We have now been on hold for over a month due to work and weather. The work part is the fun part of the delay but only if all the work sells. So far so good….and having now written this blog,,,,,spoiler alert….they did. But as always it is not as simple as just a sale. especially when the artworks have to be shipped from the isles of Scilly to my storage container unpacked, checked, then re packaging the sold artworks and then organising a courier to transport the artworks to there new homes. And then some meetings with gallery owners and an unexpected contact from an interior designer led on to further meetings and sales and so further delaying my journey to the start of my next artist in residence in Ireland……It’s a lot of juggling….

It all takes time and then the weather also causes delay. Being on the Isles of Scilly throughout the pandemic has been great but the headache of transporting artworks from there and sometimes back, art materials as well has proven challenging at times. Especially on occassion when the artworks go missing, fortunately they were found and they all ended up where they needed to be.

So due to several last minute sales I decided I needed all my available artworks back on the mainland. Though Gallery Tresco has a number of my artworks which will remain with the gallery.

And so the first delay was due to storms prevent the paintings being shipped……hey ho

It has mean’t  a lot of back and forth to the storage container ….. and patience too…. but at least the back and forth involved cycling….

First two sales During the tour – Two small drawings

Left – Clearing Skies, Sour Milk Gill waterfall. Graphite, Graphite wash, ink and pencil on paper 28×28 cm 2018, and right – Íoċtar Ċua Contae Chiarraí Eire. 28×28 cm graphite pencil ink scratchy knife and sandpaper on paper 2020. Both unframed and straight out of the sketchbook….. A lady who I met during the spontaneous artist in residence at Castle Hornek Lodge yha bought these two drawings

Second sale of the tour

This painting is fairly large at 90 x 180 cm and was packed with several paintings the same size. So once the 6 crates had been delivered from the Isles of Scilly They had to be unpacked and checked as I had people coming to view the others. And of course 1 crate was left behind so…..further delay’s, but that is part of it as well, I tend to accept those things I cannot change and eventually they seem always to resolve themselves…..

Noctilucent Clouds withThe New Moon, Earth shine, Mercury Jupiter and Saturn. Oil on canvas 90×180 cm 2022 £3400

A typical bike ride

I also had a meeting with the owner curator of the Cottage Gallery which is based just outside Bristol. Who now has access to the artworks in the storage container and so the possibilty of future sales is in place while Aaron and I cycle tour between residencies. The arrangemnt is such that The gallery owner/curator can collect work to show in the Cottage gallery and even bring clients to view the work should they wish.

The other interesting delay was that one box containing 5 artworks was somehow left on the Isles of Scilly – It was something of a problem as that box contained artworks that the owner of the Cottage Gallery was hoping to see and also the interior designer wanted to see and to show to her client’s via a facetime zoom meetingso another ten days went past re organising the delivery of that box. In the end time to the meeting with the interior designer grew so short it was impossible to organise a courier to pick up the box from Penzance quay and deliver it to me at the storage container……I gave up a along time ago becoming frustrated at such things  happening. It’s just life and so is not black and white – it is a rich tapestry of multi coloured chaos of epically wonderfully supurbly exciting things……with just a tad of Oh bugger here we go again……

In the end I did it by taxi, which picked me up from my capsite, took me to Penzance quay, it was a 12 seater taxi so the box fitted really well, then on to the storage container near Lands end airport, where I simply shoved the box into the container, (I planned to cycle back the next day to unpack them) and then the taxi took me back to the campsite I was staying at…..job….done at least for that day’

In fact I gave up the notion of following any kind of plan ages ago because it always changes and change is opportunity and it’s a bit like how I cycle tour anyway, it can and often does change as circumstances change. It is fundamentally about being adaptable…..

On this particular day I am now having to be patient while I await descisions on 5 other potential sales…..

So today I will be packing and posting the two drawings, and doing a little bit of bike maintenance as both my tyre’s are seriously worn and starting to show tiny cracks inbetween what is laughingly left of the tread……I do like wearing out componenets though……

Pause for thought and a pasty….

Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow – mindedness. –Mark Twain

Then to Moushole….and then back to Castle Horneck yha….to eat the fudge

Today I was splashed by a huge wave breaking against the sea wall along Penzance promenade…and now my brakes squeak most loudly…..

But my waterproofs are good, and I was dry…..

Unpacking more paintings today in preparation for a meeting with an interior designer in a few days time….

Today I washed my sleeping bag…..Tomorrow I’ll wash my clothes

In the end it was all worth it ‘Noctilucent Clouds withThe New Moon, Earth shine, Mercury Jupiter and Saturn. Oil on canvas 90×180 cm 2022 was successfully repacked and picked up though I had an 8 hour wait for the courier to come and pick it up, but at least the owner of the storage unit made me cups of tea to break up the time, I also occupied myself by playing chess via chess.com.

And even then the drama did not end. The painting was picked up on the Thursday for an overnight dleivery…..it was not delivered, and the couriers were not returning my call’s to find out why…well it turned out okay in the end the clients e mailed me to say it had been delivered on the Sunday……

You never know quite who you are going to meet during these travels, it is one of the reasons why I cycle tour. So next to me in the campsite is this huge caravan, when I first pitched my tent I had no idea there was anyone staying there it was raining and light was fading fast so I did not pitch too close but nevertheless it seemed so the next morning because well the rest of the campsite is empty, but it did initiate a meeting with a very fine fellow traveller. Eventually we meet and have a chat and the guy invites me round one evening for a cup of tea. He is an interesting guy and has had a very adventurous life being a profesional mountaineer and expedition guide he has climbed all over the world including all the 7000 meter peaks and has taken people on expeditions to the Himalayers, to the North and South Pole to South America, pretty much every where. This guy took Buzz Aldrin to the North Pole in 1998, showed me all the pictures, and he has a signed framed photo of Buzz Aldrin walking on the Moon…. in fact he told me so many stories I can’t possibly write them all down yet, so I will only briefly mention this now and over the next few days I will add one or too more stories about this encounter. He also took Jim Lovall of Apollo 13 fame on an expedition gto the North Pole and one evening while making camp and cooking food, they had been on expedition for a while and were at this point as with Buzz Aldrin become good friends, so as dinner is being prepared he says to Jim, ‘ right I am going to close my eye’s and when I do I want you to say to me….’Houston we have a problem’… And of course Jim Lovall  says the words…..

Be fearless in the pursuit of what sets your soul on fire. – Jennifer Lee

The meeting with the interior designer went really well and the clients bought two from me and one direct from Gallery Tresco. Great stuff…..

They bought the following 2 paintings direct from me …..

Sea and Snow. Oil on canvas 76×152 cm 2021 £2500 – sold

…And the clients chose this one as well….this painting has an unusual title….well not for me though….

Oil on canvas 2022 £1600 – sold

This painting does not have a written title, it is part of a continuing series of artworks inspired from my interest in astronomy, which in the end is just an extension of my unquenchable curiosity about nature. I follow a lot of science stuff and this painting is a response to the Solar and Heliospheric observatory data collection for a period of a month which was the transcribed into a sound that we can all here. The process is called sonofication, The sound lasts only a short time so I pkayed around with it looping it to a length I was happy with. So the title for this painting is that sound. It is what the sun would sound like if it were possible to hear the sun.

And this one from Gallery Tresco….

Misty Day 50×71 cm 2019 £695 sold

So I still had one more work related loose end to sort out. A lovely lady in Amersham bought a huge painting last year…..it also went missing for some time….I think about three weeks in the end. Fortunately Gallery Tresco were able to sort this problem out and the painting eventually arrived, but there was some damage to the surface of the painting and so it was arranged that I would travel to Amersham to access the damage and repair the artwork. In the end the damage turned out to be a strange stain on the canvas, which was not to difficult to sort out in the end. Though I am still somewhat puzzled how that happened as both myslef and Gallery Tresco are certain that the painting was packed and sent in perfect condition.

However a few years before the client had also purchased a painting from up that had also been damage through her children’s play and that was something a litle more difficult to repair as the impacts had cracked the paint creating concentric ring cracks around the impact site. So on my first visit a began the repair work and on this second visit I was then able to finish the repair.

So from Tuesday 8th to Wednesday 9th I was doing this….sorry for the blured image…..

…And again travelling back from London I meet firstly an interesting indivual on the train who renovates vintage bicycles and we had a fascinating talk about bicycles, bicycle maintenance, swapping stories and travel plans. between Truro and Penzance there was a bus replacement survice and I can’t help smiling because I am suddenly reminded of a song by a band called Half Man Half BuscuiT. The song is a particluar favorite of mine…..’National Shite Day’ I  post it on my facebook page on the anniversary of the UK’s beyond insane and utterly stupid decsion  based as it was on the insane lies and corruption of the CONservatives to leaving of the E.U.

And then on that bus I meet another interesting individual who is an ecologist and again our conversation is a sharing of interests and stories.It is just great stuff.

I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move. – Robert Louis Stevenson

Concurrent with all this my son Aaron who is again my touring companion has been having adventures of his own, at the outset of this sempeturnal delay….it really does seem like that some times Aaron decided to do some solo cycle touring himself and has been travelling East along to South coast to Dartmoor…..Well you will have to wait to see the images and stories he has…..because well at the moment I have the laptop but at somepoint we will add it to this blog post…..

The plan is to meet at Pwll Deri Cymru, where I shall attempt to write my blog in Welsh. Dw i’n mwynhau dysgu Cymraeg, aros dw i’n caru Cymru, a dw i eisiau yr iaith Gymraeg parhau

This painting has no title and this is why…..