Saturday 19 December 2015

Same Old Same Old....

(Photos taken on the journey)
I travelled up to Sheffield to take my work down from the Blue Moon Café last Tuesday. Nothing had been sold I’m afraid to say, but when I called in to Cupola Gallery later on they said they still interested in representing my work, so at least that was positive. They particularly liked my lorry paintings too, which I was pleased about, as this is the current stuff. 
I enjoyed a visit to the fantastic Graves Art Gallery whilst I was in the city, which had an exceptional painting collection. I took a lot of inspiration from it, finding it good soul food in that way that only painting can provide for me. I couldn’t take my paintings down from the café until three in the afternoon when it was quieter, so I had a late lunch there and a final opportunity to view my paintings before I took them off the walls. I was pleased with how they looked, but on observing everyone in the café I was struck by how not one person seemed to notice that they were there as they ate and conversed. I’ve been glad of the opportunity presented by Cupola, but it felt problematic experiencing my work like this. 
I left feeling a bit flat about it all, and tired from the journey and events of the last few months. I was glad to have my paintings back with me.  They sort of feel like old friends sometimes. They go up again at Artrix Arts Centre on January 4th in my first exhibition of the New Year. It feels a bit like Bob Dylan’s Never Ending Tour sometimes, only he manages to get a bit more interest than me. 

As I joined the M1 south back to Birmingham, I put Beirut’s ‘Realpeople Holland’ album on the car stereo. ‘My Night With The Prostitute From Marseille’ and the other, lovely in their synthesizer melancholy, songs always cheer me up…