Getting there - thoughts on Dorset Art Weeks

We are exactly half way through Dorset Art Weeks, and so far it has been great.  My visitor numbers are substantially up on last time (2014) and if the sales continue at this level they will also be up.  Mind you I am getting there the hard way (one card at a time).  One of the great things about Art Weeks is that we get to meet so many new people.  Being an artist is a solitary occupation and for 16 days every two years we have the opportunity to meet people from many walks of life and all age groups and see first hand other peoples reactions to the blood we pour out over everything in the studio.

Dorset Art Weeks is one of the biggest such events in the country, we have 299 venues this year and I think the artists participating are over 800.  One of the things that keep being talked about by my visitors are the number of good textile artists that are showing. So much NOT tea cosy knitters, these people have taken stitching to a level most wielders of needle and yarns wold never imagine. (See "View from our Hill" blog by Amanda House).  I am not tempted to change how I work, but am thrilled for the recognition these hard working people are being shown.

One of the biggest changes since I first started showing in DAW (2010) is the development of our group on facebook.  This closed group provides us with a forum for everything arty. From who locally does the best framing, to where to get a meal or cup of coffee in a part of the county you don't know so well.  There is no backbiting or negativity, just a warm wholesome family feeling of belonging to. Something bigger than you own little world.

Have been holding off on this post as I thought I had sold my large seascape, but the man who promised faithfully to come back Saturday morning and then Sunday afternoon still hasn't turned up.  I learnt some time ago to never consider an item sold until you actually had the money in your hand, but hope is a mischievous feeling.





Instead I am pleased to say that this small oil painting of cow parsley in evening light has gone to a new home.  A lovely young eastern European couple presently living in Verwood.  He has just taken up oil painting and it was great to give encouragement, especially after he had shown me several of his paintings. The delights of modern technology, when I was young we had to haul our actual work around now you just reach into a pocket and pull out a phone.










This past week has been most productive, because I am more or less tied to the gallery space I have been working away. Assembled and painted 10 frames ready for Boundaries in July. Several small pen and ink sketches and work on a few small oil paintings which may also find their way into Boundaries

These are all quite small for me, 12" x 9" which makes them quite a challenge. It does mean, however that I can paint them in a much shorter time

Looking forward to the next 7 days of Art Weeks, lots to do and lots of people to meet.