Looking back

Looking back, at the time of the exhibition I didn't particularly think of it as a good one. I hadn't sold any pictures, and that is usually my marker for a successful show. But I know that that is sometimes the way of these things, and at least I had had really good responses to the work I had taken. And overall the whole group hadn't sold a lot, but that sometimes happens too.....

At least I had taken some cards and they had sold, as they always do, so I had a bit of income back to set against the hanging fees, the effort, the time, and energy I had put into the work I had exhibited.

So, I might have driven away from the exhibition a little despondent, a little more muted than I had cheerily arrived there at the start of it.

And arrived home to put my artwork away, sort out the unsold cards and got on with the mutae of life as one does......

But, what I hadn't realised was the seeds I'd set.

The ones that start with a business card..........

During the week I had two phone calls. One from Stuart Haywood the South Derbyshire historian, who wants to be drawn by me again as he loves the other artwork I have done for him, and seeing my art and me in person had prompted him to commission me again to draw him. And there was another idea he had for a painting too, but he needs to sort out some old photos before I can do that for him, so that will happen in due course.

The other phone call was from a middle aged chap who had picked up my business card and contacted me with a view to me doing a watercolour of him in the nude. He came in the week for me to take more details and to discuss poses with him. As he was about to disrobe he hesitated and said ...."Er, I've...... got ....pierced nipples..." to which I replied,  with a grin "That's fine, I've seen worse..... " to which he ruefully replied "Well, I've had that pierced as well, but I took the ring out....." And I replied with a bigger grin "Well you could have left it in if you'd preferred...." But, no, he was happy with the way he was. So, that is the next painting in the pipeline, sooo to speak..............

And just to add to the joy of a busy week, I received the same email that the secretary of Ashby Guild of Artists sent out to all members. And in it I read that the slips that had been given to all the visitors to the exhibition asking them to name their favourite painting at the exhibition, which made them look at them a lot closely and interact with the show more,  had been totted up and the results were..


"You will see that Jackie's "Looking Back" was clearly the public's favourite picture with 19 votes, her overall votes being 25. It is interesting to see that nearly everyone was represented which shows that the general standard of the exhibition was high (and some actually said that on their slip). In perhaps half a dozen cases out of the 228 slips received, people selected more than one picture and prioritised their vote, so in true British tradition a 'first past the post' decision was made in those cases."



So, that certainly made my day, and made my week!!!!!! YAY!!!!!

So, I will show the drawing here. It is a pencil drawing on cartridge paper, and about as far away as you can get from erotic art! It shows old age, and a life lived shown in the lines and marks of the graphite pencil. It is a picture I am delighted to have drawn, and I took many hours to do it. But I will also mention that I am very aware of copyright issues, and the drawing I did (some time ago) was done from an image I didn't take. I have no idea of the photographers name, or how old the photo is, so I can't credit them with it.

The picture is here, and is very aptly named. It sums up my week, as well as being totally apt for the drawing, and the subject matter....... It's called     "Looking back" !!