4 June 2009 Lord Nelson

Another painting today. 

I can feel a mission coming on. 

I could paint every pub in Brighton. 

First the outside and then the inside.

Actually I am choosing pubs that I know and recommend.

The Lord Nelson in Trafalgar Street, Brighton is not the prettiest pub from the outside. But don't let that put you off. It is a good pub, with a good chap as the landlord. It does a very good pub quiz every week.

click here to see the options for buying this painting or print

3 June 2009 Its a secret.

As I sit down first thing on the day after the day before, I wonder what to put in the blog about yesterday.

I started a new painting. It is bigger than recent stuff. I didn't finish it. I cannot show it to you because it has a destiny that I cannot reveal. So it's secret.

I took a phone call order for a print, that is a sample for a bigger order, that is a commercial secret.

I received an email request for a high res file for a licensing project, that is [...wait for it] secret.

I sold a copy of my e-book 'How to Make a Living as an Artist' through Clickbank. The buyer asked me how he could get a printable copy, so I have sent him the secret link that allows him to access the file.

I downloaded a new free internet marketing document and started to read it. This is the latest doc from an internet marketing guru that I have listened to for a long time. His latest message is that any entrepreneural business is only as successful as its constraints allow. So I spent some time exploring a flow chart of my work process from painting to blog to website to print to sale to bank. I am trying to reveal my constraints, and resolve them. The exact constraints that are hindering my progress remain a secret from me. 

Do you see a theme here?

So, the image for the daily blog, date 3 June 09, is the digital image showing a visualisation of the front cover of my book that I use on the website that my book buyers access to download the digital e-book. Here is a link to the site www.howtobeanartist.com

2 June 2009 The Basketmakers Arms

The Basketmakers Arms is tucked away, round the back in Brighton. It is a small pub with just one bar.

I have been going there for many many years since the time when I had a studio just round the corner.

The long term landlord is know as 'Blue'. And I have known him for years as well.

This pub is very popular with anybody who is anybody. The food is good. The beer is good. The wine selection is definitely better than most, and the pub regularly wins prizes for cellarmanship.

Here it is on a sunny afternoon with outside tables and happy happy punters.

Don't tell everybody, keep it a secret, because we don't want it to get even more crowded.

The painting is another 8"x10" on canvas. 

I will put in onto the www.crabfish.com website for sale as soon as possible.

1st June 2009 The Open House pub.

Just a couple of hundred yards down the road from chez Ruffell is our local watering hole.

It is called The Open House.

We are very lucky because this is one of the best pubs in Brighton. 

Here are a few reasons;

1. It is just down the road.

2. It serves good food.

3. Mark the manager is very nice.

4. There is a comfy lounge with big squishy sofas.

5. There is an art exhibition of local artists, and we get occasional sales from there.

6. There is a big garden with umbrellas and sunshades.

7. It has a big function room upstairs where art groups like ours can hold meetings.

8. The pub management sponsor our Fiveways Artists Group during the Brighton Festival.

Need I go on?

So here is a picture, date 1st June 2009, showing the pub as seen from the railway footbridge.

31 May 2009 ...a day off ! ?

Yesterday was Sunday. The weather was really glorious. So we had the day off.

Oh dear, that is not quite true.

First, we finally stored the Open House stock of paintings, prints, and frames that have been cluttering up the living and work space around here. [See boring picture of groaning store room shelves.]

Second, we rehung our collection of other artists work that usually graces our humble and crumble abode. Hooray we have got our home back!

Third, I answered some email reactions to stuff on this blog. Details about the design of my pochade, and issues about the pros and cons of hiring exhibition space.

That took all morning.

Then we cleaned out a couple of rain butts that had become infested with mosquito larvae.

Then I pondered on the redesign of next years Spring Fair, and how we would display, what we would display, who were we hoping to sell to, and other problems. We have just received the first invoice for Spring Fair which just goes to show how far in advance you have to plan.

Then I cooked dinner.

Then we relaxed and watched a TV prog all about artists, and public art commissioning etc.

When I come to think about it, an artist can never actually switch off. It is not a job, it is a total life. Thank goodness.

30 May 2009 Art shows in London

We went up to London today to see the Untitled Art Fair in Chelsea.

The photo here is from the Untitled website showing last years show. This is a very crowded space filled with 150 artists and their work. The show is run by an artist who was sure that he could do it better than established art dealers. Each artist is allocated just a few square feet of wall and floor space. Exhibitors are risking more than £1000 each to show here for one evening and a couple of days. It is probably nearer £2000 each when all costs are considered.  

The weather today was hot, and the atmosphere inside the Chelsea Town Hall was stifling. The aisles were crowded, but I reckon that there were actually more artist exhibitors than visitors. Some good work, some not so good. A few red dots visible, just a few. We met friends who were exhibiting, who were feeling hopeful that things can get better.

Then we went along the Kings Road a few hundred yards to the Saatchi Gallery. The contrast was extraordinary. Vast empty air-conditioned spaces on three floors. Exhibits have acres of wall and floor space each. Superb cutting edge exciting art on show, and entrance is free. No pressure to buy anything. The gallery is home to the private collection and personal display of a very rich man, who supports the arts generously.  He is very established and very very influential in the high art market. Saatchi has made a fortune for some artists, and dashed the hopes of others.

Here is my grandson Marlon contemplating an amusing  sculpture at the Saatchi.

On reflection I  cannot easily say which show I liked best.

29 May 2009 North Gate from inside the Pavilion gardens.

Yesterday I went plein air painting with Alan Furneaux in Brighton Pavilion gardens.

This is the other painting that I did, which again I tweaked a little when I got home.

Tweaking is sometimes neccessary because the paint needs to dry before it can be painted over, or because a different technique is required that is impossible while painting outside.

Glazes and washes of colour can fall into the first category. You cannot glaze or wash over wet paint without messy results. And I am so impatient.

Another constraint for the pochade artist is that very fine detail might need a very fine brush, and a steady hand guide like a mahl stick, and a solid support. That combination would be a bit impractical for outdoor painting with a pochade and a wobbly easel.

This painting is another acrylic on 8"x10" canvas board. 

We will be adding the two new Pavilion images onto our www.crabfish.com website as soon as possible. 

Plus it will be published in the  series of limited edition prints dedicated to this daily painting blog images. 

There are 25 small prints of each chosen picture, published as a 5"x7" giclee on watercolour paper archival collection.