Spring and sunshine

Here we are in May already…………

Welcome to the Blog and I’m hoping you’re having a great year so far. A couple of things to note if you have been following my work recently.

The new Still Life paintings are now listed and available for sale on this website.

You can check them out on the ‘Original Oils’ page. I’m really happy to have these available and now it’s on to new work for the summer.

This month also sees the first of my ‘Framed A3 Print’ draws.

I will be doing a random draw on May 14th to pick a winner.

So, 2 questions:

How is the winner selected?

What does the winner receive?

In answer to the first question I have simply given everyone who has subscribed to the ‘Prize Draw’ a number in my data base, and then I’m using my random number generator App to select a winner.

The winner will be notified by email and once they have confirmed their choice of print, I’ll pop a post on Facebook and Instagram to let everyone know there has been a winner.

You may be thinking ‘what if I don’t win?’ Well, you are still on the list and will continue to be in the monthly draw, so if you don’t win this month you may win in a future draw.

And in answer to the second question, the winner will be notified they have won. I will ask for your choice of A3 print from the current ‘Print Collections’ on my chrisgillgallery.com print website and an address to send it to.

Once I have that, I’ll package up your print and get it sent out to you completely free of charge.

As mentioned, those who don’t win will be automatically rolled over to the following month’s draw.

Aside from that, it has also been a busy time for painting new pieces and selecting places to paint ‘in the wild’!

I love getting outdoors to paint. There is a spontaneity in outdoor painting that is difficult to capture in the studio as much as I love working on pieces in the studio.

My local haunts are full of amazing views and the moors of Exmoor and the coastal views around North Devon are some of the best in the country, so I’m looking forward to getting stuck in.

If you see me out and about please feel free to come and say hello, it’s always lovely to chat with fellow lovers of the outdoors.

In addition to my interests in the outdoors I also love music; both listening and creating, and I recently completed a couple of guitar builds.

I’m just an amateur home builder, but the real experts; the luthiers that spend years perfecting their skills and acquiring rarified knowledge are truly inspirational to me.

You may think it’s a bit random to include that information in a blog about my art, but please, bear with me.

While playing and building guitars, I have also come to be more fascinated by the creative processes that go into making stringed instruments.

As a result, I have been spending some time getting inspired by those ‘making’ processes involved in the luthiery art and watching how a piece of wood becomes a thing of beauty in the hands of a professional craftsperson.

The tools, the wood, the guitars themselves, the art of making fabulous instruments have all contributed to some ideas to create new work around the amazing skills and environments of the luthier.

To evoke the sense of the workshop: the smells of wood shavings, the gentle sounds of the wood working plane and the beauty of finished instruments, have all inspired me to consider this area as a subject for future paintings.

I’m enjoying researching how I can present these senses and feelings through my paintings so keep an eye out…… could be interesting.

For now though, the outdoors beckons. Time to load up the Land Rover with paints, brushes and boards and get out there. Hope to see you out there too.

Speak soon,

Chris