Margate Bank Holiday, Billy Childish Art Exhibition, Gasoline Ally Meltdown, Sauceless Seaside Photos,

Lazy Bank Holidaying, out from Ramsgate, off from the bookshop [closed] where to go? Meltdown? Would we be able to park, don't believe this stuff about not needing as much sleep when you are older. Our own teenagers didn't want to come, something about revision, A levels.

I looked at the virtual local paper The Isle of Thanet News and was struck by Carl Freedman Gallery Opens article and as I had already had press release from Turner Contemporary 'Join us this weekend for the opening of Seaside: Photographed' art won.

We drove over to Margate expecting gridlock and parking difficulty, the roads were quiet and we parked in Morrisons car park (lower level £6 for all day - 24 hrs £1 off with shopping from Morrisons) the upper level of this car park is short term.

Billy Childish at the Carl Freedman Gallery, this is very close to Morrisons, my brother lived in Union Crescent so I knew where to look 

For the rest of the photos of the Billy Childish exhibition click on this link 

Billy Childish is a bit Gustave Klimt, Vincent Van Gogh, type of kidney, if you like them you will probably like him. I do and so I did, very enjoyable I will go to this exhibition every time I visit Margate and the gallery is open. 

The pros are, good gallery space, well lit, I think led lighting that won't fade artworks, good exhibition, well displayed, courteous gallery staff. The cons, a bit low on ventilation for recent oils, no signage whatsoever so gallery looks closed when actually open. I think the building work is still in progress so I think it will improve. I have to say all round it was a much better exhibition than I expected and one I would travel to see.

Out of the exhibition and into Margate Bank Holiday and the Meltdown, nothing like as many bikes as last time I went which may have been several years ago. By the time I was a teenager in the late 60s and early 70s Mods and Rockers had mostly vanished I think we assumed they had turned into old people i.e. over 25s.

I personally benefited from the glut of discarded motorbikes which were very cheap, now I look at the various Nortons, B.S.A.s, Triumphs with mild affection

For the rest of the Meltdown and Margate photos click on this link 

Lunch and and a lunchtime sketch for me at Turner Contemporary Art Galley Cafe

So this watercolour sketch from the patio of Turner Contemporary gallery may need a bit of explaining. The fiver is for scale and this is all paint an 0 and a 000 brush, so fairly small and intricate, I tend to paint to a fixed scale and get out of the way of the bit of my brain between the eye and the hand. 

 This makes me interested in the areas that come out different to the reality taken by the camera. 

At the moment I am particularly interested in windows, reflection, populating watercolours with people and wosisname, so this one may develop, if I get some more time there.

On to 'Seaside: Photographed' at Turner Contemporary

Link to the rest of the photos

This is a lot of mostly old photos taken in different seaside towns, Not sure if the exhibition is the right format for this.

Quite a few are photos taken by beach photographs like the ones pictured above. The developing happened in the barrow and the holidaymakers paid for the development of photography.

Sunbeam in Margate being a leader in the field.

The next four photos being examples of their work

 Note the processing error in this one.

 although usually the standard is pretty good

Finally Back work in the bookshop tomorrow

Here is the link to the photos of the books we put out Saturday 

Margate Meltdown Tomorrow and a few pictures of previous Meltdowns Etc.

Back in the day I had several motorbikes the last one I had was was a Norton Dominator, 1958 88 Wideline 500 cc, like the one in the picture above although my one was scruffier. In the 1970s I enjoyed commuting to work from Ramsgate to Stevenage on various motorbikes.

Anyway I sometimes go to Margate Meltdown and look at the bikes although over the years my interests have moved from engineering to the arts.

Next are links to some photos of the 2011 Margate Meltdown.

http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/meltdown/index.htm

http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/meltdown/id4.htm

http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/meltdown/id5.htm

http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/meltdown/id6.htm

http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/meltdown/id7.htm

Canterbury today and on the sketching front I am still experimenting with both shop window reflections and populating paintings with people.

 The two Canterbury sketches on this sheet of paper which I folds up so it fits in my sketchbook which fits in my pocket started out as letterbox format but the people sort of fell into the other letterbox.

This is a detail

As you see I don't exactly suffer for art.

Next some pictures of Margate events

These are only labelled as Margate event

 The scaffold on the end of the pier blownup here is unusual, any ideas anyone?

Back in 2011 Dreamland hadn't opened but Carter's Steam Fair was on the Dreamland site so here are the photos of that.

Link 1

Link 2

Margate Meltdown Pictures

A few photographs of Margate Meltdown today. When it comes to pictures of individual motorcycles I have mostly concentrated on British motorcycles of the 1950s and early 60s as these were the ones I owned in the 1970s and 80s when they were cheap to buy.