Welcome to another edition of ArtWise, our periodic newsletter for our regular customers.
I have to admit that I rather enjoy watching “Master Chef” on the TV and have been known to watch “The Great British Bakeoff”. However, I’m not so sure about watching people grow vegetables! This is, of course a matter of personal taste (I’m not talking about being a vegetarian!) and many of you may have been shouting, “but that’s one of my favourites”. I have a sneaking feeling, though, that if you are reading this we may have a common interest some other potential viewing, and that would be a programme involving painting, sculpture or one other of the visual arts. There are plenty of ‘Arts’ programmes on the TV, but it seems ages to me since there has been anything on the mainstream channels that actually shows (non-celebrity) artists at work: do you remember The Water Colour Challenge all those years ago?
There is the Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year, but his has been a lone beacon and unfortunately on a subscription channel. Surely it’s about time those who commission TV programmes looked again at a popular activity that gives many of us a great deal of enjoyment: perhaps they think that painting, drawing and sculpture are minority activities that are too esoteric to be of general interest?
Perhaps you prefer to spend your time actually doing art, rather than watching it like a spectator sport, but I bet you have this feeling in your bones that more people should be inspired to take part. We know from events like Art on the Street in Maidenhead, that people love to see pictures and talk to the artists themselves. I reckon that the time has come for the cameras to come to your studio!
The other day I was delighted to see one of our more long standing and mature customers in the shop. “Great to see you” I greeted him. “I see that you are still painting”. “Yes”, he replied, “There’s a Still Life in the old dog yet!”
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