Almost there....

Another week of semi-lockdown has past and the run up to Christmas is gathering pace. I’ve been tinkering with a drawing to mark the 80th anniversary of the entry of the DeHavilland Mosquito into service. It’s an aircraft I’ve always admired (and would love to fly) and it certainly has a rich and varied history. I’ll let you know how it. goes. Next week will be spent performing a remote Audit on an airline in China, so probably not much time at the easel. As the Microsoft Teams meetings will start at 06:00 GMT each day, it’s going to be an interesting gig. Early to bed and early to rise, to sort of quote Ben Franklin. This long period of no travel has given me a lot to think about. I spent about 50 years being gone from home for 2 to 3 weeks every month in the pursuit of my flying career. Even after retirement from active flying, my life as an aviation safety auditor and instructor kept me on the move, often to places I can’t even pronounce properly. I’ve met and worked with great people all over the world, but being home since mid March has changed my perspective quite a bit. I’ve managed to do more drawing and painting in 8 months than in the previous 8 years and have also learned that jet-lag isn’t a normal human condition. We’ll see how the future pans out.

Art-wise, there are (at the moment, Covid permitting) a few things to have a look at around and about London and South. If you’re a Turner fan, there’s an exhibition running until 7 March 2021 at Tate Britain. Find out about it here: https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/exhibition/turners-modern-world. If contemporary art is your thing, then there are several exhibitions going at Tate Modern as well: https://www.tate.org.uk/visit/tate-modern . if you’re in the vicinity of Chichester, there’s an exhibition about Christmas cards and their history in Britain: https://pallant.org.uk/whats-on/christmas-greetings-by-modern-british-artists/

For those of you further north there’s the Manchester Art Gallery, which, among other things is featuring the works from Grayson Perry’s Art Club. Have a look: https://manchesterartgallery.org/microsites/temp_homepage/home.html

That’s it for this week. If you find any exhibitions or galleries you think should be mentioned, drop me a line and I’ll have a look myself.

The Guild of Aviation Artists on-line exhibition has been extended until the 23rd of December, so plenty of time left to have a look and enjoy the fantastic aviation art on display. https://www.artsteps.com/embed/5fb7de5cec7b9d30697459b8/560/315

Below are some links to more the Aviation art web sites of some very talented and gifted artists:

Alex Hamilton: https://www.alexhamilton.net

Neil Hipkiss: https://www.neilhipkiss.com

Mark Postlethwaite: https://www.posart.com

Stephen Chard: https://hansenfineart.co.uk/index.php?route=product/category&path=22_97_117