Latest News

EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED
EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED 30th October 2025 Everything is going well with the fundraiser at Theatre by the Lake in Keswick. There are red spots here and there and a steady stream of admiring visitors.  I love meeting old friends. Some are surprised that there are paintings of flora and fauna (and  don’t forget the magnificent cockerel ) but there are also some wonderful charcoal drawings of familiar places -  Cumbrian villages - as well as  etchings based on local settings. Make a note  of Friday 1st and Friday 14th November  when Sal ... Read More »»
COCK-A-DOODLE-DO
COCK-A-DOODLE-DO 19th October 2025 We are nearly there.  OFF THE WALL will open at 12 noon next Saturday 25th October. It is an exhibition full of surprises. ITV Border are coming to film it (hopefully – you can never be totally sure as other news stories sometimes intervene) but with any luck it is scheduled to be in Look Around evening news  at 6pm Friday so you will get a taste of  the show.  All the works in the exhibition came up from Pear Tree Cottage, Percy’s home in Norfolk, to  Castlegate House in Cockermouth  after his ... Read More »»
WHAT A DIFFERENCE A FRAME MAKES!
WHAT A DIFFERENCE A FRAME MAKES! 24th September 2025 WHAT A DIFFERENCE A FRAME MAKES! I am so looking forward to the new exhibition of the work of Percy Kelly at theatre by the Lake in Keswick . (25th October -15th November).  I now have most of the whole exhibition framed and it’s breathtaking.  I am so excited. Last Sunday Robert Adam brought the etchings he has printed from PK’s plates down from Edinburgh. There are 12 different plates we haven’t used yet and they are beautiful (and affordable compared with the paintings and charcoal drawings... Read More »»
EXHIBITION AT THEATRE BY THE LAKE: PERCY KELLY OFF THE WALL.
EXHIBITION AT THEATRE BY THE LAKE: PERCY KELLY OFF THE WALL. 11th September 2025 ON THE WALL AT THEATRE BY THE LAKE I’ve emerged out of purdah to mount another fund raising exhibition of Percy Kelly’s work at Theatre by the Lake in Keswick with the help of Sal and Tony Calvin who are fast becoming Kelly experts (Tony is a great researcher and spends hours finding the location of some of the Kelly works (* shhh but there are one or two he hasn’t been able to locate – you may be able to help!). Sal finds and tells the stories.   PERCY KELLY       OFF THE WALL An exhibitio... Read More »»
KAY DUNBAR
KAY DUNBAR 1st August 2025 A youngish couple were buying sculpture in Castlegate House garden in 2004. I had just had my first book published, The Painted Letters (its now out of print).  Kay and Stephen were the founders of the well known LitFest in Dartington Devon where they lived and had made it a great success.  They had been sent to see me by Michael Baron, an ideas man who lived at Loweswater and ran poetry readings at the gallery .* He had run the idea of a literature festival in Keswick past me and I had advised ... Read More »»
SHEILA FELL Catalogue Raisonne
SHEILA FELL Catalogue Raisonne 10th June 2025 At last - a long awaited catalogue of ALL the works of Cumbrian born artist Sheila Fell. Born in Aspatria1931, educated at Nelson Tomlinson School Wigton, Carlisle College of Art and St Martins  School of Art London, she was the first Cumbrian woman to be made a Royal Academician (ARR in  1969 and RA in 1974.) She died in London in 1979 aged 48. L S Lowry, her friend and mentor described her as one of the finest British landscape painters of the 20th century. She loved Cumberland which was the s... Read More »»
WHAT’S NEW?
WHAT’S NEW? 27th March 2025 There is so much going on locally in the Arts at the moment I really don’t know how to fit everything in.  No sooner had Words by the Water finished after a triumphantly packed 5 days than lots more exciting things came roaring along. I was at Theatre by the Lake last night to see a totally absorbing play THE SPITFIRE GIRLS. My parents  lived on the Isle of Wight for  many years (I got married in Ventnor) and then I and my family lived  and worked there at the southernmost point of the island f... Read More »»
REMINDERS
REMINDERS 20th February 2025  Forgive me if I repeat myself but there is so much art on offer at the moment, it’s easy to miss a closing date and regret it. When it’s gone, it’s gone! First up is next Tuesday 25th February. I am giving an illustrated  talk about 3 prominent artists – L S LOWRY RA, SHEILA FELL RA AND PERCY KELLY  who came together in the fifties and  sixties in Maryport and Allonby.  It is in the hall of Keswick School and there is plenty of parking.  It starts at 7.30 (admission £7.50 on the door. )  *Look... Read More »»
COINCIDENCES
COINCIDENCES 10th February 2025 I  love coincidences. It’s great when things join up and make sense.  There is one in particular which sets my imagination going.  I wish I could have been around when 3 of my favourite and most interesting artists met in Cumbria. Each of them have had a solo show at Castlegate House in the past. Yes, it’s L S LOWRY, SHEILA FELL AND PERCY KELLY. They all met a few times in Allonby and Maryport between 1958 – 68. They chose the same subjects but painted and drew them in entirely different ways. F... Read More »»
THIS WILL TAKE YOU TO HEAVEN
THIS WILL TAKE YOU TO HEAVEN 25th January 2025 THIS WILL TAKE YOU TO HEAVEN Written in Percy Kelly's final report from Carlisle College of Art   I won’t be in The Beacon at Whitehaven today. The forecast isn’t good and there is too much to clear up in the garden after the ferocious storm and I guess that many of you will be in the same position. I will definitely be there next Saturday 1st February for my talk THE SWINGING SIXTIES. I am thoroughly enjoying putting the talk together. The decade from 1959 – 1969 was astonishing for PK. He m... Read More »»