The End of the Line

I have deliberately chosen the above painting of Jac and I from my private collection as it is quite appropriate.

I have been very lucky in having had two modestly successful careers. Although I have been painting all my life I have only been full time since 2003. I have no idea how many paintings I have painted in all  but I have sold in excess of one thousand one hundred of them. This has meant painting 5-6 days a week. I have thoroughly enjoyed this and have been lucky to meet some wonderful people both customers and other artists. My paintings have been bought by all groups of people from some very well known personalities to a pair of children who wanted a painting for their mom at Christmas (not a profit in that one!). I have been supported in this by my good lady Alex who has done all my framing, run the business, exhibitions tax...

I have blogged on pretty much a daily basis for 7 years. I hope that someone has enjoyed reading them.

Anyway I will get to the point. We have decided to call it a day and officially finish officially at the end of the financial year. In effect we will be winding down up to that point. My paintings will no longer be available in any gallery.. I may do a bit of painting and sketching for pleasure.

I regret not being able to pass on what I have learnt over the years but there again I am a hopeless teacher and have little patience.

So I think this may be the last of my blogs. I still have some paintings and a few mounted prints available for sale and should you wish to view these I can be contacted by email markcoxba@gmail.com.

Appropriately my final link is Travelling Wilburys

Mixed fortunes

We had a good day out in Cardiff yesterday. Taking the coach makes for a heavy day but all considered neither of us are too bad today.

We met up with our eldest daughter and bumped into a good number of friends including artist Helen Elliot who had a lovely display of her work in the centre.

Well Wales didn't manage it again but they did put it a good effort. I was very impressed by Scotland particularly as I had a Scottish Grandfather.

As for today a quiet day ....

A Walk on the Beach in winter.

My post yesterday explained that I have been looking at a number of works and have decided to finish or take them back under the paint brush.

 This is another. I was quite happy with the start of it but felt it could happily take more interest. It has been sat in the corner of the studio until this week. I have now worked on the sky added the birds and the figures.

Painting of the Nunney Castle visiting Carmarthen.

It is often said that a painting is not finished merely abandoned. Well it is quite true. I get to a point and think that's okay but I will look at it with fresh eyes tomorrow. I go back and look at it then I ask Alex. Alex is not an artist but I trust her views implicitly. She will often say this is wrong or it needs some work here ...or she may say perfect!

After that the painting is generally allowed to dry and during that time I may look at it and think, "If I started that again I would do this or that."It is a good way to improve your work in any case. I am my own harshest critic but not necessarily in a negative way.

To get to the point a few paintings have been around the house that I have been looking at and thinking I must alter that ...This is something of a big decision if they are framed. They are generally inset in foam mount board taped to a double mount. They are then put in a glass fronted frame and have waterproof sealed backing that is also taped. The tape is not your general masking tape and will ruin a board pulling it off. Now the biggest issue is that it is Alex that will have to re-frame it! I don't take these decisions lightly!

Anyway I decided I had a bit of work that could be done to improve the above painting of The Nunney Castle visiting Carmarthen. I moved the crowd away from the smoke box to give a clean contrast with the yellow of the shed. I improved the lettering on the smoke box ie. B80. I worked some glazes into the engine itself. I changed the colour of the sky to emphasise the smoke. The sky had been grey. I also added mor contrast in the ballast in the foreground. The painting had been fine but now I am very pleased with it. It is likely I will keep the painting.

Painting of Winter in the Towy Valley

I finally got around to framing this painting today of Towy Valley in the winter. It shows St. Davids Church Abergwili and Merlin's Hill in the distance.

I  enjoy looking at paintings and feel an artist should be paid their worth for the work involved. I have always been happy with what I have received for my work. However lets be honest how can a painting be worth £350 million pounds? Our values are pretty screwed really.  Leonardo da Vinci was a genius but is a painting allegedly by him worth that? I can't say I would want a print of it on my wall or even the original! Anyway I am sure he would find the funny side of it.

Unwanted

This is an old painting of Molly at Hay on Wye. It has been around for ages, mainly on my wall. It is a bit unwanted and never found an owner. There is also a sad story about Molly herself which I won't go into here.

Anyway I decided ruthlessly that I needed the frame for another painting which has sold. Although I am fond of the painting, room dictates that eventually I will probably dispatch the painting itself.

A break in the clouds over Paxton's Tower

This is an old painting done in a slightly different style to my usual. It shows Paxton's Tower in the Towy Valley and is sold.

This last few weeks have been pretty quiet. That is not unusual at this time of year and I can't complain as it has overall been a good year.

Universal Colliery

The above painting was a commission.  It is a painting of the terrible mining disaster at Universal Colliery, Senghenydd where 440 men lost their lives, 14th October 1914.

I was commissioned to do by a descendant of one of the miners who survived the disaster. I struggled to find a view showing both pit heads but eventually managed to work out the relatvie positions. The image of the woman waiting for news was one taken at the time.

I have been down a mine and crawled along a coal face and I have nothing but respect for those who worked in those terrible conditions. It is not something I could do or could have done.

Howards End

We were watching TV last night when a preview came on stating that "Howards End" was coming on in the near future.

"Alex, Oh good that hasn't been on for a long time. They must be doing a follow up series."

I looked at her puzzled for a minute and then laughed,

 "You're thinking about,"Howards Way the boat business on the Solent with Kate O'Mara."
(this was last shown in about 1990!).


She then said, "Oh no you're not going to put this on your Blog?" 

Would I?
 

Anyway the picture above is of boats in Saundersfoot Harbour, seems appropriate. I can't remember if it sold or it went in a clearout.

Link Howards Way

The Lesser of Two Easels

Just to frighten the children here is a photo of me in my "studio". It is not a large studio  but has excellent light. I tend to have three easels on the go at any one time and own 6 different types of easel along with two pochade boxes. Incidentally I am getting rid of the studio easel on the left in the picture to free up some space. So if anyone is interested and can collect £30 will do it.

 A pint mug of tea and the radio will keep me going for three or four hours. I should say it is probably not a good idea to eat or drink when using oil paints. I paint with the window open to reduce the fumes, even so Jac lies just outside the door and only ventures in to tell me it is time for his walk and then he tends to sneeze. You can see I am quite a clean painter but my jumpers are always my oldest and I have been known to answer the door or even go to Town with a blue or red streak of paint on my face or in my hair.

Wear your Poppy with Pride

I always buy a poppy. It is an outward sign of an inward feeling of respect and gratitude for those generations before us who sacrificed themselves in order that we can live in a free and liberal democracy.

There are those of course ( a few in number ) who try to misrepresent the meaning of the red poppy for their own ends. I am not sure whether this makes me sad or angry.

Anyway the painting above is my own tribute

To Blog or not to Blog

Last night I attended the AGM of our co-operative. A discussion ensued about the merits of Social Media as a means of marketing and selling.

For what it is worth these are my own views which are based on experience.

You need to know what you are trying to achieve when you undertake anything. What is your objective? How are you going to measure it and how do you know if you have achieved it?

If you take out an advert online or in a magazine how do you know if it has been a success. Have you had more visitors to your site, store, more sales? Could the money have been used more effectively?
Just sticking a finger in the air and thinking this is a good idea is not good enough and frankly unprofessional.

If you spend time on social media how much does it cost you. If you spend 40 hrs a year how many paintings or widgets could you have made in that 40 hours and what value would they be?

All this may sound like a lot of work but really if you are in business you should have this information to hand in any case. How much is a days painting worth? What do you sell? Where do the sales come from, online, gallery, exhibition, private...With a spreadsheet this is all pretty simple.

Now I have found adverts in papers, magazines have virtually no impact on my sales. My website does bring in sales. My Daily Blog has been invaluable over the years and along with exhibitions has been my biggest source of enquiries and sales. Twitter has and no significant impact but I still tweet because it is not time consuming. Selling cards has minimal profit itself, but it does generate sales up to 10% .

The painting above was the painting I used on my first Blog over 7 years ago. If you are tempted to blog I would suggest it is daily or at least weekly and make it interesting otherwise readers get bored quickly. It is a commitment and doing a few blogs now and then will be most likely a waste of effort.