Help For Heroes

Whenever the chance arises I like to use my art works to help our favourite charities. I offered a fundraiser for "Help for Heroes" who do fantastic work for ex servicemen of the British Army. This offer was accepted and the painting used in a fundraising evening.

It is called "Forward Observation Post, Musa Qala, Afghanistan". It is an acrylic on canvas (60cm x 50cm). I have to say it was not done from nature. Instead I worked from a web photo taken by an unknown member of the armed forces.

It seemed relevant to the worthy cause concerned and I chose it because of the rock colours and the deep heat/dust haze. It should be judged purely on its artistic merit alone.

(Donated & Sold 2017)

Clearing the Archives

Bob & I have decided to clear out the image archive over the next week or so. This is to make room to post images of the 14 works that are now hanging in Eccles Community Art Gallery a.k.a. "The Gallery"

These are works that have been completed between 2014 - 2018inc but have not been posted .

Once some of these have been posted I shall begin to publish images of individual works created especially for my solo exhibition within the gallery.

"Monochrome", oil on canvas, 60cm x 50cm

(Donated)

"Explosion in Aqua", oil on canvas, 2016, 80cm x 50cm

(Sold)

Hanging Tomorrow!

Tomorrow, 5 Feb 2019, I am hanging my works for display & sale at Eccles Community Art Gallery. It opens on Friday 8 Feb 2019.

Meanwhile here is "Mountains, Snowdonia", an original acrylic painting from 2017. 

Sold

Further posts of items for sale will be included in daily posts from tomorrow.

Preparation fof my Exhibition in Eccles, Manchester Continues

Only 10 full days to go before hanging on 5 February and opening on 11 February. I am publishing all my archive before the opening so I can concentrate on showing works on sale there and afterwards on EBay UK and Etsy UK.

This is "Les Hautes Alpes", Acrylic Painting on Canvas, 60cm x 50cm

by Aluitios Vanbear 2015 

Back Home at Last!

Curly Bob has finally returned from his 2 year quest to "find himself". he is now back home in his old room and this time he assures me it is for good.

There should be no further tales of dissolute excesses from around the globe. Bob has finally realised the need to be able to fund his retirement. He wants to live in a manner to which he has become accustomed.

If this conversion lasts then it will mean much more work for me. Bob has been down to my studio and feels more activity is required by me.

He will devote his retirement to keeping bees and directing our art enterprise. Following a brief team meeting we agreed that I am to open 2 online "shops" on EBay UK and Etsy UK. These will be launched as soon as my forthcoming exhibition opens in Eccles Community Art Gallery, a.k.a. "The Gallery" early in February 2019.

Another mini show is planned there in September 2019.

Meanwhile we are to clear out all items from the home archive before the end of February.

First work to be shown for over 2 years is " La Ferme a la Crepescule". Acrylic on canvas (60cm x 50cm), 2017.

2 New Works For Sale at The Peak Restaurant, Llanberis!

We are still awaiting the outcome regarding Curly Bob's business plan for the next 12 months. Pending this momentous outcome we are pleased to announce that 2 of my paintings have been sold there since Christmas and the proceeds donated to St David's Hospice, 19 Mostyn Avenue, Llandudno, LL30 1YS (see map).

The Peak Restaurant has asked for 2 more paintings which will be for sale and will be delivered towards the end of this week. These are as follows:-

"Glyder Fach", Acrylic, 2016

"Snowdon Fron Crib Y Ddysgl, Winter", Acrylic 2016

Both paintings are on canvas ready to hang as they are painted on all four edges or can be framed as the buyer chooses.

The Peak Restaurant is located at 86 High Street, Llanberis, Caernarfon LL55 4SU.
We are very grateful to the owner, Mrs Julia Roberts for her kind help in raising funds for this worthy cause.

Further information and Spring Menu will appear on my web page in the near future. Further details can be obtained at the restaurant's own website.

An Announcement Is Imminent

Sources close to Bob are confident that an announcement will be made as to his future within the next 2 weeks. It is not known how far reaching these will be but they are expected to be significant and far reaching.

Bob has suggested that posts must be made more frequently if we are to clear the backlog of works in the vault. The absence of any posts for the past month is mainly due to my being  busy working on 3 separate projects. Details of these and the works involved will also be published as soon as the vault has been emptied.

In the meantime, here is " Calanque et Deux Arbres", oil on canvas from 2014.

A Life Change?

Bob finally emerged from his reverie which he claimed was a brainstorming session. (The only brainstorming session I have ever known Bob to take part in usually involves bottles, cans, crates etc....Ed)

He informs me that he will be making some significant changes to his life in the near future. Hints have been dropped regarding the possibility of a world tour to promote my work and allow him to "find himself". I told him that I could help him with that i.e. he was lounging on our living room armchair so he need look no further.

He also felt that this blog needs to be changed to reflect my work more and lower his profile a bit. I began to suspect he had overdone the brainstorming a bit. Still he had a point and it was agreed from now on that I shall expand my blog to reflect more details and background to each work displayed. More on this and other changes will be published in the next post.

Finally he wanted to throw a big party to say thank you to all his fans & followers world wide. This is scheduled to be held within the next three weeks as soon as the corporate arrangements can be made.
Meanwhile I am requested to publish "Ferme Provencale", acrylic on canvas from 2014.

Two More Paintings On Sale For St David's Hospice, Llandudno

Further to my last post Bob has asked me to post the final 2 paintings of the 4 sent for sale via the Peak Restaurant, Llanberis. Proceeds from any sales are to be sent to St David's Hospice. The services this hospice provides cannot be overstated.

Curly Bob is planning a grand party for unknown reasons at the moment but I could hazard a guess. All I know is that when things become quiet I know he is up to something. Numerous phone calls have been overheard and when no instructions have been given for a while then alarm bells begin to ring.

I am taking advantage of the lull to get some painting done for a new project but more about that in my next post. Meanwhile here are the 2 paintings mentioned above:-

"Y Garn  From Tryfan, Snowdonia", acrylic on canvas, 2015.

"Y Garn, Snowdonia", acrylic on canvas, 2015

 In strictness they are mixed media which I have used to produce an actual 3D effect in all 4 paintings in this series. I plan to do some more using various media until I achieve the result I require without any warping of the canvas.

Paintings On Sale For Charity

Bob has organised a sale of 4 of my paintings at Peak Restaurant, Llanberis. These were requested by the owner Mrs Julia Roberts who has kindly offered to sell them to raise funds for St David's Hospice who provide excellent care for patients at their hospice in Llandudno.

There were four paintings selected by her in early December I shall be posting two more after this over the weekend.

The first one was posted on 2 January 2016.

The second one(below) is called "Dinorwig Slate Quarry, Llanberis" acrylic/mixed media on canvas 2015.

Any feedback most welcome. I respond to all comments as soon as possible i.e. when I am not painting.

New year Greetings

Bob has let his fans down! After his arrival back home he called all his friends of a like mind(a dissolute rabble...Ed) and set to partying in Bob's room for the best part of a fortnight. Luckily the neighbours are away for the holidays but it has meant that neither of us has had much sleep in that period.
I have spent most of that time clearing up empty beer and wine bottles not to mention ice cream cartons, chocolate wrappers etc. I had reached the end of my tether when the local girls marching band arrived in full kit just after midnight on New Year's Day. I threw the lot of them out onto the street, drums and all. I was grateful for the fact that there were no fireworks involved. Bears' fur and fireworks do not get on well together.

At this point I realised something had to change so I arranged a business meeting with Bob and themanagement team (me) fortomorrow ( 3 January) to make plans for the coming year. Hopefully he will have sobered up by then. Meanwhile he asked me to post "Tryfan from Llyn Ogwen, Snowdonia", an acrylic on canvas painted in November 2015.

Going Home!

Following the medical crisis last week Curly Bob made a miraculous recovery. Unlike previous holidays the weather was not as warm and frequently wet so Bob didn't go out much. Instead he lounged around his suite spending a lot of time on his  specially converted IPad. The music was not as loud as what I am used to and the deliveries of beer, spirits etc had dropped off.

Clearly Bob was up to something but the question was what? No doubt all would be revealed in the fullness of time. The next day all was revealed. Bob had been trawling the web to see what traffic there had been on his blog recently. The latest visitor stats indicated that Bob was nearing 10,000 blog visits.

Humility has never been one of Bob's stronger points and he announced that he would hold a party and invite virtual visitors from around the world as befits his celebrity status. Hoping that Bob didn't realise they wouldn't actually turn up I agreed and we began packing immediately.

His achievement would be celebrated by posting a painting every other day for the next year. I tried to explain that I didn't have that many images in our archive. His answer was to have me get some paint and canvases ordered during "Black Friday" weekend and start painting to meet the demand.

We bade our farewells to the Hotel de L'Horloge staff, especially the manager, as they always go out of their way to make us comfortable. On the way to the station he suggested that I post "Lonely Towers", an acrylic on canvas from 2013 to get the ball rolling.

As we rolled out of Avignon heading North, for some reason, I wondered if this might be a turning  point in our careers.

"Lonely Towers", acrylic on canvas from 2013.