Reason for not blogging for the last four months ? ………… Preparing for ‘Mainly Coastal’ my first exhibition at the Salthouse Gallery, Norway Square, St. Ives, Cornwall.
I’ve been painting, framing, organising and fretting!! And here I am in St Ives, having a week of calm staying by the beach, before we set it all up on Saturday morning 14th May, the gallery will be open at 10 am on that day, although it may not quite be ready! You are very welcome. It will be on till Friday 20th May. Open from 9am till 6pm every day and till 7 pm on the first Saturday and Sunday.
There will be large, small and miniature art, triptychs, limited prints, beach art from ‘findings’, object d art and a warm welcome
I will start packing up around midday on Friday 20th
If anyone wants to purchase a painting in the meantime, I will put a red dot on it and post it when I return.
Anything larger than 70cms will be sent by courier.
Oh well, at least we’re nearly halfway through February ! January was a bit of a struggle, and although I am not a manicaly social person I am missing having the choice of where to go or what do do. I think we all need to feel the warmth of the sun on our backs just to help us get through.
Maureen has been a source of joy and concern in varying degrees! I think I saw her eat a mouse and a whole one at that, either she did or it was playing dead and mysteriously vanished into thin air when I wasn’t looking! I googled it and apparantly they do !
She’s braving the snow and is remarkably hardy in most weathers, although she does have the option of escaping to the porch, the studio or the greenhouse where she has a variety of goodies to tempt her, be it her favourite food, a lamp to sunbath by, a tray of warm water, a plastic bag (for pecking) or a tray of dry soil to have a bath !!! I am putting vaseline on her comb to protect it from freezing (another google tip)
Her next door neighbour Mildred aka Cluck Cluck came to visit
As to my art, I have become an associate member of the Penwith Society of Art, and am preparing to enter two paintings for their next exhibition.
Which ones to choose ?
And to finish, I had my Pfiser vaccine on Thursday, the weather’s warming up: onwards and upwards
There it was gone !! another Christmas hits the dust. A very quiet one for most of us and hopefully a happy and healthy one.
I love wrapping presents and making stuff with glitter and bits of material, here are some of my wrappings, home made cards and the Tree
Watching the last sunset of 2020 and not sad to see it go, sitting here watching the sun go down behind ‘The Skirrid’ Abergavenny, with a glass of bubbly and my love ! and crisps!…..A ‘pome’ came to my head, (as it does)
‘Into a year of hope’
“Farewell thou orb of blazing light, proceed your way through the deepening night; Take with you all the woe and plight that this past year has been our blight.When you rise again in the glassy morn, may health and hope and joy be your’n.”
C.Thompson circa 2020
In other words let’s hope next year is better than this one. (Apologies for “your’n” !)
A zoom party celebrated the New year on the Thursday, dressing up in our finery with bubbly. With my lovely friends Julie (Gloucestershire) and Millie (Lancashire)
Bryan and I enjoyed a steak dinner and we watched Jools Holland’s Hootenanny bringing in 2021 for us.
The New year brought some distress as Maureen decided not to eat or drink for a few days and would just stay in her nest, or stand and stare into the hedge. With much coaching we managed to get her to take some warm oil in a syringe ( in case it was crop impaction) and honey water to rehydrate her. Bryan must have dug up about 20 worms for her from beneath the frosty hard soil ! She ate them with relish and that was the turning point. I gave her a tepid bath to clean her nether regions and she stood up against the woodburner preeing until she was dry !
Eventually she picked up despite a few sleepless nights ! I think she went a bit broody and a bit depressed. She is so used to comapany and we hadn’t been around much because of the bad weather.
She has moved into the studio for a while until the snow goes, and I am spending most of the days with her, catching up on my painting while she warms herself next to the logburner.
You can just see Maureen staring into the hedge in the centre of the second photo.
Having a wonderful time ! I’ve painted nearly 50 cards trying all sorts of different effects, Maureen keeps me company most afternoons and has a little doze in the warmth after ferreting about in the mud and slush
Christmas wrappings, a poorly Chicken and a “pome“
There it was gone !! another Christmas hits the dust. A very quiet one for most of us and hopefully a happy and healthy one.
I love wrapping presents and making stuff with glitter and bits of material, here are some of my wrappings, home made cards and the Tree
Watching the last sunset of 2020 and not sad to see it go, sitting here watching the sun go down behind ‘The Skirrid’ Abergavenny, with a glass of bubbly and my love ! and crisps!…..A ‘pome’ came to my head, (as it does)
‘Into a year of hope’
“Farewell thou orb of blazing light, proceed your way through the deepening night; Take with you all the woe and plight that this past year has been our blight.When you rise again in the glassy morn, may health and hope and joy be your’n.”
C.Thompson circa 2020
In other words let’s hope next year is better than this one. (Apologies for “your’n” !)
A zoom party celebrated the New year on the Thursday, dressing up in our finery with bubbly. With my lovely friends Julie (Gloucestershire) and Millie (Lancashire)
Bryan and I enjoyed a steak dinner and we watched Jools Holland’s Hootenanny bringing in 2021 for us.
The New year brought some distress as Maureen decided not to eat or drink for a few days and would just stay in her nest, or stand and stare into the hedge. With much coaching we managed to get her to take some warm oil in a syringe ( in case it was crop impaction) and honey water to rehydrate her. Bryan must have dug up about 20 worms for her from beneath the frosty hard soil ! She ate them with relish and that was the turning point. I gave her a tepid bath to clean her nether regions and she stood up against the woodburner preeing until she was dry !
Eventually she picked up despite a few sleepless nights ! I think she went a bit broody and a bit depressed. She is so used to comapany and we hadn’t been around much because of the bad weather.
She has moved into the studio for a while until the snow goes, and I am spending most of the days with her, catching up on my painting while she warms herself next to the logburner.
You can just see Maureen staring into the hedge in the centre of the first photo.
Another lockdown nearly finished, well sort of !……………………. I’m spending most of my time in the studio. I decided to handpaint all of my Christmas cards as my printer has given up on me, hopefull they will be beautiful simple splashes of colour !
I am trying to finsh off all the paintings I’ve started over the last 3 years I’ve got about 10 to go! ( no doubt there will be 10 more by the time I’ve finished those !) they will gradually appear in my shop.
Off to work tommorrow to tend the only garden I kept on after retiring, at May Hill, I love going there as her garden is reclaimed farmland and she has the most wonderful art studio. Then after that I’m delivering 2 dozen eggs to Julie who lives in Tibberton, she will give me a most delicious bowl of handmade soup, which we will deligently eat outside.
Two friends and I are are doing a Friday evening zoom with each of us holding a workshop in turn, Millie did a great make up one for the over 50s and Julie did an amazing one on christmas wreaths, mine was creating a collage a collage from findings in the garden photos to follow. Julie’s are the gorgeous wreaths, Millies are the gorgeous candle holders and mine is the house and the orange wreath…… I think I’ll stick to painting ! our workshops are great fun with a glass of wine or two !
At this pont I would like to ammend a previous blog when I said that my painting prices start at £25….. they actually start at £30 . The smallest ones are 10 x 10cm and the largest one is 60 x 42 cms (at the moment, they are getting smaller at one end of the scale and larger at the other end !
2 blogs in one, so its rather long !………September and October have been my holiday months, visiting Padstow, St.Ives, Dawlish, Beer, Devon, then St. Ives again! mainly painting, a bit of walking; wine, gin, oysters and champagne from the fresh fish stall on St.Ives harbour and fish and chips from “Chip Ahoy” in Padstow !
Here are the results from the last five weeks of rest and recuperation! the sepia tones are mine and the colourful ones by friends as a project and experiment in colour
PADSTOW
I also managed to finish these two, looking over to Rock, Cornwall and the the ‘doombar’ from the garden in “The Old Boatyard appartment. I started them 3 years ago and am very pleased to have them finally finished. Available in my shop.
BEER
Painting from a beach hut on Beer beach, East Devon.
ST. IVES
A selection of paintings started, and a few greeting cards painted and sent
Back home in Herefordshire now, and glad to see Maureen after leaving her on her own for so long
At last I have some small acrylic paintings for you to enjoy, I hope you like my work. …………..Prices start at £25 for the mini canvases (12x16cm) up to £80 for the deep edge canvases .
The largest size in this group is 30cm x 40cm, prices include postage……. commissions happily accepted.
The first eight are of Garway hill, Herefordshire and the next three are St.Ives, Porthminster beach Cornwall, and the Cornish coast around Cape Cornwall
£25
£25
£25
£50
£80
£50
£80
£80
£50
Floor painting commissions taken, see sunflower on the left of picture
Showing the comparison of sizes
Go to shop to purchase. PayPal preferred, but other payments accepted
24th March 2020…..and the start of lock down…………….
Gosh, my first ever website! And blog;…..how exciting. Not quite sure what to say!
Well; my name is Chris Thompson, I live in the beautiful Herefordshire countryside, have a lovely bespoke studio at the bottom of the garden, with amazing views of the hills and Welsh mountains
(Which was lovely until I filled it with all my ‘stuff’)
I’m a self taught artist trying out all sorts of ideas. Including painting, wire work, beach art and anything else that takes my fancy ! All is for sale at reasonable not silly prices.
I’m not in the studio at the moment as making a late breakfast of yoghurt and nuts and honey and coffee.
ART- ART- ART by Chrissie Thompson 