Day to day is usually stay at home and paint, listening to the radio or your favourite music.
Social interaction is sporadic, and to be honest, not to be encouraged when you're in the middle of your current masterpiece.
That is why it's so very nice to be part of an art society.
There's a great comfort to being part of a group with shared interests, to know you're not alone. Of course the internet has opened up wide horizons, but there's nothing like the real life interaction of a casual chat with friends about the way the sun falls on a table or how a colour stands out with startling clarity from the rest.
I write this as it's coming up to the autumn show of the Welland Valley Art Society of which I'm a member. I have been for over a decade.
I'm looking forward to the exhibition not least because we get to steward on a couple of occasions.
I used to feel stewarding, sitting at a desk being on hand for the public, was a bit of a chore but over the years I've got to see it as a wonderful way to interact with members of the public, from our buying collectors to a group from a school for adults with learning difficulties who spent over an hour looking and discussing in detail our artwork and supplying some wonderful insights into what they saw as important.
Another aspect is the chance to spend time with at least one other steward. It can be a few minutes when look round the exhibition and talk about what we like, what we don't like and analyse it all to death. It's also a chance to meet up with old friends.
This year I shall be exhibiting four paintings (if they're selected) and here they are:
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| © Mary Kemp Cloud Over Norfolk Marshes |
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| © Mary Kemp Yellow Fields at Oundle |
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| © Mary Kemp Skipping |
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| © Mary Kemp Is This Your Dog? This one's hot off the easel! |
If you're in my neck of the woods do drop in.
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