The return journey.

Or 'There and back again' would sound better if J.R.R. Tolkien hadn't used it for "The Hobbit".

Really this is just a follow up to the last 'post' that I was too tired to do last night.

So if you were anticipating fights with Dragons and Goblins you have come to the wrong place,

although I did visit "Barrow Hill" which is a very bad place, unless you love Cider.

Anyway, leaving the town of 'Saint Ives' on a wet misty morning, I was undecided about where I should visit on my journey home.

There are so many really exciting artists working in this corner of England that I really didn't know where to head for.

I sat in the car tapping different addresses into my 'SatNav' trying to work out what [Or who] I could fit in on my return journey.

I knew that I would not be this far south for some time so I wanted to make the most of the trip.

It was impossible to decide, I have so many old friends in that area I didn't know where to go.

The decision was made for me by John Bedding.

Well not really him just his advice, because of an exhibition that I have planned for June of this year.

RELIQUARY

It has been in my thoughts for many months, it has been something that has fascinated me

for a long time and I admit that I have been greatly influenced by another blogger,

Margaret Brampton.

Not only does her own work intrigue me but she has lead me down the path of history.

So for some time I have had the thoughts "let's do Reliquary as an exhibition",

then recently I decided to stop pondering and to actually do it.

As a result I feel very contented and excited and I have a feeling that I will tell more about

who is involved in the near future.

One person who has confirmed "just one piece" is John Bedding,

the man who instigated.

He suggested that I look at the work of 'Sim Taylor'.

"His thoughts are there already", he told me.

So I did look at his work, and also where he worked.

"I can do that on the way home".

As a result my route back to Suffolk was dictated by the need to visit this man,

which was made harder because he was lecturing at a University in North Somerset and his time was restricted.

I spoke with him, we fixed a time to meet and then the rest of my journey was based around our meeting.

Hhhhmmmmmm, who to visit?

There were two people that I would like to visit but only the time to see one.

Decision made, I set off to see John Leach the potter.

I had last seen him maybe 29 years ago! Little wonder that I look old [but only 18 inside].

John not only happens to be the grandson of the famous Bernard Leach but more importantly he lives only 5 miles from 'Barrow Hill Cider Press'. How convenient.

So after our different "lunch breaks" I parked my car outside his pottery/gallery just as he was

opening after his lunch.

Although we had met many times in the past I wasn't silly or vain enough to think that he would remember me, and he didn't.

That made no difference, he welcomed me inside and said

"quick come and look at these before they all go".

He was talking about an exhibition of prints that had been on show for two months in his gallery by the artist Julia Manning.

" Ooohh it was so good", he said.

"It was embarrassing as we sold so many.

Hhmmm, no, no it wasn't embarrassing at all it was good".

What a lovely man to assume that I had come to see the art of someone else.

However, I was excited as for a long time I had been trying to contact Julia, and here she was

in front of me packing up her few unsold prints.

I will cut a very long story short,

which I don't really want to as John and I talked of many events, potters, artists and friends,

and I know we both enjoyed the reminiscence, except for the mention of the death of the potter

Ray Finch.

His smile vanished from his beard covered face.

"Oh that man was my mentor, I will miss him so much. We are going there tomorrow".

Apart from that the chat was fun and enjoyable.

Eventually he said, "I must go, I lost the key to the kiln shed two days ago and the blacksmith has called to say he has made a replacement, but it needs 'tweaking'.

Where in the world would you use a blacksmith to get a new key?

Only in deep Somerset.

But before I left I had hurried discussions with Julia Manning and to my great delight I walked out of the Leach Pottery with pictures to bring home.

Before I drove away I decided to take a couple of pictures of the pottery "just in case".

I took one photograph but it wasn't right so I crossed the road to take another.

"That's more like it".

Then a car pulled in front of the pottery/cottage.

"Shit".

Out of the car climbed John Leach.

"Oh, John you are still here"?

"Yes I was just taking a picture of the famous 'John Leach' pottery when some old bugger parked there car and spoilt it".

"I'm sorry about that".

"Now your here make yourself useful and pose for my Blog".

This is all true.

So there he was the world famous potter with a bag of shopping posing for you all.

"Blogs"?

"I know a potter near here you should go and see, Paul Jessop. He's blogging mad.

I don't know how he finds time to make his pots".

Of course Paul was the other potter that I would have liked to have visited.

But hey! Paul your a youngster, us old folk have to meet while we are still here.

Next time.

From the Leach pottery I drove to?

Actually I'm not sure as I just did what "SatNav" told me.

Eventually I arrived in the evening at a University where I was greeted by the incredible

Sim Taylor.

I have never seen someone so young, so handsome with such long hair since I was eighteen.

That was me looking in the mirror many years ago.

Sim is a real dynamic character, full of life and enthusiasm for his art, it is little wonder that he is so sought after as a lecturer and teacher of ceramics.

He whisked me away to his room and showed and explained to me the philosophy and techniques of his creations.

He was so humble when describing his ceramic sculptures.

" I am honoured that you have bothered to come and see me", he said many times.

I felt like saying "are you stupid? The honour and pleasure is mine".

I told him after looking at his work "you are going to be so big".

He shook his head, and that is what I liked so much.

He is striving to make beautiful things not a name for himself, that was unimportant to him.

But he will become known, just for the simple reason that he is interested in his craft.

I don't have the time to write more about Sim or his art, plus I don't want to as I intend to write an article about him.

After all if he is not interested in promoting himself so someone had better do it for him.

Most importantly he agreed to participate in the Reliquary exhibition.

Five hours after leaving him,with a head full of memories and loud music I arrived home.

To the ecstatic welcome of two beautiful dogs.

They missed me.

This is what life [or at least mine] is all about.

I had a lot to write about that I thought might be interesting, and was poised

"pen in hand"

ready to blog when I remembered that I was going on a long trip and thought that maybe I might have something of even more interest to write about on my return.

Well it probably might not be, but as it involved me going off on an adventure and meeting people I had a feeling that I would find it more interesting,

otherwise my small world exists within these walls and although a lot happens

[some good some bad] it is nice to get away,

if for no other reason than driving for hours allows me to think without interruption,

and I like that. I also enjoy playing music at full volume without worrying who I might annoy.

So, off to St. Ives in Cornwall I went.

I must admit that I wasn't looking forward to the journey as it is long and this combined with fog and heavy rain made it was worse than anticipated, but I arrived safe and with a head full

of new music, at least that was fun.

I was visiting Cornwall to see a potter called John Bedding.

I have mentioned him and shown his pots here before, but this was to be my first time

to have a "proper" conversation with him.

Before it had been restricted to emails, telephone and hurried chats at motorway service stations where we did our furtive exchanges.

Pots from him and a big smile from me.

I have long been totally fascinated and puzzled by the techniques that he uses to decorate his pots, the truth is I just didn't know how he did it.

On the frequent occasions I have been asked in the gallery "how did he do this"?

I have had to bluff and guess as I had no idea at all, all that I knew for certainty is that I loved them and coveted them however they were done.

So for the first time [of what will be many] I eased the car down a very small alleyway and

into the courtyard of the "Gaolyard Studios" in the centre of St Ives.

As the name suggests it used to be the village gaol, now it is owned by John and is home to many different and talented potters.

But it was only John that I had come to visit [or so I thought].

His studio/workshop was no different to that of many potters, in fact it is in the running for being one of the most untidy, but that would include almost every potter I know.

What made the greatest difference to me is that out off this studio came some of the most beautiful, elegant pots I have ever come across, and I really wanted to know how they were

created as I have never seen anything like them.

Two hours later I left feeling like I was walking on a cloud.

John is one of the nicest, cleverest and most forward thinking craftsmen I have ever met.

I was staggered to find that he uses a computer to decorate his pots.

It is true, there amongst all the normal pottery clutter was a laptop computer sitting beside

clay and normal pottery tools.

Attached to the laptop was a projector, in front of that a pot.

From the computer he projects his designs onto the unfired pots.

Don't ask me how, ask him, and if he tells you how he will be mad.

Let me explain that the studio was full of pots, some in various stages of being fired but most

still damp and drying, each one decorated with patterns and images that moved the heart,

each different but in some way or another Japanese in influence.

This is no great surprise as John had not only worked for the famous potter Bernard Leach

but had also trained and worked in Japan many years ago.

I say many years ago and this is what surprises me, that a man with his background and knowledge of making real "Leach" influenced ceramics was bucking the trend.

He was taking all of his knowledge of past pottery and with modern technology using it to create the most wonderful eastern style ceramics I have ever seen.

If I had been watching and talking to a younger man I would have been thinking

"kids today, what they can do",

but this is a man who is older than me [yes, that is possible even though he looks 10 years younger] his mind and thought process was so exciting and invigorating.

He is moving forward, not trying to make copies of past masters, he is his own man

creating on his own terms and is unconcerned by criticism of others.

He is making his pots for himself and his collectors not for acclaim on the small pottery map,

and that is why he is so good.

There was no ego, no searching for approval or acknowledgment.

A man who has every right to make pots in the style of others but who is mature enough to walk his own path.

Wow! This is sounding like a one man fan club, but I think by now you understand that he

greatly impressed me.

The man and his work.

As I was about to leave he asked "have you been to my shop"?

"Yeah, about 20 years ago".

"It has changed a bit if you want to have a look".

I promised that I would, so he told me to take attention to the work of different potters he thought I would like.

I visited his shop.

The "shop" turned out to be one of the best galleries I have ever visited, it shows nothing but ceramics but is beautiful and with great attention to detail.

In fact it is more like a museum than a gallery as there was work on show by almost every

great potter of modern times, those living and those dead and every piece a collectors item.

Potters like Shoji Hamada, Bernard Leach, Colin Pearson, Mick Casson, David leach and

Michael Cardew were on show and for sale.

All shown in the most subtle surroundings, almost like a Japanese tea room.

"Less" definitely was more.

Amongst the various famous names on show there were a few, but only a few of John's own pieces, for me these stood out as being some of the best pots on show.

There were two I was smitten by, one nearly four feet tall, the other was smaller but it burnt an

equally large hole in my heart.

Showing alongside the older traditional pots were also the works of the modern studio potters,

some of the them like Ruthanne Tudball I know and am friends with, others I didn't know at all although I do now.

One in particular whose worked I really admired was a young man named Sam Hall.

"Shit", I had just met him back at the "Gaolyard" without knowing who he was or what he did, and for that I plead ignorance as I now appreciate that he is well known and very collected

but luckily I didn't know of that.

So back to the studios I returned to meet Sam.

A lovely gentle and handsome young man [if I'm allowed to notice that].

I confessed that I knew nothing of him and

"did not know of his work until today, but could I take some".

I think that the honesty paid dividends as he showed me much of his work, some I criticised

and to my surprise we both agreed in the criticism and it was an enjoyable,

"I really like that"

"So do I"

"I don't think that has worked"

"That's what I think".

Eventually he asked "would you like to take something? I don't let many galleries".

I think ignorance and honesty this time the right thing.

I was lucky as yet again there wasn't an ego, instead just a very good potter.

Of course I have since found out how well known and collected his work is, but as I have always said "the bigger the artist the smaller the ego".

Anyway, I had hoped to complete my trip on one post but I appreciate that most people will have fallen asleep by now, so my return journey and meeting with a very famous potter I will leave until next time.

Above the pictures explain themselves.

John Bedding's gallery [or a small portion of it].

The giant bottle that I loved, Sam Hall's pots and of course the pot that I loved so much,

which of course, John allowed me to bring back to the gallery.

This year I am behind with events that we should have planned for the future and at the moment I am playing "catch up".

I usually try to be at least one year ahead with exhibitions, firstly because it gives the artist time to plan their own year or even to try out new idea's out without added pressure, and secondly it allows me to work out how the gallery will look as the year progresses and to plan the promotion, advertising, invitations etc,etc.

But, it doesn't take a lot to throw things out, plus I find that I tend to get over excited about one

idea or another, or a particular artist whose existence I have only just discovered and start wishing I could fit another event in the calendar.

I like to leave a gap here and there in the years events just in case something like this happens

plus sometimes it is just enjoyable to have the space as it normally is without all the work and disruption that an exhibition can sometimes bring, plus I like the gallery as it is everyday.

But this year started and I was definitely behind.

I have been awaiting a couple of confirmations before I could definitely know that the year

was sorted.

Having said that, I have left the very end of the year open until I have really thought through a

particular idea that I have in mind.

Anyway, more about planned events in the next post.

Apart from thinking about who and what we shall show at exhibitions there are the constant

thoughts of who I should talk to or go to see so that we can fill the place everyday with the

unusual mixture of art we have.

Sometimes this is made easier, yet a lot harder by one particular artist,

Michael Parkes.

I almost liken him to the slogan for the film Jaws,

"just when you thought it was safe............"

or in his case

"just when you thought you had it all planned............."

The man is just so talented and prolific, he seems to work non stop, which makes it really hard

when I am trying to work out what different art I want to show.

I think I have it worked out and then the bugger creates something else, and everything seems to say "John must show this".

Trouble is, "John really wants to", as a result I become very indecisive and tend to think to myself "I will make a decision tomorrow, or next week".

Time passes, and Michael creates more, and I find it harder to make a decision.

Sometimes, just occasionally, I start to think that maybe I don't feature on his list of major priorities, or perhaps it's just a case of him trying to work out what I "really" like.

Probably.

So after not having talked about much at all I will show a few of his pieces that I have been presented with recently, then maybe you will see why I get distracted and behind on events.

Although really this post is just an excuse to show some things that I have wanted to show for

few weeks.

I didn't get around to it before because I was distracted

......................by more Michael Parkes.

Self doubt.

I'm sure that it is something that we all have from time to time, especially me.

This might come as a surprise to the people who may find me a little [or a lot] arrogant, but

usually this only comes to the surface when someone is critical of the work we show.

My own self doubt [my own photography aside] arises when I think that maybe I have made

a bad decision about how different pieces of art should be displayed, or if I think I have not

done justice to the work, as I know and understand that presentation is everything and it is very easy to undersell something with a poor display.

Sometimes I think that maybe I am showing the wrong combination of different works and so

I start again, or maybe I think that new displays need to be built for a certain piece.

I constantly worry that I haven't got the window display right, or I get indecisive about what should be in the window.

The one thing that doesn't worry me or cause doubts is the quality and variety of work we show.

So with all this in mind I found myself getting slightly concerned and later very annoyed

when the "seeds of doubt" were sown by someone this week.

I have mentioned before that I don't enjoy it when different artists come in "cold" and ask would I look at their work?

I don't dislike it and I am pleased to have the opportunity to look at something new, but I do

hate having to say "no" if I don't like the work or if I feel that it would be misplaced in our gallery.

Sometimes the art presented can be great but it just wouldn't look in place here, and it often

comes as a surprise that people don't first have a look at what we show and then think

"would my art fit in with what they show"?

But, I do look at all work presented and at times with a heavy heart have to say no.

What I have been shown may be really good but it wasn't for me.

So it was this week I had one such "cold call".

The artist in question had been inside the gallery with his partner for a while, and as is usual

we started having a chat about different pieces of work etc.

Nothing unusual there, then he told me that he was a sculptor and that he happened to have

some work with him in the car that had just been returned from another gallery.

Sculpture! He had hit my soft spot, I always want to see new sculptors.

I might not like what they have created but I definitely want to see it as I have a fear that it

might be the one that "slipped through the net".

So I did view his work.

It was bronze animal sculpture, for me this is often very dubious as there seems to be many people out there all producing very similar not very good brown bronze sculpture and all of it set with a high price tag,

because after all we all know bronze is expensive.

Which is exactly what he told me when I questioned the price of a Wren.

"Blimey", I thought. I could have created a bird garden for that price.

However his work was not without merit and both he and his partner seemed very nice people

and I enjoyed talking with them and when they left much later I was the recipient of one new sculpture.

Since then I have looked at his piece many times and pondered and indeed a little doubt grew in my mind, "did I take this for the right reasons]? Still what was done was done so now I will do my best to display it properly and achieve a sale for him.

Next morning I had a call from the same artist.

It started really well, he told me how much they had enjoyed having a chat with me and how much they liked the gallery, "we talked about it all the way home", he said.

"However, we did have some thoughts".

Yes, I was going to get the benefit of those thoughts.

They loved the gallery, the building , the displays etc,etc. It reminded them of one other really good gallery which is very successful financially and has sold "thousands" of pounds worth of his work.

Apparently there was only one major difference between us, they had an identity and we didn't.

"if you had an identity you would do really well", I was told.

While he was giving me his [well intended, I am sure] advice] I looked online at the other

"similar" gallery.

"now if only you............."

at which point I interrupted him to tell him I was looking at the "art" of the other gallery while

he was talking.

"What am I looking at"?

A painting by an English artist of a scene of Venice, another still life painting of a vase of flowers, a painting of race horses.

" I have seen it all before, the only difference is the paintings had different names on them.

I wouldn't give them house room", I told him.

Then on to their sculpture, which was all wildlife and animals

[which I have no problem with if done well].

"I am looking at bronze brown horses, they are crap".

What else was there?

Brown bronze, Lion heads, Elephants, Tigers, Antelope, Penguins, game birds, and even Pears

[wow! I haven't seen those somewhere else for at least a week].

"It is all rubbish", I told him.

"Yes, but they make lots of money, everything sells in the thousands, because of them I have had my best year ever, and it's all because they have an identity".

I tried to explain to him that so too had Imagine Gallery.

It is different, everything in it is different, but it sits together well because it all has a common thread, me, I love it all.

I tried to explain to him that we all have many different aspects to our personalities and

that the varied collection that we show was just a collection of all the things that I love in the world, that I equally loved the abstract paintings and sculpture as much as the life like work that we show, that the illustration from a children's book that hangs on the wall was equal in beauty to a famous painting that hangs beside it, that I loved a small rough pot from Japan

priced at £20 every bit as much as a bronze priced in the thousands".

He just didn't get it.

"You need more bronze, he told me".

Unaware that when he was here he was standing next to a fabulous and very expensive bronze

while he was talking to me. He didn't know because it wasn't shiny and brown.

[Thanks Emma that bronze is one of the pieces that I am proud to have on display].

He tried again to make me understand that the other "similar" gallery was making

"loads of money".

"If money was our only motive we wouldn't be here, we would have done something different".

I explained.

We never set out to make money, even though like everyone we need it.

Our gallery is here because Irene [bless her] realised that there was something in my life that I wanted to achieve, and that "something" was showing this great mixture of beautiful artifacts.

Sure, we want and have to make money but that has never been the goal.

To survive, and do something as interesting and fulfilling and as much fun as this was.

In that respect I am rich.

I was wasting my breath, he knew I was an idiot.

Indeed thinking things through over and over again today, I think maybe I am wrong.

The seeds of doubt were planted by someone who boasts great success.

As he told me "the trouble with your gallery you can only sell to people who think like you".

Very true, but I hope there are more people out there who appreciate beauty more than a

brown shiny overpriced piece of bronze.

My parting words were [as always]

"it's my party....."

"yeah, I know, .......and you will cry if you want to", he replied before hanging up.

Cry I will, and cry I do, but never caused by egotistic, vain, money grabbing fools like him.

So on a parting note I am showing you a few "wacky" sculptures by two people who don't understand the importance of "life like, shiny bronze shit".

I mean to say, when did you last see horses in the wild that looked like this?

Never, and as for a Unicorn?

The beautiful pieces are by Paul Priest and Elaine Peto, two people who aren't chasing money.

Just Life

What I really dislike about 'blogger' is that it seems so "thick".

Most likely it is me that is thick, but after having spent a hour writing a post and then realising that I had left a picture out I tried to correct it and typically lost everything.

It is a bit of a bugger as I was in one of those moods where I was enjoying telling and writing about things.

Now of course the "moment" [or hour] has passed and I don't intend to re-visit what in my mind is now history, so instead I will just show the pictures that related to what I had written about my recent adventures and the artists connected with them.

I will re-visit at least one as it relates to lots of things in the future but until then.

Here is a painting by Rosalind Lyons Hudson.

She spends a lot of time at the 'Shakespeare Globe Theatre', re-creating costumes, scenes and events. This painting is from 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' and features the fairies.

'Peablossom, Cobweb, Moth & Mustardseed'.

Suffice to say I love it.

The next picture is one of the new creations by Michael Parkes.

Of this I will say no more [I had written a load] as I will come back to his new work soon.

The ceramic clocks are by Ross Emerson, and I really can't write again about him as I have spent 40 minutes telling about my recent [nightmare] trips to visit him.

But here anyway are the remaining unsold pieces from those trips.

Lastly is a painting that I have "lusted" after and wanted to exhibit for so long, it is titled.

"Polly Vaughan's Swan Song", by Kate Leiper.

I think that it is so beautiful, innocent and fitting to the season, it featured on our

Christmas invitation.

If you know of the story of 'Swan Lake' then you can probably work out what it tells of,

she has been shot by her lover, a Prince.

Sad, beautiful, innocent and childish.

Whatever, I will take pleasure everyday looking at it while it is here,

and I will be so very sorry to see it go.

Sometimes I really would like something to keep for myself.

But, go it must for that is the nature of what we do, I do miss some things more than I should and I certainly know that this will be one of them,

but after all we are a just shop and selling our goods is what we must do.

Still at least for a little while this is mine.

Too many different pieces of art have arrived or are on route at the moment.

No, that was a mistake.

What I meant is that there are too many different things for me to choose from to show.

"I should show that, but what about this it arrived earlier, wow! I want to let people see this,

how have I left that unseen? Etc, etc, etc.

These are the many thoughts that I have each day, so as a result I take the easy option and instead of taking photographs I go home.

Which doesn't matter as I read on a blog recently,

"it makes me laugh when people apologise for not posting, after all who cares".

Who indeed?

So if there is anyone who is interested here are a few things that have interested or captivated me recently.

Firstly, I have to admit that I have a "bit of a problem" with tea bowls, and what follows will upset any potter who bothers to read, but that is not my intention.

It seems that for the past 25 years or so western potters have been working away trying to produce the perfect tea bowl, myself included.

But why?

It is not of the Western culture, we do not hold tea ceremonies or revere the ritual's associated with them.

But we do know that the best potters in the world, the Japanese and before them the Koreans

regard them with great importance, so obviously to be a good potter you must be able to make a good tea bowl.

In fact I think once I nearly did make a good one as one of my hero's [in ceramics]

Takeshi Yasuda admired a bowl made by me and pronounced that "it is nearly good".

That was it, when I heard I was "made up" as we say in England [or I do].

I was now a real potter, or so I thought at the time.

Since that day many, many years ago I have thought often about Tea Bowls, and even though I have a large collection of them I have decided that the "Western" tea bowl is a lot of nonsense.

What do we do with them?

Drink coffee or wine out of them or maybe even drop a teabag in once in a while and have a brew?

This wasn't what they were intended for and they are not of our culture.

This only became very clear to me one day a couple of years ago when a customer was in the gallery deliberating for an hour or so over different pots

[made by a very revered English potter].

Eventually he came over to the counter and told me "I have decided at last, I'm going for the jar

not the tea bowl [this is where the anoraks ask what kind was it, Yunomi, Chawan, who cares]

they are both the same price but I can't bring myself to pay £200 for a tea bowl".

He went on to explain that he understood that I had to "mark up prices to make a living",

but I pointed out to him that the price label was hand written in gold pen and unlike any of our

price labels. "That is the potters price and what you would pay at her studio" I told him.

"We receive a percentage of that but that is what you would pay direct".

He left with his jar, but he left me with a lot of thoughts.

Hell, we sell mugs from £10 so why was a mug without a handle £200.

What do most of us use each day? A mug or a cup, so to me these should be the pieces that we cherish not a bowl that most of us don't know how to use.

So why do we all persist in making bowls?

Because we are all trying to be recognised potters and to do so it is best to aspire to

replicate the best of the east.

Wasn't there an old pop song "I think I'm turning Japanese". I really think so.

As a result I returned all of the pots to the maker as I no longer felt comfortable with them.

She was not "too" happy, and many people have since asked "are you mad"?

The potter is important, and very very good, but I felt uncomfortable with those prices.

I have made my bed now I will lay in it.

So having upset any potter who is reading.

A few years ago I went to a ceramic fair and showing there was a man named Richard Dewar.

Richard is English but has his pottery in France, and he really does produce some lovely work.

However at the show I visited he had on display a selection of tea bowls.

"What now" I thought. Japanese bowls made by an Englishman in France, "what next".

But these were different, they had all the beauty and qualities that I would look for in a tea bowl but they all had "handles".

They were beautiful, fun, objects, meant to be used and were priced at £8 each.

Here was a man who wasn't taking himself too seriously, although his pots were seriously good.

I have used the one I purchased everyday since then.

Sure it is getting chipped in places but it gives me great pleasure to use, whats more I don't burn my fingers holding the bugger because I use the handle.

I met Richard again a couple of months ago and he was still making and selling tea bowls but this time he was also showing a fantastic selection of tea pots.

Everyone totally different and unique and with prices that started at £25.

Although he was selling them there were no "tea bowl mugs" as beautiful as my own [of course] so instead I left with boxes full with his teapots.

I was surprised that from years ago he remembered me purchasing the "tea mug", not because of the money he made but because he knew I was going to enjoy it [or so he said].

I have meant many times to show the teapots I purchased and now at last today I have photographed those few left.

Apart from Richards pots there is also another teapot I am showing, made by a delightful young

Welshman, Sean Gordon.

He is such a lovely man and whenever I see him he tells me "you are leaving with some of my pots aren't you"? More a command than a question.

He is a strange lad [not strange, lovely], and although young, his roots are firmly set in the past.

He often talks of the "great miners strike" and the affect that it had on his family and his community.

Like him I remember with anger what Thatcher did to the working man.

He remembers his childhood and home and as a result, many of his pots are based on updated versions of old household implements [like his "coal scuttle jugs"].

But like everyone he is looking forward and outward and the latest teapot that I collected from him I have named the "Laboratory" teapot.

It is fun, beautiful, very well designed, and more importantly it pours a treat.

In fact I think I might use it to make a "cuppa" to pour into my "teabowlmug".

Is nothing sacred nowadays?

I have different events and various works to show and I am trying to decide what to write and show, I felt that they should all be in correct order.

But no, I will have to record today's event as it is still fresh in my mind and had made such an impression on my thoughts.

Every day, of every week of each month and year I am searching for new artists,

trying to find work that intrigues and moves me.

It is a little like prospecting for gold or that is how it seems to me, which is a little silly as there are many many fantastic artists working in all mediums out there,

but I am just searching for "my" gold and that is a little different.

I discovered one such artist [as had many others before me] maybe a year or so ago.

A young man named Will Teather.

I found his work so intriguing and desirable that I decided that it would be a waste of time trying to make contact with him.

He seemed to be in demand everywhere, was winning awards and was showing in so many

top class locations.

"Too late again", were my thoughts.

I moved on but never forgot his work and I would often search to find what he was up to.

I have explained that some artist's do also search us out, in the same way as I search them.

Serendipity? Is that the word I'm looking for.

One afternoon I had a call from Irene: "what do you think of that artist"?

"What artist"?

"Have you checked your mail today"?

"No".

"You had better, there is someone who is 'right up your street' who has mailed you".

To my surprise and great delight there was a mail from Will Teather.

He wanted to know if I would have an interest in his paintings as a friend had told him

that we were meant for each other.

After running around the gallery punching the air and saying "yes, yes", to myself

for a while I eventually gave him a call.

Some two months later [don't ask why] I eventually made the trip to his studio this morning.

With the aid of my SatNav I eventually found myself somewhere that I knew must be yards

from his studio, when I passed a very "up market" looking gallery.

"Bloody Hell", they had one of his paintings in the window,

I moved on to the next set of windows, made from curved sheets of glass.

"Just look at this place", I was thinking, then looking up I found an inscription on the glass.

WILL TEATHER

Purveyor of the Extraordinary.

So my journey in to the world [or studio] of Will Teather began.

He looked exactly as I imagined him to be, tall, bearded with long hair that fell about and hid his face.

A larger than life personality for a larger than life artist.

Although that was the exterior, the man himself was shy, gracious and very humble,

He kept thanking me for my "too" kind comments, and I knew that he meant it.

His studio? Disorganised chaos.

It was fantastic, a real Alladins cave, beautiful paintings were trying to be seen.

A fantastic leather mask was fighting for space next to a banana, a cycle helmet was beside the paints. Prints, objects, frames and artefacts were everywhere, and I mean everywhere,

I wouldn't have been surprised if there wasn't an Egyptian Mummy stored in there somewhere.

It was a beautiful mess, one only an artist can create.

But on every available wall space was an amazing painting, some finished and others with months or even a year of work still to be done before completition.

It was wonderful.

I loved it and would have been disappointed if it had been any different.

More will be told about the artist as I get to know him, as I am sure that there are a wealth of tales to tell, so that is something for me to look forward to.

There were some particular pieces of Will's work that I was really keen to see.

Like many, many other galleries I wanted to see his series of paintings concerning

'Maudeline Spacks'.

The tale of Maudeline is too long for me to tell

[I shall ask Will for an abbreviated version that I can post at a later date],

but suffice to say that she performed the

Worlds greatest vanishing act.

She appeared on stage in Sydney and London simultaneously with a televised link between

the two locations, the event was attended by many celebrities and was being recorded by all the media, it was to be her "big break".

Appear she did, but only to vanish, somewhere between the two locations.

The dress that she wore at the performance still remains, and it is this that has formed the focus of Will's paintings.

True, untrue? I know that there is a lot to tell and that Will has researched his subject well.

Either that or he made the bloody lot up.

But the story and the artefacts connected with it are fascinating, and his paintings and those in progress are beautiful, and I know for certainty that those unsold are being sought after

by various galleries and publishers.

The one thing I know for certainty is that Will Teather is going to be a name we will hear a great deal more of in the future. I stood in front of his paintings and felt that I was viewing something very special.

I came home with a few of them today.

Will told me to choose what I wanted, so I suppressed by greed and desire and chose four

smaller studies, along with a limited edition print

A print of the first of his work that I had come across, that was a lovely feeling.

So here we have them.

The first is the original painting that introduced me to Will the others are from the

"Maudeline Spacks" series.

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.