It's not the end!

Well the world didnt end today...no surprise there then.
As for the gallery, it's not the end for us either. Many thanks to all those who have emailed or PM'd me via facebook to express their thoughts. Your support has been very much appreciated. it was a tough decision to make but now I know it was the right one. Perhaps I should have taken it earlier but hindsight is a wonderful thing.
 Anyway, we have looked at how we will operate in the future and some of the ideas will be put into operation early in the New Year and information will be posted here.

In the meantime we have a bit of stock to clear in the gallery so if you are in the area then why not pop in to the shop and maybe pick up a bargain. Followers on Facebook will even be able to take part in our Christmas Freebie Giveaway, so why not join in?

Time for a change.

 Well, it has taken a lot of deliberation over the past few months but I have finally decided to close the shop here in Barnard Castle. This is not the closure of The Teesdale Gallery, far from it.
 The running of the actually shop has been a large drain on my time recently and I feel this has been a major factor in getting the delay in completing work for The Wainwirghts in Colour and the book publication.
 It is of course with some sadness that I have come to this decision, after all, we have had a gallery here in one form or another for nearly 21 years but it is time to move on. The Teesdale Gallery will continue to operate fully with a strong online presence via the websites and social networking sites. The priority will be given to my work, my paintings, sketches and of course the photography. We will no longer supply work from other artists.
 The last day of trading from the shop will be Saturday 5th january 2013.
 As odd as it may sound, I am rather excited about this new direction, it will allow me the freedom to get out "On Location" as and when I want and away from the restrictions of the shop opening hours.
 I appreciate the support that we have had from visitors and customers to the shop over the past years but hope that they will continue to follow us through other mediums.
 More updates will be published shortly.
   Thank you.
    Andy

Book Update

 For those that are following the Facebook page you will have already seen mention of the progress of the book so here is a more complete update.
 There are a couple of reasons why the book has been delayed:
 Firstly, I still require a couple of dozen references for the work, these have been difficult to acquire due to the inconsistent weather over the year. I do need a period of 4 days to get over to Wasdale where most of these references lie. My routes are all planned and they include a couple of nights wild camping I need to make sure that the weather is suitable.
 Secondly, a most importantly, as some of you may already know, whilst I continue to work my way through the project I also progress on the design of the book. This will mean that as soon as the sketches are all complete there will be little delay in getting the manuscript to the printers.

However, there is one factor which has meant the re-designing of the book. The original plan was to include as many of the sketches in the volume as I considered that including the full number of the sketches would have been impractical. Whilst working on the design I found it quite a challenge to pick which sketches to omit. So now I have decided to include every single one of the sketches, this has meant some re-working of the layout and of course making the number of pages larger. It does of course mean that the book will be a truly complete record of the project and every single one of the sketches which AW placed in the Pictorial Guides will be there including thiose which have been cut from the revised guides.

 In fact, there will be more sketches in the book than AW did, but thats a secret for now.



Another Book?

  Whilst talking to the many visitors to the gallery about the Wainwright Project the thought has occurred to me that there may be a possibility of producing another "follow up" book to the forthcoming Wainwrights in Colour book.
 I already have ideas to what would make this new book different as books on the Lake District are filling the shelves of bookshops already. My intention would be to give this book a very personal twist but I am reluctant to divulge too much information at this time as I have found that ideas can so easily be picked up and copied here on the internet.
 Here is just a basic clue as to the idea.

Book Update.

 In the past week or two I have had a couple of enquiries regarding the Wainwrights in Colour Book so I thought a blog post would be useful.
 As I work my way through the list of fells I try and juggle several balls in the air at the same time, not only completing the paintings but then doing all the follow up admin. From scanning the images and updating the website right through to all the ancillary admin such as answering emails etc. At the same time I am actually working on the design of the book. This is so that the publication of the book can go ahead as soon as all the sketches are complete.
 We have done a bit of re-working of the design and this may not even be the final layout. This is an example of the Chapter pages.

The 214 fells will all be featured with as many of the 1500 sketches as possible shown in the book. The intention is to let the sketches speak for themsleves but there will of course be notes on how the scenes have changed etc. Below is an example of just one of the designed pages for the fells.

 To date we have over 1000 potential orders for the book and already we have had email enquiries from bookshops to supply them with copies. We have a date in mind for the official launch later on in the year but we will post more news here shortly.
 In the meantime, keep watching the website for updates.