Tickets for the Leonardo da Vinci Exhibition at the National Gallery

Well yesterday I went down to London with the intention of visiting the Leonardo da Vinci exhibition at the National Gallery as there had been so much hype and excitement about it. Unfortunately, in my naivety, I did not think that I might have to book tickets beforehand. So, much was my disappointment when i got to the ticket desk and there was a sign saying 'Sold Out Today'.

On further investigation it seems that the tickets for the da Vinci exhibition had been on sale since May 2011 and all of the online tickets and advance purchase tickets had already been snapped up - until the end of the exhibition! So the only way to get tickets now is either to buy them from someone who already has some but maybe can't make it (you could try eBay but they are going for more than £50 a ticket on there at the moment), or you will have to go and queue up at the National Gallery on the morning of the day you want to visit.

The gallery are releasing a limited number of tickets each day on a first come first served basis so if you get there early and queue up then you may be lucky!

However, if you are not lucky enough to get tickets then there is still a lot of amazing artwork by many great masters at the National Gallery - including van Gogh, Canaletto, Monet, Manet, Rubens, Constable, Seurat etc etc the list goes on and it takes hours to go through all of the halls and rooms. One of the paintings on show is one of van Gogh's sunflower paintings, shown here, and you really get a feel for the depth of it in real life than when just looking at a picture - the same can be said about a lot of the great masters paintings so if you do have a few hours free, go and have a browse.

Felixstowe Art Group Annual Exhibition

So this week was the Felixstowe art group's annual exhibition. I am a bit of an anomaly in the art group I think as most of the other artists concentrate on landscape and traditional painting rather than abstracts. There are a couple of artists in the group who are professional or semi professional artists but overall most of the group are hobbyists (not meant with any disrespect as being professional or hobbyist is no reflection on talent!). Anyway, so the annual exhibition has been going for 60 years although this is only my second year with the group.

They are a great bunch of people who manage to get a lot of people to visit the exhibition every year. I am very impressed at the visitor numbers and the number of paintings that are sold over the 5 days. Most of the artists really underprice their work so maybe it is no surprise that so much is sold.

Anyway, my stint on the desk was on Tuesday afternoon and it just so happened that a lady came in while I was there and wanted to buy all 3 of the paintings I had for sale! I was hugely surprised and pleased to say the least. I had two large textured abstracts in (see image on the right for one of them) and a textured, glittered union jack and was pleased at the way all 3 had come out and am glad they have found a new home. Now I just need to get painting again ready for Art on the Prom on 4th September.

Untitled Artist Fair 2011 - Chelsea Town Hall, London

So this year for the first time I am taking part in the Untitled Artists Fair in London. It is at Chelsea Town Hall and runs from 3rd to the 5th of June 2011. There is a preview night on 3rd so if anyone wants invites to that then let me know. I am currently working on the collection for this art fair as I need to get as much ready as I can before I head back to Dubai in late January. I am planning on a collection of around 12 watered acrylics in various colours and have so far completed 5 with 2 in progress. The paintings will all be sized 60 x 60cm due to the size of the space I have booked and making it easier for them to be transported.

New Paintings For An Exhibition

So I am working on 3 new paintings for a joint exhibition in Dubai that starts this weekend. Attached is the first one which is finished. The 2nd one needs edging and varnishing and the third one is just drying. They are all in my trademark 'watery' style that I have used for a couple of years although recently I have been doing more textured work. This time the technique was specifically requested so I have been working on these. To see how I create this type of work have a look at this acrylic technique article.