I received an email last week from a local gallery I like explaining that they had a cancellation in their exhibition programme and asking if I would like a solo exhibition as a guest artist? Well, yes I would of course - head swelling moment. When? May. This May? Yes, this May, next month. Early May in fact - delivery on the 6th - opening likely to be the 9th. Well this is pushing the envelope, dosing it in kero and setting fire to it. Hell!
So inhaling deeply I looked at what I already have in the studio then went and had a chat to the lovely Betty and Emma at Elements Gallery in Dalkeith. I promised them 6 paintings if they wanted them ( about 15 paintings short of a solo) and suggested they coerce my talented friend Beba Hall into digging out some of her considerable collection of beautiful work. Beba had been working towards a solo a year ago, and her plans derailed, but I knew quite a bit of this work was still roosting in her house. She is also an excellent artist with a string of awards to her name. In the end Elements have decided to use work from both of us.
Beba and I then spent way too long on brainstorming exhibition titles - common sense would have dictated that we stop trying to choose a title and just paint instead. Our brainstorm list included : Last Minute , The Eleventh Hour , Beware: Wet Paint, Dreams of Domestic Deliverance, Fevered Imaginings of Desperate Women and Desert Dreams and Nocturnal Journeys.
The Winner is ‘Desert Dreams and Nocturnal Journeys’ and the exhibition is a mere 3 weeks away. It will be a bit of a taster of Ansell and Hall and opening night is likely to be Thursday the 9th of May. Please mark it in purple on your burgeoning social calendars.
Endurance speed painting marathon has commenced.... Feel free to drop past, check the artist is working feverishly , do the housework, administer chocolate and leave a casserole.
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