July 27, 2019 By Migglet (Edit)
My Solo Exhibition in Teignmouth really was THE biggest ‘Colour me Happy’ ‘Show and Tell’ imaginable!
What a happy month of May that was for a Migglet! I have been such a busy bee since, it has taken me until now to publish this newsletter from May, just crazy! Forgive me for being so slow!
My Solo Exhibition kicked off an incredible month for me and really could not possibly have gone any ‘bettererer’!
My exhibition lasted for 7 days and really was full on all week! I honestly hadn’t expected that! So many lovely people came to see me and my creations, some from near and some from very far indeed!! I even had a tall handsome ex-dancer come all the way from Australia to see my work!! (The truth is, he just happened to be visiting his Mum who lives in Teignmouth but don’t tell anyone will you?! ) It turned out that we had both danced at the same venue in Geneva many years ago, but not at the same time! Small world eh?!
I had some wonderful surprise visitors who had driven quite a way to see and support me, including a dear friend I used to work with and hadn’t seen for many years, far too many lovely supportive people to mention individually and surprisingly, a huge amount of complete strangers came along to see my work….I blubbed and I hugged and this little Migglet found the whole experience emotionally exhilarating and uplifting and I was totally ‘exhaustipated’ once the week was over, but cloud nine is a great place to be and I am still floating up here almost a month later! *Sorry, I wrote this blog at the end of May, I just can’t keep up with myself any more!
I had a real lightbulb moment when a fellow artist Emma came to see me, we were both chatting to a lovely lady towards the end of one busy day and, as I glanced around the gallery, surrounded by my work, I said ‘I think probably our lives influence our work, I do love painting hair ( I am an ex-hairdresser) I love painting dancers ( I am an ex-dancer) and I adore painting daft animals ( I love animals and am completely…ummm…..let’s leave that there eh?!)
The sales and orders were truly a wonderful surprise to me but the lively happy buzz in that gallery and the feedback from so many people I had never met has left me with a feeling I simply cannot describe!
Since I moved down here to Devon almost 5 years ago and subsequently started painting, I have had so much angst and self doubt about the type of work I do as I felt sure that it didn’t fit in here, but I can now safely ignore those imaginary critics chattering inside my fretting head, put that angst to bed and just enjoy painting what I LOVE and you have no idea how enlightening that realisation is!
I live in a house in a village high on a hill, overlooking the breath-taking scenery of the Teign estuary, Dartmoor and a glorious vineyard. Our village is just outside the seaside town of Teignmouth and there are artists painting spellbinding landscapes and seascapes…but there’s a Migglet painting figures, dancers, portraits and the daftest of animals! And I am FINALLY OK with the fact! Phew!!
Some people loved the figures and dancers, and said some truly smile-making stuff whilst others literally laughed out loud at my quirky animals ( who could ask for more than that?! )…and a great many peeps of all ages seemed to love both! From little kids running in shouting “Dad! Look! A Goldfish!” to a delightful lady in her 80’s who ordered 3 prints ( Two Moooooo Cows & Boo! my daft Emu with a reflection of a sunset in his beady eye ) because she said they would all make her smile EVERY single day!
Some people were even coming back in and bringing their friends the following day, can you imagine how happy that made me?! I was constantly doing the happy dance, such a buzz!
I was thrilled that I had a fair few fellow artists popping in (some of them were already friends, many were strangers and many of those strangers have since become friends!) and some of those lovely peeps told me that I had inspired them and that really made me glow, inside and out! Encouraging others to ‘play’ and enjoy every second is always a pleasure!
The Grand Finale!
On the final day of my exhibition, the icing on the Migglet cake was when a lovely gentleman bought my original canvas painting of a ballerina titled ‘Ruby’ for his gorgeous wife who is also an ex-dancer!
I have to admit, hugging him and blubbing over the card payment machine might have been a tad unprofessional, and possibly asking him to marry me ( even though I am already happily married to the best HIM in the world ) was perhaps a little over the top?!! But I care not a jot! I cannot hide my emotions, those happy tears came to say hello and to show their surprise and appreciation!
When someone loves your work enough to wish to purchase it, that can only BE a wonderful moment, surely?!! It was the perfect end to a magical week!
My quirky printed canvases caused quite a stir and much hilarity in the large window and found their new homes during the week…
Amongst so many highlights of the week, one of the most amusing was this…
A lady stopped and laughed whilst looked intently at my ‘Nosey Moo!’ cow large canvas in the window.
Her partner carried on walking and announced at the top of his booming voice (with his fabulous, broad Northern accent) …
“Stick it in the bathroom and frighten yer’ Mother! ”
*Here is a small selection of the feedback / comments people left in my Visitors book, some lovely smile-making comments and a couple that I found absolutely hilarious!!….
‘Fabulous – So full of life!’
‘Wonderful and fun’
‘Lovely – Inspirational for budding artists, ‘Draws’ you in – Thanks x’
‘I thought you were a man!’
‘Really enjoyed the sense of movement & colour. Fabulous!’
‘Really enjoyed both sides of your show!’
‘Quite thought artist was a man, lovely details of shapes.’
‘Can’t come again! I keep buying something!’
‘Fabulous uplifting exhibition, made our day!’
‘Very different and vibrant’
‘Love this ladies work, colourful, vibrant and exciting. Makes a wonderful change.’
‘A most enjoyable visit, meeting the artist, wonderfully colourful, very uplifting.’
And, the BEST one of ALL…..
“I thought you would be young!!”
And as if my Solo Exhibition hadn’t been a bigger success than I could have ever wished for, my lovely Bishopsteignton village art group held our annual two day exhibition during the last weekend of May and I won the Visitors Choice Best Artist cup!
Well, that’s quite enough ‘bragging’, I have bent your ears good and proper, but there is no time for complacency. Whilst I have been recovering from all this overwhelming excitement and climbing back down from the huge fluffy cloud 9 I was perched on, I have been extremely busy slapping paint about and preparing new work as I am exhibiting throughout the whole of August! Non stop!
I shall be uploading photographs and listing my new work as soon as I can here on my site and I post very regular updates on my ArtyMigglet Facebook page (& Instagram too) if you wish to follow me online.
If you are able to come along to the August Exhibitions I have SO much new work to be seen! The Torbay Guild of Artists Exhibition in the beautiful Spanish Barn at Torre Abbey, Torquay, accepts only Original Artwork exclusively (plus mounted prints and Greetings Cards)
I have painted some new big Canvas Paintings, one of which is an extremely vibrant lively dancer, have created a beautiful large stylised portrait of a young girl on canvas titled ‘Bloom’, some more quirky farmyard animals to keep ‘Nosey Moo!’ company and… believe it or not, a HUGE self-portrait too! Yes!! Eeeeeeeek! All will be revealed soooooon!
**Some dates for your diary?!
EXHIBITION DATES and VENUES…
AUGUST 3rd – 16th TAAG SUMMER OPEN EXHIBITION, Northumberland Place, Teignmouth OPEN EVERY DAY from 10am – 5pm Including Sundays FREE ENTRY
AUGUST 17th – SEPTEMBER 1st TORBAY GUILD of ARTISTS EXHIBITION, SPANISH BARN, TORRE ABBEY, TORQUAY OPEN EVERY DAY from 10am – 5pm Including Sundays FREE ENTRY
PS Last but most definitely NOT least, A GREAT BIG thank you to those of you who came along to my Solo and to all of my new subscribers, it’s delightful to have you onboard the Migglet arty train, I do hope you enjoy the ride and you don’t nod off and miss your stop!?!
*NEVER let the Carnival end