How time flies!

Well its about time I caught up with this blog as it's been seriously neglected for far too long!

following my last blog in 2007 I did get accepted by Battle arts group summer exhibition and sold four of the five paintings I submitted which was a fantastic boost for my flagging morale.

by the end of the year I was thrilled to have accepted a handful of commissions via my website and I started 2008 in a positive mood with a steady flow of pet prtrait commissions in the order book.

I served on the East Sussex Arts Club committee as the exhibition secretary throughout 2008 and was proud to organise the annual exhibition throughout May which was a well attended event where a total of ten sales made a welcome change of fortune for the club and helped in raising it's local profile.

As in previous years I helped organise the St Michaels hospice art exhibition and again although sales were down slightly it was an enjoyable and successful event.

I booked a stall at the local Blue Cross open day and dog show and exhibited a selection of my animal related portraits and a prize draw for a pet portrait raised £70 for the centre the winner unfortunately failed to claim their prize.
2008 continued to bring new commissions as my website visitor stats increased and between september and Christmas I worked flat out to complete orders in time for festive gifts.

July 2007

So far so good I'm hoping that my pictures have been accepted as I've not heard anything to the contrary, also had a nice surprise in that my work has been shortlisted in a cover competition at www.artsupplies.co.uk the next stage of the competition is an online vote so please take a look and vote for me.

Hospice exhibition

The St Michaels Hospice summer art exhibition was a great success although the presence of Stuart Farndale was sadly missed by all.
Stuart was the driving force behind the exhibition for the last eight years and credit goes to Sue,his widow for courageously making this years event such a success over £2000 was raised towards the good work of the hospice.
I personally sold two of my paintings and enjoyed helping out over the weekend.
The standard of work exhibited gets better and better each year.
Look out for next years bigger and better summer exhibition!
Next weekend I hope to get some work accepted for the Battle and district arts club exhibition which takes place from 27th July to 4th August at the memorial hall on Battle high street.
I am told that selection for this exhibition can be tough so fingers and toes crossed!

Busy with summer exhibitions

This weekend sees the annual St michaels hospice summer exhibition at Maze Hill St Leonards on sea, I have eight paintings on display amongst a record entry of over 400 works by local artists, 20% of all proceeds go into hospice funds so it is a good cause to support!
The exhibition starts at 10-30am on saturday 14th july and sunday 15th July entry is £1
If you are local to Hastings please support this event and hopefully we will sell lots of pictures.

Also on saturday 14th July I am supporting Pett Parish silent auction in aid of thest Mary & st Peter church by donating a print and a pet portrait promise so good luck to them I hope they raise lots of cash!

I am entering a selection of my work to the Battle and District Arts Group summer exhibition (July27th-August 4th) hopefully they will make it through selection and into the show.
This is a hectic month for me with lots of events to submit completed works to and pressures to complete work for future shows and commissions.

April /May 2007

Exhibitions

Since I posted my first blog I have exhibited my work in a joint exhibition with a young abstract painterat the White Rock Gallery Hastings.

The show was a great learning curve for me and although sales did not materialise I made lots of usefiul contacts and was encouraged by visitors comments, thank you.

I am now about to exhibit more works at several open shows throughout the summer and will continue to update my website on a regular basis http://www.pettpaintings.com/

New Beginings!

I have always painted in my spare time but am soon to be joining the ranks of the unemployed and am forced to attempt to use my talents in a more sustained and hopefully profitable way.
Where to start?
I have begun to create a web site www.pettpaintings.com which, I must say as a technophobe I am finding quite a challenge! however after a while it is getting to the stage where I 'm not too ashamed of it and have opened it up for viewing.
Meantime am spending every available moment painting new additions.