Scribbles 9 | sissons fine art

A n d I A m T h e

O n l y O n e T h e r e

W i t h o u t S t o c k !

In 2011 I was asked if I would be interested in taking a stand at the Famous Falmouth Oyster Festival at a very 'advantageous' rate. Since I visited Falmouth frequently with two grown up children living down there, I took up the challenge.

There were several large modern marquees and I set up shop in a very good position along one of the main circulation routes. I had confidence in what I was doing because I had 'performed' in a similar manner at the previous Falmouth Week festival, earlier in the year. What I had done there, I repeated at the Oyster Festival: go to Trago Mills (a shopping experience like no other, since everything is miles cheaper than any other shop). Once there, buy sheets of A1 ice white mount board, and take back to my marquee spot. Put one sheet of mount board on my easel and start sketching with my black ink and ancient looking dip-in-the-ink pot pens – they are the best – they are sold for calligraphy, but are superb for sketching because you can instantly change from a thick line to a beautifully thin line – ideal for my rigging lines!

Anyway, the wonderful thing about what I do at these festivals, is that all I arrive with is my equipment, but unlike everyone else, I am the only one there without any stock!

Everything I sell there is sketched on the spot. I find that the public absolutely love the spontaneity of the ink drawings, and the way I am able to literally 'throw' ink at the white surface and 'manipulate' the lines in ways, that initially, when I first started using the pens, I didn't think was possible – it is a very versatile medium and if you are an artist, you should give them a go.

I found that, because everyone could see the painting evolving in front of them, they could see quite clearly what the artist was doing to achieve what they could see, and this spurred them on to buy the picture being created. I found many buyers only saw half the picture before deciding to buy the picture! They were quite happy to part with their £90 (without any frame!) and to come back at the end of the show to collect their picture. It was quite remarkable and very satisfying. I even had one customer asking me to change the name on a picture I was finishing off, so they could give it to their son who was on the same type of yacht, but with a different name. Now that was a challenge to 'lift' the black ink off the paper sufficiently to put a new name on the yacht. It eventually worked after a lot of damping and tissue lifting.

Oh, before I leave you, the picture on the right shows a commission that I was asked to sketch of the Maison Veuve Clicquot campagne bottle and a plate of oysters on it as well. Veuve Clicquot were sponsoring the event and it was used as a prize during the festival. Salut!