COCK-A-DOODLE-DO
Date Posted: 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 death in 1993 (as requested by his son and heir, Brian Kelly). The van was stacked to full capacity reaching up to the top of the big white van.
I can confidently say that all that is on display in this exhibition has never been exhibited before. There are watercolours, gouache, large charcoal drawings of West Cumbria, original prints and the big collage of the Cockerel in mixed media that will take your breath away. There is a whole new collection of etchings made from Kelly’s plates that have never been seen before.
Over the past 32 years since Kelly’s death in 1993, the prices of his works have soared. I was amused and proud to see the report in local papers recently about the sale of a very small Kelly oil painting (roughly 10 x 8 inches) go down on the hammer at Mitchells auction house 2 weeks ago for what was claimed a World Record price! With the auction house commission and VAT etc it would be close to £10,000. Well done Percy! What a pity you didn’t benefit from that in your lifetime… more about that in my next newsletter.
You will have to excuse me now – I have a very special exhibition to hang! ( with a bit of help from from my friends.)
OFF THE WALL runs at Theatre by the Lake in Keswick from 25th October to 15th November. Open daily 12 noon – 5 pm (closed Sundays) Free entry. See you there!
See www.percykelly.co.uk works for sale