A Splash of Paint

The middle of May, and finally the central heating has been turned off. Last weekend heralded the warmest few days of the year so far and, typically, I could not enjoy them as much as I would have liked. Don’t get me wrong, I am not complaining, it’s just that the weekend happened to be the very same as my art group’s annual art exhibition, its 28th, and I had volunteered to be one of the stewards for all day Saturday.

Admiring the paintings
(the snow scene is one of mine!)

This year, our chosen charity to benefit from the entry fee, refreshment table sales, raffle, and a percentage of paintings sold is Freewheelers EVS – a voluntary organization in SW England who transports blood, pathology and microbiology specimens, patient notes, X-rays, breast milk and other medical supplies, plus delivery every night to two local air ambulance bases, using specialist motorbikes.

Some 240 framed and canvas paintings were on show, plus many more mounted only. For my part, I entered 5 pieces, 4 of which were for sale, one NFS, plus 2 reserve works. The reserve paintings are replacements kept back to replace those sold. In most exhibitions, anyone buying a painting can only take away their chosen piece at the closure of the show, which can be as long as a week or month in some cases. This can prove difficult for some people, so it was decided two years ago at our show people can take away their purchase/s immediately, thus we keep reserves rather than have empty space on the exhibition boards.

Decision finally made of what to exhibit

During my tour of duty I helped the ladies on the refreshment table serving tea, coffee, cold drinks and cakes etc, all home-made by members, but most of my time was spent manning the raffle ticket table. Prizes were 3 paintings donated by different professional artists who had during the past year given demonstrations to our group. Amusingly, our Chairman and Treasurer won 2 of the paintings, to light-hearted calls of “Fix” and “Fiddle” by the audience.

Delicious home-made cakes on the refreshment table

As normal, the show was busy but like last year, sales were slow and down. That said, on Friday’s Preview Evening, one of our newer members sold 4 of her paintings. A good job we had reserves to hang. To my delight, 2 of my paintings were sold during the course of the weekend, making me one happy painting bunny.

Priory Bluebells – Sold

English Summer’s Day – Sold

The event was tiring, mainly because of the heat, but most enjoyable. I arrived home exhausted and after treating myself to a large gin and tonic, took to my bed early. As a consequence, I missed the fantastic Northern Lights show taking place, something we never see this far south in England, and something I have always wanted to witness first-hand. Curses. Curses.

A few of our 60 artists from Frome Valley Art Group

Meanwhile, it’s back to the easel to paint for next year’s show. I have plenty of ideas. Whether any come to fruition is another matter.

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