EARTHBOUND MAGIC: Percy Kelly's oil paintings & other stories.
Date Posted: 16th December 2020
EARTHBOUND MAGIC
I have just posted another video on YOU TUBE. https://youtu.be/xSUqKsV3eN8.. This time it’s about Percy’s oil paintings with a few stories thrown in of course. You will find out what changed Brian Kelly’s mind to send his father’s work to Cumbria rather than have a big bonfire, why Percy painted so few oil paintings and whether my latest discovery is an oil or is it just a piece of tatty hardboard?
Earthbound Magic was how Spectator art critic, Andrew Lambirth described Percy Kelly’s work after seeing it for the first time at Messums in London’s Cork Street. A lot of people can remember seeing their first Kelly (including me) and stopping in their tracks. It’s a shame so few of the critics venture north. They miss a lot.
The latest works by Percy that I put on the web site - look in the gallery section - are gradually disappearing despite the Covid restrictions. There are still a few on reserve until people can get to see them. I sold two in the Rheged car park that snowy Friday 2 weeks ago in the freezing snow. It was like a skating rink. But such is the power of Kelly. I have a few more small ones awaiting framing. I will tell you when they are released.
I’m keeping up with Christmas orders for Kelly books, cards, trails and etchings. I am adding a little special extra to every order as a cheer up gesture after the awful year we’ve had. If you would like anything sent to a different address with a PK gift card just make that clear when you order from merchandise. I will do my best to get them there for the 25th.
The last video about Bill Peascod is going down a storm. It has now reached Australia where he gained fame as an artist rather than a climber.
I walked the new £7.9 million railway track from Keswick to Threlkeld last week (about 3 miles long) following the old railway track by the River Greta. I have cycled it many times with increasing difficulty as it got rougher until Storm Desmond moved in and finished the job in 2015 bringing down the bridges leaving it impassable and unrecognisable. It is now a spectacular walk on tarmac and is being well used by a whole variety of ages and fitness. There were walkers, cyclists, wheelchairs and prams. The Bobbin tunnel has been beautifully restored and lit and it tells its story all the way along on discrete information boards. I came back to Keswick from Threlkeld via the Stone Circle at Castlerigg making it really interesting circular walk.
We're not sending Christmas cards this year. It feels somehow inappropriate. The money I would have spent, as well as the profit from Kelly sales, is going to the Calvert Trust, Crisis at Christmas, Eden Valley Hospice and other charities who are struggling in the face of covid. I will send you an E card next week just before our non Christmas. It will be a quiet Christmas for us this year. With a vaccine imminent it would be a shame to lose the ground we have gained in the last stark nine months. We are glad to have survived so far and will drink to that.
Hope to see you all in a better, brighter, safer 2021.
Enjoy the video. I really enjoyed making it. It’s always good to get your e mails, comments and field your questions. https://youtu.be/xSUqKsV3eN8