May 2019

I was talking to my brother-in-law the other day about legacies. There’s no question that we enjoy just a brief moment on this planet and my belief is that it’s not necessarily what we achieve when we’re here, but how we achieve it.

I feel if we can leave behind more love than we’re given, that for me is spirituality at its purest. People will have their opinions about who we are and whether we like them or not, and that’s fine. We don’t need to react to those opinions, good or bad, just stay close to who we are.

It’s never too late to start accepting that we’re perfect in our imperfections and that’s fine. But the sooner we start just being ourselves, the sooner we start pouring our own brand of love into the world.

Then, a couple of days later, a post came up on my timeline of Denis, a 91-year-old who play piano at St Pancras station. He played a song that moved a man to tears because it was a song his wife and he had had at their wedding fifty years ago to that day.

His playing had gone viral because another talented singer had got up and sung Somewhere Over the Rainbow with him that had moved the world to tears.

Regardless of what this man had done before in his life, at 91 he had poured so much love into being himself, he’d moved the hearts of millions. That, for me, is the essence of what I was talking about: give more than you take and be yourself as much as you can… and leave the rest to the Gods.

OK, before I kick off with the huge delights THG has to offer, I’d like to give you first dibs of tickets to Jenny Aitken’s 2 hour demonstration and Q&A in Portscatho’s Fisherman’s Shelter on Friday 26th July.

She’ll be hosting this for just a small number of people so tickets are limited. It will run from 11am – 1pm on the day of her Exhibition Open evening, so if you’d like to reserve your place, you can buy a ticket by clicking here.

OK, so what gorgeous array of sublimeness do we have for you this month? Well let’s kick off with the ever popular Mr Taffinder. Ben has painted a lot for us, but many have sold, so more will be with us soon, no doubt. For now, though, how about these new corkers?

Hilary Stock’s exhibition was a storm and her new aluminium-sheeted bathroom and outdoor artworks have been hugely popular. We’ll have them in to view soon, but if you’ve got a place in your bathroom that needs cheering up… look no further!

Imogen Bone’s been selling like hotcakes and she’s actually at the easel for us as I write, so more’ll be on their way soon including these newbies I’ve just added to the website.

We’ve been working the poor Penny German to the bone recently. As soon as she sends work, it sells… sometimes within 10 minutes of hitting social media. Blimey! So better get in quick if you like any of hers. More on the way, tho!

Hester Berry sent over some astonishingly powerful pieces just last week. It never ceases to amaze me how much expression she can get with one brushstroke and these’re no exception, so hope you love these as much as we do!

The charming Claire Henley has continued to bring the light into THG central with her toe-curlingly beautiful work. I’m astonished this brand new one of Pencabe cottage hasn’t sold in a heartbeat, but I guess it will now I’m sending this to you!

The Hig has been busy replacing his sales this month and one piece that arrived in my inbox of Carne just yesterday is an absolute heart-racer! Taken from one of my photos, I’m delighted to say. Ruddy ‘eck, Stephen Higton can paint, eh?

And lastly, I was sent three absolute blinders by our newest artist, Cornwall’s celebrated Amanda Hoskin. She’s bringing them down on Friday and will be attending Robin Mason’s exhibition as well, so if you want to meet her and Robin…!

And that smoothly brings me on to our two exhibitions this month. As mentioned, Robin is in the Fisherman’s Shelter on Friday from 6pm for drinks, then he will be there Sat & Sun 11am – 4pm over this coming Bank Holiday. Some gorge work he’s done, too!

Then at the end of May, Jamil Akib will be manning the shelter at the same times, with the drinks evening on Friday 24th and him there on Sat 25th and Sun 26th too. I’m super excited to see what he’s got for us and I suspect it won’t be just landscapes, either!

So there it is. As I leave, I want to remind anyone who is an artist, or knows an artist (or anyone wanting to understand digital marketing for that matter) that my book, The Artist’s Handbook comes out on 20th May and is available to pre-order now by clicking here.

Have a cracking month and looking forward to catching up with you soonest!

 

Mark

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April 2019

I was just out in the garden, connecting various hosepipes together so my wife could do her long-distance watering and it occurred to me that life is a little like those numerous connectors. We all want to get somewhere but sometimes we need those connectors to expend our reach.

I recently connected my chiropractor to a homeopath. She had recently moved here and I knew he was looking for someone to expand his practice. There is something wonderfully satisfying about ‘connecting the dots’ for people and I guess you could say I’ve made that my career… read more.

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