Imagine Gallery

What to write about?

Each day that passes I feel the need and desire to write something, but what can I write?

I want it to have at least a little interest, but on a daily basis not enough happens that I think

would interest anyone, so I tend to let things slide for "another" day.

There is a blog that I read everyday by a dynamic lady named Tracey Broome

who lives in America.

I delight in what she writes, records and rants about, such an honest, open woman.

If only I had the nerve to record events as she does.

Still I suppose that telling the world that one artist or the other is on a big "ego trip" is not really a good thing to write.

At the same time I have to subscribe to the British lie that everything is great.

"Recession, what recession"?

According to some English artist's we should have more of them, as they have

"never had it so good".

Fantastic artists or fantastic liars? Hhhhhmmmmmmm.

Without a doubt some of the very best artists are doing really well as their work is

perceived as an investment in these troubled times.

Hang on!

What troubled times?

It is so very refreshing to read blogs and receive mails from people

and galleries from around the World

who actually have the courage to admit:

"some shows are shit, all people want to purchase is a beer and burger".

It is having contact like this that makes me smile.

My vote is going to Tracey Broome for president of the USA,

not only for her courage to "tell it like it is" but also for the amount of work that she does and the beautiful unusual "folk art" that she produces.

So what can I write that would be as interesting and honest as someone like her?

Not a lot, other than the usual self promotion that we all get a little bored with.

Well, I could have written pages about our present gallery location and offers of other premises, but a lot of that is too sensitive and would involve a lot of swearing, and I do enough

of that each day without putting it onto paper [screen].

So I come back to my dilemma of what I can write about.

Things like, "I sold that, I didn't sell this but there is a lot of interest in that painting"

it doesn't make really good reading.

But these are the daily events and it wouldn't interest me to read it, but maybe I am wrong

and these are the interesting things, because I suppose thinking about it seriously,

my life isn't ordinary.

So for better or worse here is today's offering.

One of the things that gives me great pleasure and much cause for excitement is to often wonder "whose art will I be showing this time next year"?

What a thought.

I know that there are so many fantastic artists out there who have been producing amazing work for many, many years, yet I do not even know of their existence.

But next year I might be exhibiting their art and we might even be friends.

What an incredible thought.

It has made me think about where does our gallery art come from

and how did it all come to fruition?

So here are a few examples.

An artist that I have mentioned before, "Kate Leiper", has been someone that I have chased after for years. Unfortunately so have many, many others, and as a result her work is in great demand and the chances of us getting anything here were very slim.

But, I can be an very persistent, [others would say rude] so I never gave up with her.

How could I, as I love her paintings so much?

Eventually she conceded to my many requests and we now have her work on the walls.

It is impossible to describe the pleasure that this gives me, it is something that I once thought would never happen but it has.

Her paintings "in the flesh" are even more beautiful than I imagined,

what a thrill, they are here and we are selling them so who knows where it might lead?

That is fun to dream about.

Earlier in the summer I visited a wonderful art fair. It was a three day event but I had to visit

the day before the opening to return some paintings to an exhibiting artist.

In a way this was like a very "private view" as I was able to look at so much varied work by so many artists without being hampered by other visitors.

I found one artist whose work was so very different, unusual and beautiful.

Carole Bury

I would "just have to have [I told Irene on the mobile] her best piece in the gallery".

I wanted it so much it hurt but I also knew that it was a waste of time to ask for it as the woman had three days of exhibiting in front of her".

To cut a very long story short, I showed her my heart and when the show ended I drove away

with her work in the car.

What she creates is so unusual.

It is individual paintings that are stitched between layers of transparent paper.

You have to see them to understand them.

Since the day I left with her 'masterpiece' in my car, she has sent me many others.

A kind and very talented lady.

Frequently I get chased and called by some artists who would like us to show their work.

This I find hard as I can be a little fussy plus I hate rejecting people,

I know that it is so easy to kill enthusiasm and talent, and it seems unfair

when the only criteria is my own taste and thoughts.

From experience I understand that a few negative words can cause a lot of damage.

I find it easier to be rejected than to make the decision to reject the

people who approach me, but I do it, and on a weekly basis.

So it was with one young sculptor who approached me, I felt that her ideas weren't right for me,

I liked a lot of her work very much but a question mark hung in the air.

One year later we met early in the morning, miles from both our homes and her beautiful

work was transferred from her car to mine.

What a result.

I love it, it is well conceived and crafted and each piece tells a story which for me is so important, it doesn't matter if the story that it tells is different to the one in her own mind,

it tells a story and provokes a lot of thought.

So thank you, Clare Walker

for persisting, calling and mailing me many times, you have made me feel so very fortunate to have your work on show.

Other works have arrived recently, each with a tale to tell but my day has been long and I want

to go home to a welcome of dogs.

The people at home gave up on seeing me hours ago.