The First of May

Obviously much has happened since I last wrote in this blog but it was necessary to keep the website the same as it was part of my degree, well now that I have passed my degree I can say what I like on here within reason. so it should start to get a bit more interesting.

Yesterday I added a new page to the site containing about half the paintings I have done in 2023 there are more which I will add later, but I have a low boredom threshold, but I am sure the mood will take me again soon because I like things to be tidy and closed off.

Now that I am retired from paid work, I am woring for the family, thiis is just like real work but nobody pays you, a bit like painting really, so the family work I do tends to be the fun bits. On Monday and Tuesday I am a child carer looking after my grandchildren which is really fun. The rest of the week recently, I have been refitting the kitchen, it isn’t finished yet, but it is comming along fine. When it is finished I will do a summary with pictures and post it on this blog.

This is the art bit, I am currently exploring the American Plein Air Landscape Painters, the set books for this are currently Carlsons Guide to landscape Painting and Gruppe on Color both of which are readily available on Amazon. The lectures and demonstrations are provided by the excellent Phil Stark Channel on Youtube.I just tried to do links to these things by pressing every button on the screen, but failed, I will consult with my technical friends prior to writing my next post.

DAY SEVEN OF THE EXHIBITION

Barbara sent good wishes for the last day this morning on Facebook and like yesterday visitors turned up on the strength of Barbara’s face book post.

Figure 01 Barbara’s Facebook post

Again there was no market, so I spent the early morning before opening wrapping the paintings that were sold, separately, so that they could be picked up in the afternoon, or posted tomorrow.

The weather had been marvellous all week but around 15.30 the rain started, which seemed to ring the death knell for the exhibition.

The takedown of the exhibition was far easier than the set up partly because there were now less paintings to be packed, but mainly because I managed to do it without using the ladder.

Just as you remember your first visitor, you also remember your last, my last visitor was Amanda Bastin who arrived when there were only six paintings remaining on the walls, and I was once again in workman mode. This time though there was no rush, so I stopped working to chat about the six and find out that Amanda was a member of Studio Talk like me and was just starting to do the Norfolk Painting Diploma that I did a year or so ago.

DAY SIX OF THE EXHIBITION

The children are back at school, and there is no market today, before opening the door to the gallery, I finished the book I have been reading in the quite times and back at the Hotel. It was called “The New Philistines” and is an unusual take on contemporary art that made a great deal of sense, worth checking out if you haven’t read it.

Once the doors were open, there was a new occurrence, many of today’s visitors came because someone had told them to come. “My sister told me I should come”, “Rob said I shouldn’t miss this”, “Gillian said this was worth a visit”. The exhibition was now generating its own publicity by word of mouth, while this was completely flattering, it was a shame that it would be wasted, as the exhibition would be no more after tomorrow except on the website.

One of the things that has concerned me was that I no longer owned the paintings that had sold. I discussed this with Pheobe, an artist who came to visit, she advised me not to worry about it, as one day, someone would spend lots of time to bring them all back together again. That, I felt, was a supreme compliment, which completely removed any concerns I had about owning my own work.

DAY 5 OF THE EXHIBITION

It was a quiet Sunday morning in the gallery which was just a well after the exertions of the previous evening, but it gave me chance to look over the paintings that had sold to ensure they were ready to hang on the walls of their new owners. I had brought half a framing kit with me and with a few purchases from the ironmongers over the road had assembled the rest, so I whiled away the early hours sticking things I still don’t know the names of on the back of the frames to make them fully secure for posting. I shuffled the walls a little to move the sold paintings into the less prominent positions, thereby giving the unsold paintings a better chance. There was no market and nothing much happened until the rest of the shops opened around 11.00am.

The new term for the schools had coincided with the start of the exhibition so there had been very few children in the gallery so far but today was the day they needed to be entertained so they arrived in abundance. Children’s attitude to paintings never ceases to amaze me, they are forthright in their opinions and criticality, and are not afraid to voice their opinions. I come from a large family and am therefore quite child friendly, enjoying speaking to and respecting the small people, “Hey mister that one is really cool” was quite humbling, especially as they were talking about the abstract pieces without requiring any explanation whatsoever.

It was particularly enlightening to be able to talk to children about my work that is full of adult angst and construct thinking but forget all that, to rely on only colours and shapes as if they are quite an ordinary thing is a childish way of looking. Perhaps Picasso had it right, if you paint like a child, your paintings will be most appreciated by children, but the amount of learning and experimentation that goes into that simplification is tremendous.

Also apparent was the reticence of people to actually enter a gallery, some were difficult to entice through the door. They would photograph the QR codes so that they could explore the exhibition in the comfort of their own phones. However, as Benjamin would have it (Benjamin, 1936), there is no substitute for the aura of an actual work of art, it would seem though, that in the digital age, it suffices to view the works on a backlit screen at 50 x 70mm.

Bibliography

Benjamin, W. (1936) The work of art in the age of Mechanical Reproduction. London: Penguin Books.

Day 4 of the exhibition

It is quite remarkable how little one has to do to an exhibition once it is hung, a quick flip with a feather duster and sort out the two or three wires from the hanging system that have pried themselves loose in the night and you are good to go for another day.

With so little to do in the early morning there was time to draw the Market setting up.

Figure 01 Drawing of Portobello Road Market setting up

Figure 02 Drawing of Portobello Road Market setting up

Fortunately, both stalls setting up outside the gallery were art related, the guy immediately outside was selling acrylic paintings and customised trainers and the guy next door was selling painted T shirts.

Once they were set up and before my visitors started to arrive, I stepped outside to talk to them. A market stall costs £70.00 for the day and the smaller of the two stalls was able to exhibit around 20 paintings, to cover the days rent you only had to sell the one painting and the rest was pure profit. I spoke to the guy immediately outside later in the day and he had sold four unframed works which commercially is not a bad return on the investment, but bringing the paintings all the way from Edmonton, and bringing them back at the end of the day would be such a chore, so as a business model it was virtually a nonstarter.

Saturday was the big day, my brothers were coming down from the North of England, my daughters and their families were coming, Emma had arranged a studio talk visit from my peers on the OCA course and some of my cohort from the Norfolk School of Painting Diploma arrivied as well.

It was great to meet old friends and relatives, and I was humbled that they would make the journey of up to 250 miles to see a collection of just fifty-two of my paintings that they could have quite easily have viewed on the internet.

There are days in your life that are important, everyone has a wedding and a funeral, but only artists have exhibitions, which rank up there with your wedding and your daughter’s christening.

There are of course strict rules as to how a wedding or a christening should proceed, but an exhibition is a case of making it up as you go along. I did an artist’s talk around 16.00 that seemed to satisfy everyone and I fielded the questions that remained after the talk.

Figure 03 and this is how I achieved this little bit of magic

Figure 04 and this is how I achieved that little bit of magic

I remember the nervous energy of getting married, being a best man, being the father or Godfather at the Christening, and felt exactly the same vibe at the exhibition. When the gallery closed, the party continued into the early hours at the Elgin Arms

Day 3 of the Exhibition

The Market set up again, but it was a whole different market that had been there the day before. I had never realised how much a market could change day by day, having set out my own stall two days previous I was appreciative of their early morning efforts and appreciated the speed with which they set out their stalls for the days business.

This was my first day of being totally alone in invigilating the exhibition, but having had two days practice, I was ready to field the questions and the queries from my visitors. I was quite surprised at how I had become so quickly an expert at this task, but needs must.

I had spent two days with people asking me “Who is the artist?” today the question became “ Are you the artist?” This was achieved y the simple trick of looking like an artist. Andy Warhol and Picasso had their artists clothes and I had mine, I admit they were fairly derivative, but they worked.

Figure 01 An artist standing in front of his works

If you are going to be in a pantomime, you must be in costume, the boots were brand new and didn’t do my feet any favours over the course of the weekend, they did however remove any doubt as to who the artist was to complete strangers. There is also no point being an artist on social media if you don’t look like an artist

At around 11.00 James the gallery publicist arrived and conducted an interview with me that can be seen here https://www.instagram.com/p/CiF3UWZIoKT/

Probably one thing that cannot be understated is the importance of bread and milk to the success of the exhibition, part of my supporting cast was the Tesco Express next door but one, people would pop in on their way to or from Tesco’s to buy essential supplies and browse the paintings. Some of them became almost daily visitors and all of them lived “just around the corner”, I imagined that they had a cooking hobby with scant storage space in their kitchens.

Around 16.00 a primary school teacher cane to visit and we had an animated conversation as to how she could recreate the Light in a Box pieces with her pupils without the Health and Safety risk of the pupils handling broken glass.

Day 2 of the Exhibition

After the exertions of the previous day the early part of the morning was quite enough to allow time to level the paintings so that they looked neat and tidy. There were more people about, because outside the gallery the Portobello market was being assembled, this pleased me because if the gallery was quiet, at least I would be able to sketch the market. As it turned out, over the whole three days of the market, I managed only two quick sketches of it, early on Saturday morning before the gallery opened.

With the increased footfall, I was kept quite busy during the morning explaining this and that, informing on prices and generally chatting about art. One of the things I hadn’t considered was the effect on the gallery of the nearby Tesco Express. It was a busy store with people seemingly popping in and out for one thing that they had run short of and popping into the gallery either on their way there or on their way back. Over the week, I got quite chatty with some of my new neighbours.

Almost all the people who came into the gallery were knowledgeable about art and would chat about the current and forthcoming shows in the big galleries up town, I had seen all the current ones so it was easy to join the conversation.

More worrying were the people who just looked through the window or photographed the QR codes on display, I would beckon them inside or go out into the street and give them a flyer and a business card but they were reticent to enter. I checked the Government website and fifty percent of the population have never been in a museum or gallery. These people must have been part of that fifty percent and it was such a shame that they were so near and yet so far. I smoke, but only vapes now, but I still go outside to vape, I made it my business to talk with the people who were reluctant to enter the gallery to explain that it wasn’t so scary, and they may actually like it.

Eddie and Gillian arrived around lunch time and it was nice and reassuring to chat with old friends about the OCA and progress, I declined lunch as somebody had to mind the shop, and I was the only contender. This was another lesson I learned over the course of the exhibition; it was so much easier to be in charge when Terri was there to provide back up.

The afternoon passed in a similar vein and at around four o clock, Terri and Mario arrived, Terri gave me chance to change into my suit for the opening night and Mario took photographs and two videos of the exhibition.

Figure 01 Mickos well dressed, with a glass of wine in the Galley

Figure 02 The same picture using a different lens

The opening night was sparsely attended, mainly due to the fact that many of my supporters were coming from afar and the weekend was the time for their arrival, but the locals that did attend were rewarded with glasses of wine and one to one conversation with the artist.

I went home to my hotel a tired but happy boy.

Day 1 of the exhibition

Dear Cleo

Recollections of an exhibition Day 01 Wednesday

The alarm went off at 05.30, a quick shower and a coffee before Frank arrived at 06.15 to pick me up at 06.15 to deliver me and the paintings to the gallery. There were strict parking and access restrictions on the Portobello Road so the timing of the trip was as crucial as NASA’s trip to the moon. Thanks to Franks driving skills, and my navigation with Franks phone rather than a map like in the old days, we arrived at the gallery at 08.00 in plenty of time to meet with Marcus at 09.00 hours. It was time for another coffee.

Marcus was a stranger until I met him on the doorstep of the gallery, but he was soon to become a friend. Following a flurry of contract signing to get the paperwork out of the way, Frank and I unloaded the van and I bid Frank a fond farewell.

Alone in the West End of London, with only my paintings for company, I set about creating the exhibition I had long planned and dreamed about. The original plan was that the exhibition would be up and running by midday but as Robert Burns said, plans gang oft astray.

Following the advice of someone who had done it before, I had left the D rings and wires off the frames to avoid damaging the frames, with more bubble wrap, the paintings could have been ready to hang on the framing system. Cue several hours of acting as a framing technician that could have been done far easier the week before. Terri arrived around 14.30 and the walls were still bare in places and I was as fed up as a snake going up and down the ladders. Marcus was marvellous at popping in to show how it should be done, as he had done it all before.

Figure 01 Paintings sitting on the floor in front of paintings that should be sitting on the floor.

Figure 02 The hang around 15.00

You always remember the first visitor to your exhibition, around 15.00 Barbara arrived, who had promised to come when she was in London over the week and I guess the grumpy me was less than welcoming, but nonplussed, Barbara viewed the threequarters complete exhibition and was very complimentary

Figure 03 The window sticker

The window sticker was something that neither I nor Terri had any experience with, but following Amy’s carefully written instructions, we applied it with some aplomb to complete exhibition.

At 17.00 all the paintings were on the wall leaving only the levelling up to be sorted out in the morning. As exhibitions go it was pretty much one wasted day out of the seven with the exception that one painting sold.

I am ambivalent about the sale of my works because I love them and am happy to see them hanging on my own walls, or even being in my own loft. I suppose it is a good thing that people are prepared to invest their own money to own one of my paintings but that doesn’t stot me missing them.

About 18.00. Terri and I went for a well-earned drink before I retired to my hotel for a well-earned sleep.

Figure 4 How the gallery looked at the end of day 1

Figure 05 How the gallery looked at the end of day 1

Figure 06 How the gallery looked at the end of day 1

Figure 07 How the gallery looked at the end of day 1

Figure 08 How the gallery looked at the end of day 1

Figure 08 How the gallery looked at the end of day 1

Figure 09 How the gallery looked at the end of day 1

Figure 10 How the gallery looked at the end of day 1

Figure 11 How the gallery looked at the end of day 1

Figure 12 How the gallery looked at the end of day 1

All my love

Mickos

The aftermath

Dear Cleo

It is a few days now since the end of the exhibition, the last job to be done is to pick up the packaging today so that the new owners of my painting who kindly loaned their paintings for the remainder of the exhibition can be reunited with their purchases.

In my next post I will read through my journal and post an edited version of the events of the exhibition, Although the exhibition was a commercial success, with eighteen paintings being sold, as I said in my previous post 10 DAYS AND THE MEASURE OF SUCESS (Below) that was one aspect of the proceedings with which I was least concerned.

Thank’s are owed to the following people, in no particular order, who contributed to the sucess of the exhinition, Frank (printing design and logistics) Martin (Transport) Amy (Window art) Mike (IT support) Lauren (Design and IT support) Terri (Gallery management and co-ordination) Mario, James, Barbara, Lauren and Mike (Photography) Mario (Cat sitter)Joanna and Marcus (JM Gallery) and all the lovely visitors who took the time to come and visit my exhibition.

Lots of love

Mickos

Back to reality

Dear Cleo,

Well I am now only two days away from the exhibition, most of it is done and I only have a few bits to do tomorrow, which luckily is a Bank Holiday, so the pressure is off. I have spent many weeks picking things up from around the country, framing pictures and generally organising things. The one thing I haven’t been doing in this period is painting. Tonight, I did the first painting for the next exhibition, I have been thinking lots and imagining the future and I painted this.

Cotswolds #04 Oil on Canvas Board 40 x 30 cm

It felt so good to be painting again, feeling the brushes in my fingers, getting paint on my fingers, and dancing at the easel at last. Its been a while, but it is good to be back, and it felt like the paints welcomed me with open arms, I must spend the time at the exhibition before I am completely free to paint again but this painting is the beginning of a new chapter in my exploration and I am looking forward to exploring it further.

Lots of love

Mickos