The Roller Coaster Month of March
March was a roller coaster of a month as I am sure everyone will agree. My story is one of millions that can be related to; I had an exhibition in London, (I have yet to retrieve my painting as it got caught up in lockdown), sold lots of work, lost venues for my art class business, set up a new 3rd online business and am confined to staying home along with everyone else!
The current news that is affecting everyone in all walks of life is very hard and I hope that if you are reading this you are well. As with everyone else I am sure that all of the Coronavirus is hard to comprehend, it affects all of us.
Right before the government announced 'lock down' I attended the private view for the group exhibition I was in up at the Old Biscuit Factory, called 'Forces' and it was really well laid on but sadly it was a very low key event. The reason given was that the artist organisers felt it would be insensitive to overly promote inviting people to the exhibition because of the public safety fears. I did agree and had to say that in the end it was just bad timing and like the rest of the country no-one could have foreseen such circumstances. I thought it was a really nice exhibition with some very interesting paintings and sculpture.
My Paintings feature
I was thrilled to have my paintings feature in Issue 42 of the Artist Portfolio Magazine. My paintings 'Every Day Rebel' and 'We Are All Crew' were amongst some very talented artists indeed and I feel very honoured to be chosen by this Californian Artist Magazine.
New Series - The Paint Sketches
The newly released 'Paint Sketches' series have been selling quickly, five in one month. So there are a few left of these.
Art Classes on-line
My other business was founded 16 years ago, I set up an art class business which has been running for 16 years. Suddenly having venues cancelled meant that I was no longer able to run the classes at all. So I have had a very interesting two weeks that have been very busy indeed learning and starting an online art class business.
I wonder what the artists role is in all of this? I think this will take some time but for the moment I have to say I have no idea. I am sure that creativity will bounce back, at the time of writing my community of artists are very unsure of what lies ahead. It feels like a very big problem indeed. For now though it feels like keeping low is the thing to do.
Stay well and safe