Preview of my New Paintings Saturday 5th November
You are Invited to an Exhibition of My Paintings at
Chantry House Gallery
Ripley, near Harrogate HG3 3AY
5th - 20th November
Saturday 5th November will be the Opening of the Show 11am -5pm
So please join us for drinks and nibbles!
Wed - Thurs 11am - 4pm, Fri - Sat 11am - 5pm , Sun 12am - 5pm
*** I will be at the Gallery every Saturday on the 5th,12th and 19th November.
Polly
People
always say that life is a journey. Embrace the highs and lows and just gather
it all in as you go. Where business is concerned everyone is encouraged to be
positive and upbeat all the time, to say we’re all fine and that everything is
fabulous, and sometimes that is a huge strain. However I prefer to tell it as
it is. It seems more honest.
So I
would say that after the 14 months of Polly being poorly I think we are all
doing okay. Being creative has certainly helped me through the ordeal – from painting
pots as a distraction on the Teenage Cancer Unit to painting for Chelsea and
the two shows I now have coming up.
Having an awful reminder of the fragility of life undoubtedly makes you
feel more fearful, but it also encourages you to treasure what you have and
intensifies your love for all who are dearest to you. In bad times there is a
great pulling together among family and friends that, when life is on track and
running smoothly, we conveniently forget. We still have tidal surges of fear if
Polly seems poorly for any reason, which we never had before, and that in time
we will hopefully learn to manage. She has started at Edinburgh College of Art
doing Fine Art Painting, which a year ago is the best news we could have wished
for. When we dropped her off last month, she hugged us tight and whispered, “We
did it”. It was hard to believe that the day we had all been hoping for for so
long had finally arrived; the day when she would become a student for the first
time and get to do what she loves. She has already had two commissions for book
covers and other people are now contacting her for different things, so it will
be so exciting from here on in to see where her journey takes her.
Painting - Ireland, Italy and Aggressive Sheep!
I try
all the time to pour feeling into my paintings. It’s a concept that our son Dave,
and indeed Polly
at times too, finds hard to grasp. Even I find it hard to
explain exactly what I mean sometimes. No doubt when I try, I probably come
over sounding all ‘arty and weird’! But if you feel things keenly, there is a
need to try to convey how beautiful often the mostly seemingly inconsequential thing
can be – from the light on the ground in the distance, or behind a rain cloud,
to the furls and enveloping curls of a flower. Sometimes the frustration of not
being able to realise the painting that lies buried in my head is immense, but
hey, with the wisdom of age I know that at least even my bad paintings
represent a step nearer to understanding how to do it better next time. As I
said earlier, life’s a journey – not to mention a continual learning process!
So in this great rollercoaster of a year we’ve had, we continue to grab
treats with both hands. We’ve been to fabulous Ireland, where we will
definitely be returning. And we’ve also been to Wales, where we stayed in a
yurt and I got chased out of a field by the most aggressive sheep I have ever
met! It rained a lot so although there was less painting done than my friend
Rebecca de Mendonca and I had anticipated, we made up for it by spending the
time doing something just as pleasurable: eating and laughing. Speaking of Rebecca,
she and I ran our first residential course in Devon this year, which was great.
We will be running four residential courses next year, including one in
Tuscany, Italy, and one in Cober Hill near Scarborough. If you want information
and fancy trying something different for a weekend away then please go to www.thenewpastelschool.co.uk
 |
| Aphrodite Original Pastel Rose from the National Collection |
 |
| Hot Chocolate Original Pastel from the National Collection |
Craft in Focus Show,
Wisley 23rd-27th
November
The
Garden of the Rose, which I visited in June, was beautiful, and the paintings I
did there will be shown for the first time at the two shows coming up. Apart
from Chelsea I have not done a show in the South for years, so it will be lovely
to see people at the Wisley Craft in Focus show. I have enclosed a leaflet for
it with more details.
Charity Paintings Page on New
Website
I
want to continue to raise money for the Teenage Cancer Trust and the PPR Brain
Tumour Foundation, and so will be dedicating a page of my new website to that.
I will periodically add paintings and sketches to it, along with other items,
the sale of which will contribute to these two charities, just as the work that
I sold in my Charity Sale did last year. So please keep a look out for that
when I launch the new site, as I know many of you missed out on last year’s sale
as the paintings sold out very quickly.
Thank
you once again for reading this. I really appreciate it, and I truly value all the support you’ve shown both to me, and to us as
a family, over so many years.
Very
Best Wishes
Nel
xxxx
