On Wednesday I travelled to Worthing to give a demonstration to the Acorn Painting Group.
I never know what to expect when I go to a new group, and mostly they've no idea what they're letting themselves in for! Thanks to a SatNav and the online wonder of Google Maps Street View I found the venue with no problems, arrived in plenty of time to set up, take a breather and have a welcome strong cup of tea.
The group were very welcoming and helpful which makes SUCH a difference when you have travelled a way. I've no idea how many were in the audience, somewhere between 20 and 30 I guess, and they were very appreciative and vocal, talking informally to me all the time. I was animated and managed to keep talking, moving all the time, showing different techniques on different pictures, constantly referring back to samples I brought with me, books and other bits and pieces that influence and inspire me.
I felt relaxed and produced a half finished painting of Koi that I'm very pleased with and will continue to work on. Many of them came up to me at the end of the session to say how much they enjoyed watching something so different from their usual watercolour demonstrations, and they want me back next year which is great.
On leaving, I was recommended to go back along the seafront rather than the way the Sat Nav would send me, but as soon as I hit the front the fuel light came on and I realised I had no idea where the nearest garage was. SatNav to the rescue - up popped a Texaco logo! I clicked the screen and I was directed to the garage just around the corner. Magic.
So, the next Arty bit of my life was the Arlington Art Group on Thursday night which is gradually expanding. We rarely have less than 12 people painting which is a good number. This week the theme was Mathematics so I tried out my new Black Gesso on a canvas sheet (lovely matt solid finish) then used an angle finder I found in the hall cupboard to make some random-ish marks, joined the dots, painted the resulting negative shapes with graduated tints of orange and white.. and it's taking interesting shape.
And so to the Hailsham High Street Windows.
Scaffolding has gone up along the front of 3 of the available windows which was going to make it difficult for an artist with a lot of work to park and load up on the agreed Saturday morning, so an arrangement was made for 2 of us to remove our work on Friday evening when the High Street would be quieter so there should be parking space opposite. Not so. The High Street was blocked by Fire Engines and what looked like hundreds of people for, what I assume was a Children In Need event. Consequently one artist did some unconventional manouvering on the one way road to get close. I chickened out and went for the walk-a-long-way-and-do-several-trips option to get my work to the car.
Come Saturday morning and I arrived at Gallery North at 9.30 to meet up with the artists who were either removing work or putting new work in the windows. I had tried to co-ordinate with all involved via email (and has posted detailed information online) to make sure everyone had access to a suitable space at a suitable time and that the keys would be available but on Friday we heard that the key for one of the shops that currently has work in wasn't going to be available til Monday. Hence I had to re-jig and re-allocate space.
By the time I left them to it this morning over 2 hours later, having walked about a mile hopping between all the different venues, one of the expected artists still hadn't arrived, one artist had arrived without any work so was going to have to arrange another day to get access, Jenny and I had to take down the work of 2 artists who didn't arrive to remove it, 2 windows remained unchanged as the artists didn't arrive, and one artist was waiting for a locksmith because the key was stuck in the lock. Talk about a cart load of monkeys!
But 3 shops looked great and another was shaping up to be spectacular - I am sure the others will look good some time soon...
Think I'll step out of any future (altruistic) co-ordination role this one as it really didn't seem to be appreciated much. I make sure that for ANY art event I take part in, I let the organiser know how much I appreciate what they do and all of the work involved as sadly, it seems to be a generally thankless task. Especially working with artists who sometimes have egos much bigger than their talents warrant - the majority of them are lovely and modest, but sadly the diva few can really get your back up!
The great news is that I have got a lovely little Pet Portrait Commission to get on with (it's a Christmas present so I won't be able to post it on here til the New Year) and possibly another one on the way. I also have a meeting to schedule in Eastbourne with a cafe owner regarding displaying my work there, via a contact from the Athena Ladies Networking group.
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