Notes from the Pink Egg

WOOPS! 20th October 2019 First of all, an apology. I was wrong when I told you the 3-venueTurner Exhibition – Northern Exposure – began in Harrogate. It actually began in Berwick on Tweed last May, continued to Carlisle where it opened yesterday and will continue until 5th January 2020 when it will move on to its final venue, The Mercer Gallery in Harrogate from 18th January to 18th April 2020. The exhibition is full of atmosphere. Cumbria particularly delighted Turner despite it raining almost every day - so much so t... Read More »»
MAKING NOTES 14th October 2019 There are three exciting exhibitions opening in the two major Cumbrian galleries next weekend. It is a happy coincidence that a major exhibition of the work of J M W Turner opens at Tullie House in Carlisle just as the artist has been chosen to grace our new £20 notes against a background of his best known and loved painting The Fighting Temeraire.  Turner is one of our finest watercolour painters who could capture light and atmosphere like nobody who had gone before. It is great that he should... Read More »»
SHEILE FELL RA 1931 - 1979
SHEILE FELL RA 1931 - 1979 13th September 2019 Buying a work of art is a memorable occasion – especially if you queued for it on the doorstep of the gallery as many of you did.  I clearly recall buying my first Sheila Fell painting in 1991 from the Rev Geoffery Bennett’s solicitor Ian Sutcliffe in his office in Castle Street Carlisle where it was hung. This was shortly after attending the opening of Fell’s Retrospective at the Royal Academy in 1990 which then travelled the country. Subsequently a surprising number of her works went through m... Read More »»
AN AMBITIOUS PROJECT
AN AMBITIOUS PROJECT 25th July 2019 I wrote a newsletter a year ago about the mural that Ewanrigg School in Maryport had made on their playground wall from plastic waste. They based it on one of Percy Kelly’s paintings of a trawler in Maryport harbour.  I was so pleased when I got an invitation last week to the unveiling of its sequel which is based on Percy’s painting of the red church in Maryport. This has been a wonderful project in so many ways and it was lovely to see the enthusiasm of the children. We had tea and cake afterw... Read More »»
A WALK ROUND ALLONBY WITH PERCY KELLY
A WALK ROUND ALLONBY WITH PERCY KELLY 18th July 2019 For the last 40 years there has been a summer art exhibition at Allonby, a small village on the Solway coast just a few miles North of Maryport. It is a free for all - anyone can submit – and many do. There are no rules for entry, no selection committee, no prizes, no judgments. The works are hung in the village hall - floor to ceiling, edge to edge (sometimes on the floor!) in alphabetical order so you get the picture as it were and there are lots of them.  The exhibition opens Thursday 25th Ju... Read More »»
WHAT PERCY DID NEXT
WHAT PERCY DID NEXT 4th January 2019 At last we can put all jingle bells behind us and get on with life. I guess 2019 will be challenging in many different ways.  In times of crisis the arts seem to grow in importance. There are some cracking exhibitions coming up nationally this year so stay with me and I will flag them up as they approach. You can also let me know about exhibitions you have enjoyed. Galleries offer a glorious retreat from the world outside – an escape from hard reality or an opportunity to come to terms with it. ... Read More »»
INSIGHTS - THE LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL
INSIGHTS - THE LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL 5th December 2018 As we hurtle towards the BIG event of the year (allegedly) and life becomes ever more frantic, I am pleased to be able to point you to a calmer, less demanding event in January when all the mad Fridays, daft Mondays and Christmas ad wars have hopefully stopped. Tullie House has asked me to do a talk and conducted tour of A LEGACY exhibition. So on Saturday 19th January at 2pm I will give an illustrated talk about the life, work and legacy of Percy Kelly in the lecture theatre (approx. 1 hour) f... Read More »»
GDPR 22nd May 2018 GDPR changes to data retention rules. All of you on my  email newsletter list have proactively subscribed  to receive newsletters from www.percykelly.co.uk and  www.chriswadsworth.net .  When you signed you will have received an e mail asking you to confirm your decision which you have done.  You  are free to unsubscribe at any time through the link at the bottom of this email.  I  don’t keep any personal details other than your e mail address and  I never  acquire email addresses from third par... Read More »»
WORDS, IDEAS - AND A FEW SURPRISES.
WORDS, IDEAS - AND A FEW SURPRISES. 20th March 2017 It’s a week exactly since the Words by the Water began to pack up and leave town; a week since I did my last chairing; a week since I assumed the recovery position and retreated into a darkened room to think. The festival certainly delivered what it promised – words and ideas in plenty. As usual it came full of surprises. Richard Cohen arrived for the very first talk of the festival – How to write like Tolstoy – with a long wooden box which he had brought with him by car, by air and by Virgin t... Read More »»
Writing
Writing 3rd March 2017 It’s hard to find a place  to write and work without a distracting view here in the Lake District. The view up the north end of Skiddaw from my Pink Egg was glorious but our new panorama is even more spectacular (see above and you’ll see what I mean.) I have had to relocate to a small back room facing a tall, dark green, boring leylandii hedge for any serious writing as the changing light is a fairly continuous distraction. I don’t know the collective noun for writers (a volume?) but there will... Read More »»