Imagine Gallery

It has been so long since I wrote something I thought that I had better make it one of the "sooner rather than later" tasks of the day, otherwise time would trickle through my fingers and it would be late evening before I gave thought to it again.

At the moment the days seem to be wasted, each day is full [with not enough hours] but the jobs that are filling them is not very satisfying, but they are things that are very necessary to keep the place running. I would never have believed how much time has to be allocated to "admin", at times I feel that I am working in an office.

My ideal day is spent talking to, visiting, or searching for artists.

I often think that if we could turn back time we would never have ventured down this 'Gallery'

road, but at the end of a day that has been spent sourcing work I can think of no better thing to have done with my life.

Just imagine it, I sit surrounded by all these beautiful objects which for a short space in time belong to me. I can look at them, admire the skill of the creator, caress them and at times even talk to them. Yes, I am that mad.

So when days are spent doing the many tasks that I would rather ignore I must remind myself

that it is all for a reason.

So this morning finds me sitting in a lovely space surrounded by fantastic art and with a 

favourite album playing in the background, without anyone telling me what I have to do, and

yet I am feeling sorry for myself.

"get a life John".

Just as I finished writing that a courier walked came in with a delivery prints by 'Jo March'.

My day has changed, I love them and can't wait to get to the framer so that they can be on the walls by the weekend.

Now where was I with all the "things I've got to do" business?

Oh Yes! I have spent the last week designing invitations and advertisements a forthcoming event, it is something that I don't enjoy but afterwards seems worthwhile and I can never remember why I was annoyed at having to do them.

The main project has been the invitation for our next exhibition which opens in just over a week. Test prints came from the printer, I corrected them, they printed again, I was happy, so off we went.

Now with them all in the post I am on to the next design project, but before I launch that on the unsuspecting public I will show you the new invitations.

They are for an exhibition that has been planned for a year. It was intended to be a solo exhibition by the wildlife sculptor Brendan Hesmondhalgh.

Brendan is known of and exhibited throughout the UK, he makes wonderful stylised animals

and birds, much of his work is now made for public display so there is less being available through galleries. He has only one fault, he can't produce enough sculpture, so it was this in mind that I offered him a solo exhibition a year ago.

I was hoping that the prestige of a 'one man show' might push him into letting us have a large share of his yearly output.

Whatever the reasons he agreed, although I think that he may now be regretting it, as with only a week to go he is still sculpting new work for us.

I have no idea what we will be displaying at the opening but I do know that it will be very unusual and unique.

As I mentioned it had intended to be a "one man exhibition" but in December one of our regular customers came in with a Christmas card for us.

I opened it after she left, it was a beautiful hand printed limited edition print.

I called to thank her and to ask who the artist was, of course it was her, Gay Stacpoole.

I asked if she had others and had she exhibited before.

She did have and she hadn't.

So as we had nothing new for the walls for the exhibition it became a two person event.

I am really looking forward to it as they are both such nice "grounded" artists.

So, if you haven't received an invitation in the post here is "your" personal invitation.

Beneath it is one of the Jo March pictures that has brightened my day.