PERCY'S DAY OUT.
Date Posted: 23rd July 2021
Sorry for the Radio silence and the lack of another new video. It is work in progress! There is just so much exciting stuff happening here at the moment it is difficult to keep all the balls in the air. I also have a list of at least 20 video stories to make but am saving them for darker days and/or the next lockdown whichever comes first. (sorry that’s my pessimism showing)
In my last newsletter a few weeks ago I told you there were just 2 of the 10 x 10- Kelly charity charcoals left. They were snapped up very quickly. Sadly I was wrong. Someone down country bagged two of them immediately – Ennerdale Bridge (7) and House at Mockerkin (10) but has failed to complete despite my e mails which he has declined to answer. So this means there are now 4 left @ £450 each with the full amount going to MS research. (and an added £500 bonus from me to round it up to £5k when they are ALL sold.) The House at Mockerkin (10) has a sketch on the reverse on which he helpfully wrote Mockerkin and sure enough the house on the other side is Mockerkin as well. Pardshaw (1) not only has Pardshaw written on it by Percy but also has a fully formed charcoal on the reverse – possibly better than the front.
I’ve learned a lot from this little folder of 10 charcoal drawings. I think it traces kelly’s movements on a particular day. I’ve noticed from other sketch books I’ve seen that he packed a lot into a day. Here’s my imagined scenario for the 10 x 10 folder day. Sometime in the 50s when he had discovered charcoal, he set off from the sub post office at Great Broughton which he and his wife Audrey ran and he drove over to Pardshaw where he did a few sketches. He then took the long undulating road over Mosser, dropped down to Loweswater, possibly did a bit of painting of his favourite lake, and up the hill over Fangs Brow to Mockerkin where he did the 2–sided sketch. He continued to Ennerdale drawing the Bridge in the village. . On his way back on the main road he stopped in Asby to draw the lovely house that took his eye. The person who owns that house likes to look out of the window and imagine Percy sitting on the wall drawing it. Pale winter sun was done somewhere en route and Farm at Night was probably the last of the day as he returned to Great Broughton where Audrey was no doubt annoyed that she had been manning the PO all day. The only one in the folder that is not on that route is Church on the quay at Maryport and unlike the other nine is in pencil rather than charcoal so it is interesting that it is in the same folder- Just another example of Kelly’s inconsistency. So if you were disappointed just have a look at the 4 that are left in Works for Sale on the website www.percykelly.co.uk and get in touch.
Yesterday I caught the plumber standing in front of my large charcoal of Newlands from the Purple House. He stood there for a while just staring intently. Eventually he said with some emotion “I would kill for that!”. I called to Michael “Help, the plumbers going to kill me! “he just laughed. If this carries on I may need a bodyguard.
There are so many things going on in the wonderful world of Percy as well as other art projects and writing and the gardening which I am really enjoying. All will be revealed one by one as they come to fruition.