The Pink Wall Project

Be prepared for a bit of a shock this week, we've hung some pictures on one of our walls - after painting it bright pink! You can visit our web site to read about our pink wall project.

Vicky And Vince,
Love Your Art.

Tell Me More

The picture in the Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle is called Darkness Falls from the Wings of Night. It was painted in 1886 by Robert Jobling (1841 - 1923). Its size is around 4ft by 3ft and it's displayed in a heavy gold frame. That's about all we could have told you without digging around in a library or on the Internet. But as we were visiting the gallery on a day when a talk was being given about the picture, we learnt so much more than we otherwise would.

The speaker, Jean Scott, from the Friends of the Laing Art Gallery, gave us some fascinating background and historical context that helped us to understand more about the picture. The first thing we found out was that the title is from The Day Is Done, a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

The scene is set on the beach at Cullercoats, a small fishing village on the Northumberland coast. The village can be seen in the distance with fishing boats lined up along the sand. The women of the village are carrying the catch from the shoreline to the village for preparation. The picture depicts daily life but with a romantic interpretation, avoiding the harsh reality of life in the mid 19th century.

We also heard about the artist, Jobling. He lived in Cullercoats for some time and was involved in the arts in Newcastle and the north east for much of his life. In fact he was one of the people who was involved in the establishment of an art gallery in the city. This initiative came to fruition as the Laing Art Gallery at the turn of the century.

The series of talks are held each Saturday morning and a different picture in the gallery is described each month. On the day we attended there were over twenty visitors listening to the talk, and we were told that people sometimes come from as far away Amsterdam (using the local overnight ferry) to visit the gallery and hear the talks.

Here is the list of forthcoming talks about paintings at the Laing Art Gallery.

Vicky And Vince,
Love Your Art.

Lovely Art - And Tempting Food Too!

The BBC continues to produce some fascinating programmes about art. We have written recently about Fake or Fortune and last Friday night we came across Sicily Unpacked. The show not only covered some of the interesting art in Sicily but also another of our favourite subjects, food!

Vicky has been to Sicily before and has visited some of the locations shown on the programme. One of the sights she didn't see was the Oratorio del Rosario di Santa Cita in Sicily's capital, Palermo. Art historian and presenter, Andrew Graham-Dixon, was keen to show his co-presenter, Giorgio Locatelli, the interior of this building. Once inside they turned to marvel at the stunning, ornate decoration. What seemed like hundreds of incredibly fine religious figures and scenes covered the walls. These are the work of sculptor, Giacomo Serpotta, who used stucco with added marble dust to create an amazing finish to the sculptures.

Later, as the two presenters visited the Vucciria market looking for food to cook for dinner, they popped through a doorway to find a modern painting of the market by Renato Guttuso. The picture was densely packed with shoppers, market traders, stalls and food. Andrew pointed out some of the stories incorporated in the picture such as two traders apparently feuding over something. Guttuso also has other links with food; he illustrated the book Italian Food by Elizabeth David.

We're still planning our 2012 holidays and the temptation offered by the food as well as the interesting art may be too much for us to resist a visit together sometime soon.

The series runs for a further 2 episodes on BBC2 on Friday evenings. You can catch episode 1 on iPlayer over the next few days.

Vicky And Vince,

Love Your Art.

Review Of The Year

As the new year approaches, it's time to both look back over recent months and look forward to more exciting art over the coming year. It's been an interesting year for the art world as well as for us. Here are a few of the things we particularly remember.

The Turner prize was won by Martin Boyce with a sculptural installation. 2011 was a special year for the competition as it was held away from the Tate Gallery at the Baltic in Gateshead. In coming years, the plan is to hold the competition at venues alternating between the Tate and other regional galleries.

The Hepworth Wakefield Gallery opened in the Spring. Although we haven't yet been to see the exhibitions, a visit is on our list for 2012. We enjoyed the Barbara Hepworth Museum at St Ives in Cornwall a couple of years ago and look forward to seeing more of her works along with other similar art.

The Zurbarán saga continues. First these historical paintings were to be sold off, then a deal was agreed to save them. Recently the deal looked like it had fallen through, then it was back on. Perhaps we haven't seen the end of the uncertainty yet but hopefully the plans for converting Auckland Castle into a new art gallery, with visiting exhibitions as well as the Zurbaráns will be finalised in the new year.

Vicky's highlight of the year was when we visited Bowes Museum to see an exhibition by Damien Hirst. His prints, depicting food packaged as medicine, ask whether we are as reliant on drugs as we are on food in these modern times.

Our trip to the village of Lempa in Cyprus was Vince's highlight of 2011. The jumbled collection at the College of Art reflected the bright and informal atmosphere of the island and it was a visual delight to become immersed within the work of the students.

But we both agreed that our joint favourite place this year has to be Cass Sculpture Foundation at Goodwood. Their stunning collection of outdoor sculpture really needs a whole day to view and appreciate the huge amount of artworks. Unfortunately we didn't allow enough time to see everything so we'll be heading back there again, hopefully in 2012.

Vicky And Vince,
Love Your Art.

Art In Lempa, Cyprus

If you happen to be in Western Cyprus and have an hour to spare, the village of Lempa is worth a visit. Last weekend we happened to be in Western Cyprus and had an hour to spare so we paid a visit. We found a village that had more art than most others we have been to.

As we drove into the village we were looking out for a building that's part of the Cyprus College Of Art. It wasn't long before we passed a wall constructed from a huge number of sculptures made from concrete, glass, metal and wood and probably a lot of other things too. It was fairly obvious that this was the building we were looking for.

A little further along the road we parked the car and found ourselves opposite the studio of artist Alessandra Desole. She was taking part in the Cyprus open studio event so we decided to look round. We were a little early but were welcomed by Alessandra who showed us displays of her paintings. These, mainly portraits, have a pleasant simplicity, painted in strong colours but with a softness of touch that makes them quite atmospheric and pleasant to look at. We also admired some of her small coloured stone figurative carvings. You can see some of Alessandra Desole's paintings on her web site. The Cyprus open studios continue during October 2011.

Strolling back to the college we were overwhelmed by the vast number of examples of the art produced by the students. Being a Saturday there was nobody there but a sign invited us to look round the grounds.

Within the walls we found a cacophony of widely differing sculptures, some abstract, some figurative, some made from found objects. Vicky liked the large carved wooden head and we both thought the group of dogs playing around a pole were fun. Here are more pictures of the students' sculptures.

As we left the College, a party of tourists arrived to look at the art too, guided by George, a local character who runs trips in his colourful old-fashioned bus. Returning to the car, the chatter and laughter from the crowd of tourists confirmed how delightful and exciting the art in the college grounds was. You can visit the web site for the Cyprus College Of Art And Design.

Our holiday in Cyprus was full of pleasant surprises and the hour or so we spent in Lempa was one of the highlights.

Vicky And Vince,

Love Your Art.

An Unusual Collection

We like to collect. We have a few mini collections of related works including paintings, ceramics and other interesting objects. These might not be considered collections in the mainstream sense of the word but we find them interesting and enjoyable.

We're interested in the art that other people collect too. So we were fascinated by the revelations in The Telegraph last week.

Around 300 paintings were found in an outbuilding in the garden of a Polish bricklayer. Apparently worth millions of pounds, the works included a picture that went missing during World War II. No explanation has been given for the collection but the bricklayer has been arrested for handling stolen art.

You can read more and watch the video in The Telegraph.

Vicky And Vince,

Love Your Art.

Objects Of Desire

"Just look at those smooth, sleek lines", I said to Vicky, "and the reflections in the shiny red paintwork." I've always fancied a Ferrari and although we weren't looking at a real car I wasn't disappointed; this painting by Anthony Knight was a stunning representation of a classic Dino.

We saw the painting when we visited the Unlikeness event at Arthur Robinson House in Billingham last week. Anthony and several other artists, photographers and authors were presenting some of their latest work.

Anthony painted his first car at the age of four and in the past couple of years has begun to spend more time developing his artistic talent. He particularly likes to paint iconic American cars, sometimes in an advanced state of decay.

In addition to the cars he was exhibiting there were several paintings of training shoes. This may sound like a strange subject to paint but Anthony is in good company with Van Gogh's old leather boots and Warhol's fashionable high-heels. Anthony's choice of a large size canvas and bold colours for these still lifes created quite an impact. There were different brands and colours and each pair of shoes had been posed in a unique way (one worn-out pair had even been thrown into a dustbin).

We particularly liked the blue Nike trainers swinging in the breeze as they dangled from a telephone line (see picture). The shoes clearly stood out against the background despite the similar blue and white colours. The larger than life scale of the painting meant we were able to admire the intricate design detail of the shoes that had been painstakingly reproduced by the artist, details often overlooked even by owners of the real product.

Anthony is working to develop his techniques and aims to produce paintings that are photo-realistic. From what we saw, he is well on his way to that already.

You can see more of Anthony Knight's paintings on his web site.

Vicky and Vince,

Love Your Art.

Lucian Freud

We were saddened to hear of the death of Lucian Freud last week. Although he was not one of our favourite artists, we did see some of his pictures earlier this year at the John McCracken exhibition at Hartlepool Art Gallery.

Freud is a very popular British artist and is probably best known for his portraits which have been exhibited and sold all around the world. He has painted a wide range of people from family and friends to fellow artists and celebrities like Kate Moss and even the Queen.

His portraits are characterful, often nude and highly focused on the individuality of the sitter. He liked to get to know the people he painted, finding out about their unique personality and characteristics. This, along with his slow and deliberate painting technique, meant each picture could take weeks, months or even years to paint.

In 2008, Freud's portrait "Benefits Supervisor Sleeping" sold for over £17 million, becoming the highest price ever paid for a work by a living artist. This picture took around four years to paint with Sue Tilley, the subject of the picture, posing for a few days each week during the process.

Having learned a bit more about this remarkable artist, we have become much more interested in Freud's work and we are pleased to see that the National Portrait Gallery are to hold an exhibition of his portraits early in 2012. We will certainly be amongst the visitors to that show.

The exhibition runs from 9 February to 27 May 2012.

Vicky And Vince,

Love Your Art.

Digging Deeply

What an interesting and popular series Fake or Fortune has turned out to be. The BBC show (BBC1, Sunday evenings, 7pm) has told some fascinating stories about the art world. We have learned a lot about how the art world works and have been entertained at the same time.

The first programme informed us about research into a painting that was claimed to be by Monet. Presenter Fiona Bruce and art expert Philip Mould visited Paris to investigate the picture's history. The found what seemed to be conclusive evidence that the picture was genuine, linking its previous owner with a dealer's label on the back of the picture. However, the people responsible for authenticating genuine Monets flatly refused to accept the evidence. The picture's owner and the presenters were all hugely disappointed at the news.

In the second programme, a painting by American artist, Winslow Homer, found near a tip in Ireland was due to be auctioned in New York. The investigators established the history of the painting but shortly before the auction the original owners got in touch to claim it back. The painting was withdrawn from the sale and a long-running legal battle continues to decide who really owns the picture and what is to be done with it.

Last Sunday, the investigation set out to find whether a picture thought to be by Van Baburen, a pupil of Jan Vermeer, was genuine or a forgery. The picture had been donated to the Courtauld Institute in the 1960s and their team had mixed views as to the artist. Some experts were pretty sure that it had been painted by Van Meegeren, a prolific forger during the first half of the 20th Century. After much to-ing and fro-ing between London and Amsterdam, the scientific evidence proved that it was a forgery. However, this may have increased its value as there are many keen collectors of Van Meegeren's work, despite its dubious status.

If we were to make one criticism it would be that the programmes are filled out a bit to fit the one hour slot. This is not uncommon with documentaries these days as producers seem to want to fill their allocated broadcast times with only as much as they can get away with. Vince fondly remembers the early Horizon programmes that were packed with facts and information, an entirely different style to today's stretched out documentaries.

The final program in the series is next Sunday but you may be able to catch up on earlier episodes on the BBC iPlayer.

Vicky And Vince,

Love Your Art.

Is It A Bird?

At one of the open studios we visited in Scarborough last week, we came across some unusual pictures of birds. They were painted in mainly blue and green hues with the bird placed centrally with the surrounding area being a gentle blend of similar colours around the subject. But looking more closely our curiosity was aroused when we realised that the pictures had been painted on pieces of textured surface wallpaper.

Susan Slann, the artist who produces these intriguing pieces of art, takes sections of textured wallpaper and finds images hidden in the swirling, floral patterns in the paper. She then paints the image that emerges and colours the surrounding area. These works and other, more abstract ones, are part of Susan's exploration of how the mind works, especially how memories are uncovered.

Susan told us that she allows the images in the wallpaper to reveal themselves to her, she doesn't try to force a picture on the paper. At the studio we saw several pictures in this style with pigeons, blue tits, a swift, a hare and a brain.

The brain is, in fact, one of Susan's favourite pictures. It isn't depicted as anatomical text books would show it but more in the way that a person might feel about their brain. The result is a bold, striking picture in strong red hues that certainly stops you in your tracks.

We'll look out for Susan's works again, they represent a fascinating concept - how to understand memory - and we won't forget them in a hurry.

Why not visit Susan Slann's web site?

Vicky and Vince,

Love Your Art.

We're Still Here

Phew! We survived. Along with many of the other sinners in the world we were getting a bit worried about the warnings from Harold Camping, a preacher from California who predicted that the end of the world would be last Saturday. Fortunately he was wrong and we live to write another blog post.

Mr Camping is not alone in trying to predict the Rapture, artists have been trying to do this for centuries; not the date but how it might look. We've thought we'd check out some of the paintings that depict Judgment Day - a Christian and Muslim belief that good people will be taken to Heaven or Paradise when God makes his final judgment.

Probably the biggest is Michelangelo's The Last Judgment on the wall of the Sistine Chapel. This shows Christ in the centre with various saints around him. The people who have been saved are floating happily in the sky, with the condemned being forced into the mouth of Hell by a gruesome boatman at the bottom. In fact the boatman, Charon, is a mythical character from Roman and Greek history; Michelagelo was allowed to merge biblical and mythological stories together in the fresco.

The Last Judgment by Michelangelo

Another recognisable painting is by Hans Memling. This is an oil on wood triptych. In the centre panel Saint Michael is in the foreground weighing up the souls of the resurrected. On the left panel, the good are being welcomed into heaven whilst on the right, the evil are cast into Hell.

Last Judgment by Memling.

A more recent representation by Kandinsky takes a highly abstract approach, leaving everything to the observers imagination. Unusually, it is painted in reverse on glass with a frame for protection.

Last Judgment by Kandinsky (Half way down page.)

There doesn't seem to be as many paintings depicting the Islamic Judgment Day but here are a couple.

Day of Judgment by Mohammed Modabber

Day of Judgment by unknown artist

Finally, our favourite from those we've seen is this one by Fra Angelico. It is quite colourful, has a nice balance between good and evil and is less gruesome than most of the others (apart from the people cooking in the cauldron).

Last Judgment by Fra Angelico

Sorry if we missed your favourite. There have been dozens of works produced over the centuries and hopefully we'll have time to look at some more before the world ends on 21st October 2011 (according to Mr Camping's revised calculations).

Vicky and Vince,

Love Your Art.

Holiday Choices

Lighter nights and warmer weather mean that it's time for us to start searching for a holiday. We are looking for a week away, somewhere in Britain, with some art that both of us would find interesting.

This year, after a bit of digging through some old brochures and the Internet, we have narrowed the options down to Sussex or the Cotswolds. We are heading to Sussex to visit a friend for a weekend in the summer anyway. Should we extend that short visit to see more of the area or broaden our horizons with a tour around the Cotswolds instead?

Both areas have a lot going for them. There are numerous museums and galleries, stately homes with their own traditional collections and various displays of outdoor sculptures and installations. Plus plenty of other appealing attractions, exciting events and stunning scenery to give us a bit of a break from the art.

In Sussex, we like the sound of popping along to Worthing Art Gallery to see some of the work of Carol Wagstaff, a versatile artist who is exhibiting works inspired by the museum's collections. Cass Sculpture is another possibility. It's a charitable foundation that commissions, displays and sells sculpture by 21st Century established and emerging artists. And for a late night out, we could watch the coloured lighting of the "Sticks Of Rock" along the prom at Hastings and St Leonards.

If we choose the Cotswolds, we could visit the Minotaur and the Hare, a large bronze sculpture, made by Sophie Ryder, in the middle of Cheltenham. Nature In Art, near Gloucester, has a diverse collection of works depicting animals, landscapes and other natural themes. And the Fox Talbot Photography museum at Lacock, near Bath, sounds fascinating too.

The jury is still out at the moment. We'll let you know our decision later and report on what we find wherever we go.

Vicky And Vince,
Love Your Art.

Hidden Treasures

You may have read recently about the Zurbarán paintings at Auckland Castle being sold off by their owner, the Church Commissioners. Concern over losing these historical pictures caused an outcry and led to campaigns across the region to prevent the sale. Fortunately, in March, a generous donation of £15 million was received from a City investment manager, Jonathan Ruffer, and the paintings are no longer under threat.

Tucked away in a quiet corner of County Durham, the pictures do not get the exposure of more famous works exhibited in London and other large cities. So what are the paintings like? And are they really worth £15 million? I decided to pay a visit to Auckland Castle over Easter to see them for myself.

The series of paintings is commonly referred to as the Zurburáns although the official name of the group is "Jacob and his Twelve Sons". The picture of Benjamin is actually a copy made by Arthur Pond of the Zurburán original which hangs in Grimsthorpe Castle, Lincolnshire.

On entering the Long Dining Room you are immediately confronted with the huge, larger-than-life, 8ft high portraits. There are thirteen portraits in all, one each of Jacob and his 12 sons. Zurbarán based his portraits on the Book of Genesis in the Old Testament and uses the descriptions of the sons to create recognisable figures. Some are obvious: Judah is depicted as a king wearing a crown and robes, and holding a sceptre; Asher is shown as a farmer carrying loaves of bread.

The portraits are dramatic, the ones showing Jacob, Judah, Zebulun, Dan, Gad, Joseph and Bejamin are full of rich reds, greens and gold in their clothing. Issachar is dressed more humbly in a plain green smock working on the land. Simeon is clad in animal skins and his uncivilised vengefulness is hinted at by the sword and the stick he is carrying.

These are an unusual group of religious paintings and it is fitting that they hang in Auckland Castle, the seat of the Bishop of Durham. I'm not sure I would pay £15 million for them but now they have been saved, I hope that many more people will be able to come and see the Zurburáns in the future. These have been hidden treasures for too long and deserve a wider audience. 

Vicky,
Love Your Art.

Relaxing On The Beach

Over the past few weeks we've been busy making some alterations to our kitchen. Moving cupboards around means we've also had to take down or move some of the artwork we have on the walls. Fortunately one of our favourite pictures, a view looking across sand dunes towards the sea, can be left where it is.

The kitchen has a coastal and boating theme and the artworks in the room follow that theme. All the items of art were bought cheaply as we were concerned about damage from the heat and humdity in the room. This picture was one of the earliest we chose together. We picked it up for a fiver in a home decoration shop while out and about on our travels.

It has no frame, but the clipped edges of its composition give the effect of a window, perhaps in a beach hut. It gives us an alternative view to the main kitchen window: an urban scene with patio, concrete path, brick walls and neighbouring houses.

The sand dunes scene has a calm, atmospheric feel to it. You can easily imagine strolling hand in hand along the wooden boardwalk towards the secluded shoreline on a warm summer's evening. With the gentle sound of waves washing over the sand it is a haven of tranquility compared with the realtively hectic activites that go on in the kitchen.

We are pleased that we have been able to keep this picture in its place within the new kitchen arrangement. So now, when we've finished baking bread and cooking soup, we can relax over lunch with a wonderful view to enjoy.

Vicky and Vince,
Love Your Art.

The Missing Link

We've talked about seeing art. We've talked about buying art. The missing link is doing art. So with cheque book in hand I called into Darlington Arts Centre and enrolled on an Introduction to Drawing and Painting course.

I have to say that I am not a skilled artist. I've done a bit of doodling in the past but nothing worth keeping. I can also manage to splash a bit of paint on the kitchen walls when they need it.

It was a chilly Wednesday morning in September when I joined the group of a dozen other students to learn what drawing and painting is all about and have a bit of fun at the same time. After the obligatory safety talk and introductions, we got started mixing paint to work out how to make virtually any colour from a basic half dozen tubes of paint.

By week two we were painting a watercolour landscape, a task that was pretty simple thanks to the carefully thought out approach of the tutor, Paul Dillon. Paul has over thirty years experience of drawing and painting and easily pointed out what each of us was doing well and how we could improve on the trickier aspects of painting.

One of Paul's main interests is landscape painting and this influences the classes to some extent. However, he's keen that everybody discovers their own preferences and techniques and he spent time with many of the students suggesting how they could develop their individual styles in the future.

Like me, the other students enjoyed the course too. They agreed that it had been a useful, broad introduction to painting and drawing. Those who had not done any art before had learned a lot; those who already dabbled a bit had refined their techniques and picked up a lot of hints and tips to take them further.

Although my artistic ambition is to create sculpture and mixed media art, this course has given me many of the essentials that I can use when working on my own art.

The course content covers drawing, watercolour and acrylic, observation and composition. It deals with the basic theory and provides lots of opportunities for practical work. So if you want to put things into perspective or find out how to use puddle management to avoid cauliflowers, why not have a go yourself.

The course was part of a programme of leisure classes run by Darlington Borough Council. More are planned for the New Year term. Contact the Arts Centre for details.

Love Your Art,
Vince

Starry Starry Night

Our living room finally has a nicely balanced spread of art on its walls after we discovered a neat little picture called Stars.

In one corner of our living room, a door leads to the kitchen. The two walls that meet at that corner both have various pictures on them a little distance away from the door. The high ceiling leaves a space above the door of around 750mm (2' 6") high by 850mm (2' 10") wide. This space was crying out for a picture but as it was so high and an awkward size, we were at a loss what to do with it.

The other day as we entered one of our favourite local charity shops we glanced across and saw Stars. It wasn't very big, it didn't look very exciting and the chunky gold frame looked a bit out of scale with the picture.

On the way out we took a closer look. It was an original oil painting by Anne Jackson Shields. The picture was basically black with lots of tiny specks of colour to represent the stars. Vicky liked the chunky frame that had been very neatly assembled.

We weren't sure if it would work in the space we wanted to fill. A black picture in a brightly coloured living room? It didn't sound like a recipe for success. We stood in the shop for quite some time discussing whether or not to buy it. We even considered keeping the frame but swapping the picture for something more colourful. In the end we did buy it, thinking we could do something with it even if it didn't work in the living room.

Back home, Vince held Stars up above the door; the scale and proportions looked good; the bold frame didn't overpower the space; it didn't fight with the pictures on the other walls.

We nailed in a hook and hung the picture in its new home. After a bit of discussion about how good it looked, we realised that not only did it fill the space well, it also tied the two walls together. On one side, the gold frame matched a group of other pictures with gold frames, on the other, the blackness of the painting connected with the black frames of two large pictures and the black TV set.

After a few weeks with Stars in our living room, we are very pleased with how it works, integrating other displays that were completely separate before. Sometimes it is not always obvious what works until you try it.

Love Your Art,
Vicky and Vince

Flower Power

Not all pictures are created equal. Work by local artists is often better quality and better value than the mass produced stuff.

A year or so ago, we picked up some square framed floral pictures (left hand picture) in a local department store. They were neutral and inoffensive, like much mass produced wall art but we hoped that three of them on a tall, narrow wall above the stairs would create an interesting display. At the time, we didn't consider whether £15 each was either good or bad value.

After a couple of weeks in place, we grew tired of them. They looked dull and boring and did nothing to lift our spirits as we passed them each morning on the way downstairs. They are now buried deep in our "pile of shame" along with most of our other mistakes. Now we are a little older and wiser, we are more careful and look for reasonably priced, better quality art, often from local artists.

For example, we recently discovered some exquisite floral pictures while attending an exhibition and demonstration at the Castle Gallery in Witham Hall, Barnard Castle. Janet Orme, from Darlington, is a Botanical Artist, producing precise, highly detailed paintings of orchids and other plants in watercolour. We chatted with Janet for some time about her work. She had a wide range of originals, prints and note cards for sale and Vicky chose a wonderful cyclamen print (right hand picture) as a gift for a friend.

Looking round the shops in Barnard Castle we were amazed to find an unusual cream and gold frame that went perfectly with the picture and it was a simple task to assemble them once we got home. Together the print and frame cost less than £20. An excellent purchase compared to the other, dull pictures described above.

You can visit Janet's own site at www.janetorme.co.uk.

Love Your Art,
Vicky and Vince

The Purple Picture

We've had one of those serendipity moments! A happy accident that in our case gave us a piece of interesting art as well as solving a problem and saving us money.

Last month in one of the charity shops we visit regularly, we spotted a watercolour of Hartlepool Harbour entrance: Vince learnt to sail there so was keen on buying it. But its mahogany style frame was a bit too smart for the soft, blue-grey colours of the picture and it had no mount to show it off to best effect. Then Vince realised that the frame was ideal for a print we had bought some months earlier.

What we call "the purple picture" is a small African landscape print of unusual proportions and in shades of purple. When we bought it it was in a very large chunky brown wood frame that was way out of scale for the picture and it had a ubiquitous cream mount that was entirely the wrong colour. Temporarily, we put it into a cheap A4 certificate frame and planned to get a new frame made for it later.

On checking the frame from the Hartlepool picture we found that it was perfectly proportioned for the purple picture, matching the style well too. All it needed was an appropriate mount. So off went Vince to our local framer, and selected a purple pearlescent mount to match the picture. It now hangs on the living room wall and looks like it was bought from a gallery.

So, that one picture has solved the problem of framing the purple picture and saved us having to buy a custom-made frame that would have cost us many times more. All we need now is a decent frame for the Hartlepool Harbour picture.


Love Your Art,
Vicky and Vince


ps. The charity shop where we got the Hartlepool picture now sells only books, with no bric-a-brac or interesting stuff - shame! One less source of great value art.

Buy Me!

"That looks unusual", said Vicky, pointing to a rather strange looking picture cowering in a corner, half hidden by a rack of ladies jackets. Vince pushed the jackets aside to the annoyance of a little old lady who was rummaging through them. He rapidly scanned the piece, making disdainful grunts as he digested the brown colouring and the angular lines of the landscape.

"It looks a bit dull," he suggested. Then he noticed the markings along the bottom edge. "Ah, it's a signed, limited edition. Look 4 of 36, Souel - Vines, D M Patterson. It might be worth a bit!" So we bought it because of its unusual style and the fact that it was a limited edition.

That happened on Saturday. On Sunday we cleaned the picture up and and tried to find a suitable location for it. We failed completely! It didn't hang happily on any of our walls. Perhaps it was the harsh, jagged angles of the brush strokes, the monochrome brown colouring or the wholly inappropriate lime-washed grey frame it was in. Our interest in the picture rapidly turned to disappointment. Now, the only reason we had to keep it was if it had some value.

We spent several hours discussing how much it may be worth as a piece of serious art. A thorough search on the Internet revealed nothing about the picture or the artist. Vince claimed that its unique and distinctive style, and the fact that the artist thought that it was worth producing a limited edition, suggests that it did have some value above a basic print. Vicky argued that the frame reduced its value significantly and the dull, jagged lines of the landscape would appeal to only a very few art lovers. Our conclusion was that if we sold it, we would be unlikely to be able to retire to the Caribbean.

We both regret this impulse buy. Were our expectations too high? Are we becoming over-confident and buying without thinking things through first? Whatever went wrong, we are now left with an unloved, unwanted picture. eBay here we come!

Love Your Art,
Vicky and Vince

Guess Who?

As she gazes out from her frame, her eyes seem to follow you around the room. She poses gracefully, a lady of elegance and beauty. Her enigmatic expression puzzles you - what is she thinking? Is she happy, content, amused?

Sadly we don't have the original Mona Lisa on our living room wall. Not even a copy. But we do have Rosita, our very own Mona Lisa! She languishes in the corner of the living room pondering the everyday comings and goings. Her expression is undefinable. An expression that is sometimes curiosity, sometimes fascination, sometimes disapproval. Like the Mona Lisa, her enigmatic expression makes it difficult to tell what she is thinking. Her aura is both charming and disconcerting.

We discovered Rosita in a charity shop earlier this year. We were looking for a portrait and it's hard to find an attractive one! She looked old and tired behind the dirty glass and distressed frame. We almost passed her by, but her eyes followed us from the moment we entered the shop. We had no choice but to rescue her.

Back home, opening up the frame revealed a modern painting in acrylic on board. The frame is probably old, with traces of old woodworm, chipped areas and rippling glass. Once cleaned up and hung on the wall, she came to life and her true beauty shone out.

She begged for a name; we chose Rosita from her Spanish appearance and the pink roses in her hat. We admire her poise and deportment, her confidence and experience, her slightly un-nerving gaze and her endearing charm. But she remains a puzzling enigma on the living room wall.

Love Your Art,
Vince