February rolls into March with two new events

Saturday February 28 was a busy day for AndyKnillArt. Up early, pickup items packed ready at the shop, drive to Southampton for an 8am hand in time. A shock to the system but I almost bounded out of bed.

I took the five originals I had submitted as part of my application to participate lol with a watery focus. Knowing the state of art sales I also took a variety of other sized pieces to offer for sale.

Arriving early and actually finding parking nearby was a great plus and using hanging resources provided by the organisers meant that I could take my time. I also encouraged two sons who were awaiting and sketching to have go with the art for fun pens so that the month finished on 37 participants, 2nd best in 5 years.

There wasn’t the space for Art for Fun for an activity but I had lots of discussions about markers both ProMarkers and Poscas. I, of course, wore a set of art trousers, the pith helmet came off after a while as it was far too warm in the hall.

Overall for me a great event as I talked to lots of people, sold a range of cards and also my last current fancy dress pith helmet (Sealife). The chat about art,mental health, marker pens, Swanage… were varied and it was good to talk with such a range of people.

I also drew drawing the day – I tried sketching some of the musicians providing musical entertainment. Then decided to draw two new “mussel themed” pieces – “Mussel Car mark 2” with a background inspired by my recent holiday in Lanzarote and “Mussel boat”.

The event finished at 4pm after a great set by the SUJ (Southampton Uke Jam).i packed quickly and drove onto Bournemouth for event two:

This was a private view / opening of the inaugural exhibition for The Factory Space led by Martin Jones. What a great entertainment venue. Several of the art pieces selected were by other members of The Raw Wall Collective that I had met at our show at Auger Collective, Boscombe in November.

Again great to chat with my fellow artists and meet some more new people including discussion of Art for Fun as a Creative Health activity. By 8pm I came away excited by my day but also very tired.

Unfortunately, I succumbed to some form of germs and was exhausted on Sunday. Monday I managed some sketching around day out in New Forest based around our car’s annual service and MOT.

Again by the end of the day I couldn’t stay awake in the evening. So I knew the shop was not practical to open. I posted that I would remain shut on Tuesday and Wednesday. Tuesday was a wipe out and I slept most of the day, recovering slightly into the early evening.

Wednesday pm I dropped Saturday’s stock from the event back at the shop. I’m aged to walk a bit on the seafront in dense fog. I also stayed awake all day and evening without a map and started to eat better again.

Thursday- today – Ihave walked by the sea, spoken with friends seen on our walk, enjoyed the sunshine and tomorrow Friday 6 March will be back open at the shop.

Some ideas are forming about new art going through 2026 keeping affordability in mind alongside Art for Fun. More about this in the next week, but there re going to be some big discounts on some of my art soon as I clear the decks and have a change around of the art on display.

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