Painting And Preparing For Birmingham In November

 A Graceful Death at St Martin in the Bull Ring, Birmingham B5 5BB

Friday 4 November - Tuesday 29 November Daily

Opening Event with Poetry Workshop by Poet in Residence Penny Hewlett on Thursday 3 November, in the church.

Amazing how time flies.  I first planned this Birmingham exhibition over a year ago, and thought it was always too far away to worry about.  And now, it is here.  The exhibition opens at the end of this month.  I am getting everything ready, including the following items -

• I am developing Nushi Khan Levy's portrait a little.  When I read the notes we took when we interviewed her, there were references that she wanted to her life which I had missed.  I have given her a cherry blossom type halo now, and have put in the pretty perfume bottle that she said would represent the closeness she felt with her husband during her chemotherapy treatment.  If she could distill these precious moments, she said, and put them in a bottle of perfume, she would dab a little on her wrists every day later when she was well.  There are a few more touches I want to add, like leaves.  And more words.
• Painting Stuart and Sue's portraits has begun.  For some reason, Sue has turned out smaller than Stuart.  They are facing each other in profile, with a bright blue sky behind them.  I will add flowers and plants that meant a lot to both of them, and see what happens.  Already I want to add a golden outline to Sue.  The photo I am using is the last one of her, taken a few days before she carried out her planned suicide, which is leaving me feeling very sad.  I like her face, though it is not very easy to see in this photo.  I like her, and I want to do something that says she is special.  Stuart is coming on very well.  He is blessed with a face that is very easy to see.  Some people have features that seem to merge into each other and the face, and thus are hard to distinguish.  Stuart does not have this problem, his is a face I can do!
• Penny Hewlett's poem May Remembrance needs to be re written and re presented.  I have not done it justice, and so, will do it again.
• I am writing the prayer I wrote after Steve died on a larger piece of canvas.  The original is on a block of wood and is difficult to read.  Possibly because I was so disgusted with God when I wrote it.  But I want the words to be read clearly;  we are often very angry when someone we love dies, and want to tell God in no uncertain terms what we think of the whole thing.  It is part of the experience of loss.

Poetry Workshops During the Exhibition by Penny Hewlett  

St Martin in the Bullring has a poet in residence.  Penny Hewlett is a fine poet and a deeply thoughtful lady, very experienced in many areas of life and living, and dedicated to her craft.  I am so lucky to have Penny to take poetry workshops for the A Graceful Death exhibition, and these are the dates and times -

Workshop 1: Facing Loss          Thursday 3 November: opening 2.00 pm and workshop 2.30-4.00pm
Workshop 2: Saying Goodbye    Saturday 12 November 11 am - 1pm (if you are coming to this workshop please bring some photos)
Workshop 3: Moving Away      Tuesday 29 November, Talk 2.00, Workshop 2.30 - 4.00 pm 

I hope to see you all for the opening on Thursday 3 November,  where we will not only have Penny's first workshop on Facing Loss, we will have tea and cake.  Perfect.