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Exhibition Opening Night

After a couple of weeks of preparations, that even had the head honcho back on the shop floor helping to bring the idea and the gallery managers layout plans to reality and with the delivery, chilling and laying out of refreshments, everything, bar a bit of last minute tweaking, was set for the start of the Sunflower Framing Local Artists Exhibition.....

The tweaking for the Marlow private viewings turned out to be something of a leisurely task because Saturday was Regatta day, which kind of turned the top end of town into something of a wilderness for all but the brave, or those lucky individuals dressed to the nines, (the lasting image being of some young ladies wearing heals so high, that they were walking like newly born giraffes) who were making the long, multi refreshment stop (bar crawl) bimble down to the river..

That all said and done, preparations were completed, all drinks and nibbles were tested to ensure they were correctly chilled, edible and suitable for consumption by the guests. And to show more than willing, all the showing artists were on site ready to start meeting and greeting people as they arrived.

The 3 hours of the private viewing flew past in a blur of activity, and as expected lasted slightly longer, with over 80 visitors passing through the portals to view, chat, chew and drink the evening away. All the artists seemed in their elements answering questions and talking about their work and the inspirations around the various pieces of their collections..

At one point a certain lady even came in carrying a teddy bear and a small framed painting of said teddy bear, which she then, much to the delight of those already in the know, proceeded to show to lots of people in the gallery. The lady in question turned out to be a good friend of one of the artists, in this case Ben and the painting was actually done by Ben for her, with the twist to the tale being that she thought there was a resemblance between the bear and Ben.... Personally, having looked a few times at the picture, I can’t see it.... The Bear’s wine glass definitely has more wine in it...... though that could be down to Ben’s policy on the night of consumption to prevent spillage... nudge nudge say no more eh Ben??

And just like the national gallery, we even managed to have work by that, to some ‘’vandalistic Scoundrel’’ to other’s ‘’inspirational street artist’’ in the exhibition. Though the couple who bought the 2 Banksy canvas prints did get spotted by and receive the roll of the eyes from the artist who had invited them..... Luckily though, they were friends and had already discussed their next purchase of Colins work....

All too soon, though just in time in terms of some of the refreshment levels, the evening drew to a close, the only down side being the cancellation of the official photographer! And as the artists and remaining guests bid their farewells, we were left to clear up, load up the Managers car ready for her to transport everything needed for the following days private viewing at Beaconsfield and to ponder tim mallet how well the 2 weeks this first exhibition would pan out, before locking up and heading home...

I can though sign of by saying that for me the opening night ended on a high, in that on the train journey home, I had the pleasure to meet and briefly speak to none other than ‘’Mr Timmy Mallet’’....who along with a group of friends were about to set off for an ‘’over night’’ cycle ride!!! though as you can see from the picture, he must have wondered what he had done wrong to end up being accosted and photographed with a slightly ‘’tipsy’’ individual suffering from waffle’itus’ ... and for this I can but offer my humblest apologies to Mr Mallet and say that should he ever be in need of anything in the realms of framing for himself or his fundraising, I’m sure I could come up with something special in recompense for him retaining a smile during the ear bending.

Artists at Sunflower Framing

Over the years we have had many artists through the doors of our gallery in Beaconsfield, some well known others up and coming but one thing they have all had in common is Passion for their art.

Here is our latest crop of artists that can be found at the galleries.

sam toft - snuggles at sunset