tudor girl is part of the cover image for my debut novel, The Alchemist's Daughter, published by Kensington in the U.S. Your work is gorgeous. And I'm thrilled to have it on my book cover. www.marylawrencebooks.com
    And, the artists you show in your gallery are fabulous.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello Mary
      What an honour for me, "I" am thrilled to be associated with your book.
      It is very rare that I learn where the pictures go and it is only on occasion's when the author contacts me that I learn what books my pictures appear upon.
      I never receive a copy and on occasions I have found them in stores without ever knowing they have been used, which is a great shame as recently a model was annoyed with me because she didn't know that she was featured upon a book cover until she found the book on 'ebay'.
      But, I didn't know either.

      I have many "alchemist" images as the subject fascinates me so much, so this has really given me a little excitement.
      I really hope that it does well for you.

      Thank you so much for making contact.

      Best Wishes

      Delete
  5. I don't wear my glasses when visiting friends and everyone still looks quite lovely with that slightly blurred vaseline on the lens effect that these nearly 60 year old eyes do & what the heck it's better than the alternative, to quote Keith Richards, "Getting old is a fascinating thing. The older you get the older you want to be."

    ReplyDelete
  6. Mo
    I totally agree.

    But then I'm only eighteen.

    Love and good wishes
    John

    ReplyDelete