Autumn 2023
Hello dear friends,
It seems like a long time since I was here. Updating my website is one of those supposedly smallish tasks which I always intend to complete in a quiet hour or two, and which somehow turns into 3 months.
The process is as follows:
- Switches on the PC. A very good start! Inspired, positive and ready to share any news…
- Wanders off to make a cup of tea, returning 2 months and 28 days later.
Having mislaid the summer, I will pick up here in autumn (where I am happy to be back in woolly socks).
First of all I must offer a belated thank you to those who purchased limited edition prints earlier this year. I am, as ever, truly grateful for this.
While biscuits happily seem able to find their own homes...
Bunnies with severed limbs were always going to be a trickier sell. Regardless, I published 'Hop-a-long' as it was a personal favourite from my 2022 exhibition. I’d like to clarify that the amputation of our cotton-tailed friends is not a hobby of mine. Nor do I own a real rabbit’s foot.
Perhaps this accounts for a calamitous run of bad luck.
I use the above image to illustrate an account of recent events. It all began with my eye. A nasty infection caused me to look rather rabbity myself - a Watership Down rabbit. This condition briefly necessitated the wearing of an eye patch. On leaving my studio late one night, I manoeuvred my car from an awkward, off-road parking spot. It was not until the following day did I notice that I had rearranged the wheel arches of both mine and a fellow artist’s vehicle. An insurance own-goal and a disappointing first.
You can imagine my dismay when, soon after the frustrating and protracted business of claims/repairs were completed, I was involved in another (minor) collision with a third party.
On exchanging details, I discovered that the Christian name of the other driver was ‘Goodluck’. Yes. GOODLUCK.
How we laughed.
Not usually given to superstition, I couldn’t help but recall that my mother used to say “These things always happen in threes”. Trying to push this idea from my mind, the unfortunate encounter with Mr Goodluck was followed, a matter of weeks later by yet another incident.
All I had wanted to do was get home from work and have dinner. But first I had to pop into the local shop to buy it. I emerged 10 minutes later, to see my car rolling backwards down a hill. Initially confused, I couldn’t decide if it was a bizarrely executed theft or hallucination. Realising it was neither I swiftly entered full panic mode. Frantic attempts to unlock and jump into the moving vehicle failed. Fingers and thumbs! it wouldn’t unlock! So, using an unwise mix of determination and stupidity, I got behind the car and managed to slow it before it sailed backwards crossed a busy main road. Somehow, I held it there until the two gentlemen who were driving into the unfolding mayhem leapt from their own cars to help.
Great relief all around – and the fabled ‘third’ accident had been averted! The only casualty was my dinner which lay forlornly on the tarmac. Phew.
Arriving back in my street not 5 minutes later and presumably still full of adrenaline, I misjudged my landing and crashed into the next door neighbour’s car.
The trilogy completed after all - it seems that some mothers really do ‘ave ‘em.
Print news
For those who keep watch, you will notice a pause in my print production. This is happening while I re-organise the way I do things. Being hands-on with publishing over many years has taken me away from the easel too often. With my (good) eye on the mortal hourglass, I’m now ready for change and very definitely need to slow down in certain areas (roads, mainly).
From next year a new team will take over print duties while I devote myself to painting. If you would like to hear of new prints, fret not. On release, I will continue to provide information/ links in the usual way.
Original artworks news
The process of developing and creating a completely new collection can take anywhere between 1 and 3 years, but I have made a start and I’m hoping to exhibit new canvasses late in 2024. This doesn’t give me long – so I’ll sign off here and be about the task.
Do have a cosy autumn, take care on the roads, (especially if visiting Tyneside) and I’ll report in with art-updates when available.
Love,
Frank