A Review of 2024

Me at the Grand Canyon

A teaser...

 Now seems a good time to reflect on the year that has nearly finished and I have to say that bearing in mind that every year has good and bad times in them this has been a pretty good year especially after 2023 being a bit of a bummer. Both professionally and personally (the two are actually inseparable) I have to admit it has been a year to remember.

The first major highlight to be mentioned is the fantastic tour round the National Parks of the South West USA with three places ticked off my bucket list: Grand Canyon, Monument Valley and Las Vegas. Although it was quite full on physically it was an unforgettable experience of day after day of landscape marvels and it seems like I was lucky to be on the tour as the company doesn't seem to run it any more. Ironically I have not really been able to use much of the reference photos I took for the "Home Land" series yet as a lot of the landscapes are very well known and iconic in themselves and don't quite fit the agenda of the series... looks like I will do another series later based on this trip.

The second highlight of the year I am only going to hint at presently as I need some more information but essentially I was filmed painting in North Wales for a national TV series that is to be broadcast in late January 2025. This will just be a teaser until I post more about it next month.....

The third major highlight was another trip to the USA in October to attend the IX art fair in Reading PA. Normally I go to IX and barely cover my costs with only a few sales made (it is however good to be there to make contacts with new collectors) with shipping and flights being the main expenses. This year was different- I sold seven paintings on the first night of the show with four going to one buyer alone. I then sold two more during the run of the show as well as selling two paintings that weren't even in the show while I was there. This meant for the first time ever that I didn't have to ship back any paintings to the UK. I left one unsold one in the safekeeping of the friends who I stayed with in Maryland, Morgan and Jean Bantly, as it may eventually sell to a buyer in the USA (my main market) and it will be easier and cheaper to ship from there. These sales incidentally made up for a relatively poor year otherwise...

So that was the year that was.... do I dare hope that 2025 will be as good?

My show at the beginning of IX

 

My show at the end...