Northumberland Beach Holiday

Just back from a wonderful weeks holiday in Northumberland; our first holiday with our son. The back door of the holiday cottage opens out onto a wide expanse of sand, with the waves crashing close to the back door when the tide is in. Most days were spent drifting from breakfast to coffee to lunch and on through the day while watching the tides drift in and out. It was a very welcome break. Debbie spent time with sketch book, pen and paint, with the view from the kitchen being a continuing source of inspiration.

While we were away, I tried the boiler out on pellets (rather than wood chip) with the hope it would burn for a whole week on one hopper. As we pulled in back at the Lund following our week away there was a thin stream of smoke from the chimney – a big relief. We’ve also taken a bulk delivery of freshly chipped pine, still trying to find the best fuel for the burner. A balance between price, moisture content, chip size, and whether it’s in bags, bulk bags or tipped. This was tipped, and I still can’t get my head around how the driver managed to get such a huge tractor and trailer into such a small space.

We open the doors to the gallery again on the 6th Feb. The timing feels right; we’ve had time to redecorate, bring in some new and exciting work, have a family break and a ‘breather’, and return refreshed and ready to head into 2010.

… and the cabbages seem to have made it through the winter. Amazing.

Snow and a New Lick of Paint

Like many people across the country, we’ve been out with the camera capturing some images of the amazing snow and ice. This is our first Christmas living at the Lund, and it’s magical to have such a dramatic snowscape.

A lucky escape for Debbie… shortly after walking out of a shed next to our house, the shed roof collapsed with a suitably dramatic creaking, crashing, thud. The weight of snow was just too much for its old wooden frame – it was second hand when it arrived here many decades ago, so it's had a good life. Looking on the bright side, we’ll have a cracking view out of our front room when the carcass is hauled away…

We’ve taken the plunge with the roller and paintbrush over the last few days. Following four years of a white and grey ‘neutral’ gallery space, we’ve decided to warm things up with a bit of colour. White was the easy option when we opened, and of course it’s very traditional ‘gallery’ colour – but it feels great to be adding some warmer tones on some of the walls.

As for my veg - I am trying to be optimistic, but it will be a hardy cabbage that lives through this:

The snow might look nice, but as for many people it can also be an inconvenience. I was hoping to head on a roadtrip – picking up new work from the south coast, Bath, and Cumbria. But with the next wave of snow and ice heading in, it’ll be on hold for at least a couple of days.

With such a cold spell, I’ve been keeping fit by feeding the boiler with woodchip; it’s eating a full hopper every day. So I may be buying in some high energy density wood pellets for the next few weeks to make life a little easier.

End of Year

Only four more days of the Sublime Landscapes exhibition to run. Mixed feelings; it's a wonderful show, and a joy to spend time surrounded by such enriching work and so will be a shame to take it down next week, but I'm also looking forward to some family time with the gallery closed for Christmas.

With Debbie painting, running the gallery and looking after Finn, and with me working, the moments we can spend together are few, but precious. The next few weeks will be spent reflecting on an busy year, 2009, and looking forward to 2010.

And an important part of this is news that warmed our hearts - a holiday cottage on the Northumberalnd coastline that we have stayed in several times before has been refurbished and after several years off the market, is now back open for business. We usually stay in January or February to enjoy the empty but usually sunlit beach. Debbie takes paint and brush, and many of her larger seascapes have been painted on the cottage's kitchen table looking out over the epic panorama... Fingers crossed our booking has been accepted for Jan...

We visited a new gallery in York on Sunday - The New School House near the Black Swan pub. It's great to see new galleries in the area (for some reason York seems to have few considering what a beautiful city it is and how many visitors it attracts each year). The New School House is carrying some of the finest ceramics we have seen in the area - and we wish them all the success for the future...

In Deep

This is our first year living here at the Lund, and now, moving from Autumn through to the beginning of winter, we are learning some more new things...

Like the fact that, when it rains a lot after the leaves have just fallen from the trees, then the pond outlet gets blocked, it floods. Then the water starts to back up the inlets to the pond - which includes our sewage biodigester. So I spent much of last night, in the dark with a big stick trying to unblock the pond outflow. But it was worth the effort - when I finally found it and cleared it it was like a huge gurgling bath emptying for a couple of hours... fantastic noise!

And with the leaves falling, the colours change in the garden. The bark on the beach trees has finally turned bright white, showing up the contrast with the red dogwood...


But mainly, at the moment, it is just the gray and brown of rain and mud!

The Northern Art Show

This week I have taken a few days off work with the aim of hanging the next show in good time, rather than working right up until the last minute as is far too easy to do. And this time it paid off. Our reward was the chance to take a family day out together - something we don't manage to do very often.

So, Debbie, Finn and I headed off to the Northern Art Show in Harrogate. Last year we took a stand for Lund Gallery. It was our first venture into the world of art fairs, and I think we did look a little 'fresh faced'. We took a lot of effort to set up with shelving, cabinets, ceramics and paintings all arranged like a mini Lund Gallery. But it looked like the 'norm' was to turn up with some paintings and just hang them on the partition walls, without too much extra fuss. Anyhow - the main thing was that we had a great time, and even managed to cover the costs (which not everyone managed to do...)

I am glad that the art show was back in Harrogate, and I hope it becomes a regular feature. The more successful art based events in Yorkshire, the better. If it runs again next year we will aim to be there - but this year with having a child, moving house and extending the gallery it was just too much to contemplate.

So now Debbie is framing up her work to hang in the show. As soon as it is up, I'll be up the ladders adjusting the lighting and replacing some bulbs.

And now I'll be heading out to feed the boiler... With the colder weather coming in it is eating more wood chip. It does take an effort to feed, but the smell of the smoke drifting around the barns behind the cottage is wonderful. And the thin pale line rising from the chimney is somehow comforting to see in the pale light just before dawn - 'The boiler is still running - phew'.

Sublime Landscapes

Work from Jonathan Shearer and Michelle Knight turned up at the gallery a couple of days ago - very exciting! For this show we have taken the decision to put as much information and as many images as possible up on our website - so please do take a look...

Debbie's Blog so far...

It’s wonderful to be starting to get a bit of time back in the studio after 9 months, although I am fully aware that Motherhood means an end to long luxurious periods spent pondering things before brush hits paper.


The attached picture of my studio is remarkably illustrative of my studio time up until recently – namely small hours snatched here and there, often at night or in that slightly woolly sleep deprived state that all new parents are familiar with. A couple of commissions have given me healthy deadlines to encourage my return sooner rather than later – the artists’ ability to procrastinate is another entirely different topic which deserves its own session..!

Recently a couple of lovely occurrences at the gallery served to remind me of what a wonderfully small world the creative one is.

Last week a couple of gallery regulars and past customers popped into the gallery with some friends who were breaking their journey south to Wales from Scotland having delivered some work to an exhibition. After some time I enquired as to the name of the lady with whom I had been chewing the fat to which she answered ,”oh you probably won’t have heard of me…”

Turns out this artist was Mary Loyd Jones. I think she was quite shocked to learn that my student sketchbooks contained post cards of Mary’s work which I had first seen hanging in an exhibition at Leeds City Art Gallery 15 or so years ago. Furthermore I also discovered that Mary is currently working on a project with painter Roger Cecil, another painter whose work I strongly identify with and admire.

The other occurrence was during the recent preview to Kate Wickam’s show. Kate had bravely made the journey up from East Sussex to be present at the preview. An hour or so into proceedings and a relatively elderly couple introduced themselves to Kate. Turns out that Kate had been a bridesmaid at this couples wedding when she was about 6 years old, over 40 years ago. The couple who are on our mailing list from an exhibition last year received the invite and deduced that this must be the same Kate Wickam who they knew had gone on to study ceramics. A lot of catching up ensued and resulted in the purchase of two lovely pieces of Kate’s work – a lovely end to the day…

Next week its hopefully off to Leeds with Finn to see the Hughie O’Donaghue show before it disappears.