JUNE 2023

SATURDAY 3.6.23

Martin and Alison arrive just after 6. It’s so good to see them both after a considerable time. They have just been on an eight mile walk after visiting Sudeley Castle. They have rented a cottage in the Cotswolds and tomorrow are going to Snowshill and a walk in that region. We’ve known them for many year; Martin commissioned a large dinner party painting after missing one I’d had in an exhibition at the PortalGallery. At that time he was an investigative journalist on The Observer and was a recipient of the investigative journalist of the year award. But I think his passion had always been art so he seamlessly made the transition perhaps after he discovered the missing panel of the Mappa Mundi in the crypt of Hereford Cathedral. Over the years he has become the country’s expert on the life of Vincent van Gogh having written at least eight books on different times and aspects of the life. So it’s very nice that he has coming bearing one on Vincent’s homes as  a gift for us. He’s written books on other artists too like Durer, Antony Green and even one on my work. He’s the London correspondent for The Art Newspaper and does a weekly blog for them on van Gogh. Alison has also been a writer and journalist all her life and later in the studio she points to a rather faded copy of an Illustrated London News cover on which she was a journalist at the time when Henry Porter the then editor, commissioned me to paint the Christmas cover which was a huge honour as even van Gogh had done illustrations for them. Alison is now working voluntarily for charity (writing and doing their website etc). It works with hospitals and has raised money for instance for art therapists to work with children who are very nervous about having operations at Southampton Hospital. Immediately on arrival Martin endears himself even more so by saying “this must be the most beautiful house in Bishops Cleeve.” He asks if they can see the studio and Alison is particularly interested in my painting Al’d’riyah, painted whilst I was working on the fifteen large commissions for Mohamed Jameel who was the man who endowed the V&A with $18m to refurbish their Islamic galleries. Martin comments on my large, shaped Noah’s Ark painting that there seem to be three chimpanzees swinging from the rafters so I suggest one is perhaps the offspring of the other two. Richard is very pleased that Martin is so enthusiastic about him being in the process of compiling the catalogue raisonné saying it will help in all sorts of ways. which makes R very happy. Martin says it must be printed in hard copy a few years before it goes online when perhaps God willing I will even have added more works in the gap.

SUNDAY 4.6.23

Back in the studio I’ve now transferred my energies to a small 12 x 12 inch painting that I started a few weeks ago for Cheltenham Open Studios to exhibit in the Garden Gallery for their ‘taster’ exhibition. I need to complete it by mid week when Richard will deliver it to them.

MONDAY 5.6.23

Continuing work on the little Angel and Owl leading Bear. It is difficult fitting it in with the exhibition work but as Patron of COS I do like to join with the two hundred or so artists who will be exhibiting their work in their own studios or spaces.

TUESDAY 6.6.23

Richard goes over to Gloucester Royal for an appointment with his consultant. Lymphoma is a cancer of the blood so we are relieved that his blood tests are good. He does however pick up a small area of thickening in one of the pleural sacks that are around the lungs so he just wants specialists in that department to check it out. So the next consultant meeting is at the beginning of August.

Call from Mark confirming that Trinity House have sold In The Studio and Migranti.

WEDNESDAY 7.6.23

R cycles into Cheltenham with my little Bear Angel and Owl painting - it just fits in his pannier and manages to arrive at 5 to 2 with just minutes to spare. He was very pleased as this morning he had a lovely long ‘phone call from Nathan who all being well the film that he’s been preparing for goes ahead, will employ R to do some large drawings. He picks up the programmes for the Bishops Cleeve Street Fair on the way back in which they have very generously devoted seven pages to the illustrated article on my work. But he notices in the Introduction that it says as well as opening the fair I’ll be judging two competitions one for pre school primary and junior making models in silver and a photography competition for eleven to eighteen year olds in the Tithe Barn and that I will also be exhibiting “some of her fantastic work” . So well done to R for spotting it. All of which I’m delighted to do but now need to think of a hanging plan, transportation etc.

THURSDAY 8.6.23

Into Cheltenham to give the speech at the launch of COS. It’s a new venue for this year’s launch which is a huge coffee roastery and grindery so the ceiling is very high. But first we pop into the Lansdown artists’ studios which is in the same area of former industrial/railway buildings. As we go up the stairs and through this large space we note how it has been divided with wooden screens giving the artist their own separate but interconnected spaces. I would think they would find it an exciting place in which to work although probably very cold in the winter whereas this evening it is still gloriously warm and sunny and there are people still outside Ritual Coffee Roasters.

FRIDAY 8

Working on a couple of older paintings (that I have bought back) for Richard to hang with a few newer works for the Exhibition in the Tythe Barn on Sunday morning

SATURDAY 10

Continue on the same two paintings.

SUNDAY 11

Open the 25th silver anniversary Bishop’s Cleeve Street Fair. The procession of brass band followed by the parade of various cadets stops in front of my podium with great precision. I tell them how wonderful it is to see them all here in our historic village  for this special celebration which runs from the old Tithe Barn where people used to pay their tithes centuries ago up to our beautiful ancient church of St Michael and All Angels;.Where teddy bears are going to be parachuted from its tower.  and how fortunate we are to have the string of shops running in between where you can buy anything from a house to a haircut. A pharmacutical at Badham’s the chemist to the best fruit and veg from Arnold’s or a fine pair of shoes from George Lewis opposite. And how organising a fair like this is the culmination of a lot of hard work by the street fair committee team etc.

We then make our way down to the Tithe Barn where the children’s art competition work is laid out ready for me to judge and Richard has hung a wall of my work earlier today. The children’s silver model creations are charming and Louis comes to make a little video of me talking about them whilst outside there are stunning dance displays. Hobbycraft have donated prizes which looked like large wigwams they can assemble and colour in so the two brothers who win those look suitably pleased and excited. One is six and the other is ten. I award one of my books to a very nice girl who tell me she had been at my talk at Woodmancote primary school. Darren one of the fair organisers sends up some booktokens so they all have prizes. A splendid samba band plays outside after the dancers have finished so in between talking to people who come to look at the work, we watch them. I’m pleased and fascinated to see that many of the players of the drums are older women who are obviously enjoying making the music, some of whom come up to look at the paintings after they finish performing.

Richard starts to pack up at about 4 so I manage to get a little painting done in the evening

MONDAY 12.6.23

Now working intensely to get enough at an work to an interesting state for people to see at this coming weekends Open studio where I have promised works in progress for my forthcoming London show that opens on October 3rd

TUESDAY 13.6.23

Ditto

WEDNESDAY 14.6.23

Into Cheltenham for 5 o’clock as President of the Friends I give the welcoming speech at the AGM. It’s wonderful to see such a good turnout and so many familiar faces. Beforehand I chatted to Liz Giles our treasurer who said how good Ro is at building bridges and Ro had told me what a good relationship they now have with the Lisa and the Cheltenham Trust. Ro is very good at thanking all the members of the committee, the trustees of the friends of the Wilson, for all their talents and skills. Afterwards Lisa does a presentation in which she explains that whilst the victorian rooms in the museum are being renovated and upgraded, their contents will be stored in the upper galleries of the newer part of The Wilson. We’re back home in time to do a little more work in the studio before and after dinner.

THURSDAY 15.6.23

Karen Organ from the oncology department comes to bring some leaflets etc for us to display in the studio where any sales of books cards etc at this weeks Open Studio will go towards. Shortly after she has gone someone else arrives called Kirsty and asks if I might display leaflets advertising Jackie and Laurence Llewelyn Bowen’s garden party fpr LINC and Cobalt.

Back in the studio working on the large triangular shaped piece Fire in the Forest for my London show so that it can be displayed as a work in progress over this weekend.

Richard has mowed and cut back in the studio garden as it does tend to get rather overgrown with only us to tend it and the house garden.

FRIDAY 16

Richard carries over some of the wrought iron furniture from the house garden to the studio garden, where he has made considerable progress. He also wheels quite  lot of planted pots over for us to dot around and I plant geraniums and daisies in some of the old pots that already live there. Richard has also been hanging the paintings in progress and making labels ready for tomorrow.

After we stop for tea he cycles down to buy a few more things for the raffle hamper the basket for which arrived this morning.  As he goes down to the village he chases me up to the studio as there is one more painting that I wanted to try show but had only got the background colour in some months ago. So I make an intense effort to paint the bones of a composition in before dinner, then working until 3am manage to take it a bit further so feel quite pleased when I call Richard to show him and he cuts around a shape that I have indicated with his jig saw!

SATURDAY 17.6.23

Lots of lovely people, many of whom I haven’t met before, including two women who have come from Gloucester who said they had learned about my work at the art classes they used to attend given by Fleure Bingham Smith. I point to a little interior painting on the wall and tell them that she used to own that, which they knew as she had apparently taken it in to the art class to show her students and she had been very proud to own it. Sadly Fleure died fairly recently and I bought the painting back from her husband  who was very concerned as to what would happen to it after his demise so I offered to buy it. I think I only met Fleure once as she was the friend of a friend and they both worked at the Steiner School.  Her husband thought she had bought it from the Museum.

It was particularly nice to see Christopher, his daughter Alicia and his Dad Adrian who I haven’t seen for many years. Christopher and his sister Katie used to often play with Henrietta and Nathan when they were children as Faith their Mum is also a friend. And my lovely friend from art school days, Janet and her husband David who had come with the most beautiful yellow rose plant as an early birthday gift. We always reminisce and talk about our mutual friend Joyce and each other’s families. Their eldest, Aiden, is a GP and his eldest daughter has just got into Camberwell to study Art, a very talented girl. Martin comes all the way from Bristol even though he’s coming back tomorrow with others; it’s always good to get his feedback on the paintings and one of the visitors recognises him from when he was studying music composition under Martin at Bristol University. He had written to me some time ago to see if I would bring along a painting to a piano performance he was giving, for him to interpret but unfortunately the pieces I was working on at the time were rather too large. Our lovely friends Ian and Maeve come, having returned only recently from a trip to Perth in Australia. I’m delighted when they buy my little penguins in aid of the oncology department at the hospital. Sue and Andy arrive after attending Sebastion their little grandsons Birthday party it is always so lovely to see them and get their feed back I always heed their advise.

SUNDAY 18.6.3

It’s equally busy today. Martin comes again bringing his beautiful daughter Seraphina and a friend and her daughter Lily, who is studying at the Courtauld. Wallace also, so there’s a lot of  discussion on the paintings and at one point we sit outside in the garden to do so. until we feel a smattering of raindrops.  So touched as Edward and Alyson come and also Peta Hoyle, who spots a watercolour leaning up against the wall of an urban industrial cityscape Manchester Urban, that I painted in the car en route to Huddersfield and asks how much it is as she would like to buy it for Sarah (her daughter)’s forthcoming birthday. Sarah did a study on my work for her A level art but now lives in Singapore with her husband Drummond and their three exquisite children. This means we’ve made a little more for the Oncology new build appeal. Added to which Wallace asks if he can buy my pen and ink drawing Beauty and the Beast which had also been propped up on the floor against the wall

It was a real joy to see Jenny Scarbro who had driven all the way from Weston-super-Mare. Jenny volunteers at the RWA e mailed later  to say how much she had enjoyed it and chatting to Martin and his party. We also see Belinda Rimmer the poet and writer who last year used my painting Oh the joys of family life on her chapbook ‘Keeping Silence’.

Wallace stays on for another cup of tea and some of Richard’s cakes. He’d made three Mary Berry tray bakes - lemon drizzle, fruit and ginger. I sampled all tree and they were very delicious. Wallace leaves with his new acquisition and one of the flyers for Jackie Llewelyn Bowen’s garden party in August which he thinks he might bring Judy to as she had chatted to Laurence at our Christmas Open Studio.

Our new neighbours who have moved into the house at the end where Max lived calls in. She is also an artist and is very pleased to have an outbuilding as her studio.

MONDAY 19.6.23

In the evening we go to Gloucester for the visual arts festival at Gloucestershire College in the glorious Llanthony Priory. As we walk up through the grounds there’s a wonderful atmosphere of celebration with students coming in and out of a row of large tepee-type tents with open fronts where with music emanating from within  youngsters are enjoying their cans of beer and dancing. Inside the historic aged hall there’s a brilliant display of the students’ end of course work. . A stunning dress from the fashion department inspired by food packaging which has been printed and appliqued  the sleeves being constructed like baked bean tins. A fascinating triptych painting with a contemporary take on religious themes. intruiging film where the protagonist is underwater in a bath at the climax and an exquisitely animated film by a young man who we meet as we are walking over to the photography exhibition in one of the warehouses which is also a bar. The young man in question is autistic so Robbie says they have to be very particular about where he is working so that he wasn’t agitated by certain noises or similar. He tells me he was home educated and has got a place on the degree course at Farnham. A beautiful young man who is absolutely passionate about animation.

TUESDAY 20.6.23

Working intensely again on the Street Party - Seven Ages which although the composition is organised, still needs intensifying, building the colour and strengthening the tone etc.

WEDNESDAY 21n

Nice reply from Julia Jenkins, chief fundraiser at the Cobalt unit in Cheltenham, thanking me for the advice I’d given her about the sculpture project that they are hoping to do as a fundraiser.

THURSDAY 22

E mail from Tiffany with the dates that they will need images of the paintings by, 8 August. Also when they will need the paintings in the gallery, 11 September.

FRIDAY 23

Lovely e mail from Martin Bailey saying he’d be delighted to help Richard with the catalogue raisonné.

SATURDAY 24

Street Party/Seven Ages is beginning to look much stronger now; working across the top of the frame adding extra detail in and on the windows

SUNDAY 25

Richard sends first rendering of his map/drawing to Nathan, having worked from the script and Nathan’s photographs of the landscape in Scotland and maps.

MONDAY 26

Nathan responds to Richard’s map/drawing saying it’s a brilliant start.

I’m back on The Ark, adding parrots, parakeets and other birds

TUESDAY 27

Richard goes to meet Henrietta from the train which was very crowded but luckily she managed to find a seat. It’s such a joy to see her, looking bright and beautiful. I take the opportunity when we’re passing through my upstairs studio in the house, to get her reaction to the three larger paintings on easels with a view to which image she felt would be most appropriate for promoting the exhibition. We have a lovely supper of Richard’s gravadlax and pomegranate salad. She has come down especially for my birthday tomorrow though will have to work remotely and be on a zoom call with her colleague Neil at Goldsmiths in the morning.

WEDNESDAY 28.6.23

Very touched as Henrietta seems to have placed herself in front of the double portrait of her and Nathan, the painting that was in the National Portrait Gallery exhibition not long after it was painted and actually belongs to her - Nathan has a corresponding painting of them both playing chess. I remember my New York dealer offering them a very good price for them at the time and tickets to a Madonna concert. Nathan has his hanging in his house in Ramsgate while Henrietta decided hers would be safer here while the boys were growing up.

My sister Gill arrives at about one, having driven all the way down from the village of Blunham in Bedfordshire. She as bought me a most beautiful weeping larch tree which she managed to carry from her car and I thought for a moment it was another person standing outside. It’s so good to see her for the first time since Christmas. Richard cooks us tuna steaks with a delicious hot salsa and fresh fruit salad and a ginger birthday cake. Henrietta gives me the catalogue from the exhibition, Heine an Klimt that she saw at Tate Modern which looks at her work alongside Mondrian. And an exquisitely patterned in glorious colours throw. Gill and I had done our regular walk around the garden before lunch as I try to get her to distinguish some of the plants I’ve been nurturing but not sure what they are. She leaves about 5, going to Stratford to visit a friend en route home. Richard takes Henrietta to the staton at about half past five.

I have a nice call from Nathan who has sent me a splendid book on the black artist Noah Davis who was the brother of Kalihl, an American director that Nathan worked on the Sampha film with. He’s off to Scotland shortly working on another film.

Samuel rings to say happy birthday at the same time so we swap ‘phones and Richard talks to Nathan about the film and I have a very long chat with Samuel lasting over an hour - he’s a great conversationalist. His Mum, who has arrived back is surprised that he’s still speaking to me as Kev had told her he was on the ‘phone to me before he left to pick Henrietta up from the station.

Finish the evening working in the studio on the large street party painting, the Seven Ages.

THURSDAY 29.6.23

‘Phone call from Isaac wishing me belated birthday greetings and saying thank you for the money I had sent. He’d been at his girlfriend’s last night, they are both in the lower sixth.

I notice Richard’s ‘phone is chiming so decide to answer it as doesn’t seem to be around. It’s a nurse at the Cobalt unit asking if Richard could go for an appointment at either 8.15 or 9.15 am tomorrow and I say he’ll go to the 9.15 for a PET/CT scan.

FRIDAY 30.6.23

Richard had to have fasted for a few hours but then has to be injected with radioactive sugars that will enable the scans to pick up if there is any activity around the lower part of the pleural sack of one lung where the previous CT scan had detected a thickening. This could be to do with the lymphoma but that is more unusual so they are checking him out. When he gets back he has to keep his distance from me for six hours so we sit in the garden and talk.

Write a long letter to the Administrators of a company who have some of my work in their gallery as well as owing me for two or three paintings that they have sold, sending photographs and information as the director is not being co-operative with them. Artists are very vulnerable to and reliant on the galleries honesty to pay and promote. Some galleries are brilliant at doing this like my London dealers who always pay promptly but there is a dangerous trap that others sometimes fall into of forgetting that they have to pay their artists, who have actually created the works they are dependant on. I can see how easy it would be for them to see the large amounts of money that come in with great pleasure but it’s fatal not to pay your debts on time especially if you’re investing the money in other things. But it is very sad for all concerned.