OLD MEMORIES by TOM BROWN

 

Click HERE  (5x3 in. – Oil painting on cardboard)
Rummaging in the back of my studio I came across old memories. Newspaper clippings, gallery invitations and old sketches for paintings I intended to do some day. Today’s painting is based on one of those sketches.
     Some of the newspaper clippings were about my first one-man gallery show. Which was a terrifying experience. At the start.
     Mary Follett operated the gallery, and she had locked the doors as we hung the show before opening day. But a woman outside kept knocking on the window asking to be let in. “I want that, I want that,” she shouted through the glass. Mary told her to come back next day, and my heart sank. I sadly thought we’d just missed a sale. “Oh, she’ll be back,” Mary smiled. I wasn’t so sure.
     Soon another woman had her face pressed to the window. And a gentleman peered over her shoulder. Before long we had a crowd outside, pointing and talking. Several of them also asked to be let in early. But Mary refused; she was confident they would return.
     And she was right. That entire group and more were waiting when we opened the next day.
     By end of the day it had become everything I could have hoped for. We had sold everything; every artist’s dream.
     And this painting was done from sketches I had planned to paint for that show but never got around to doing. It finally came to life after all this time. Hope you like it.