The appointment was 2pm on Monday and he was spot on time despite walking the seven miles from Loweswater where he was staying. He bought the unframed Percy Kelly drawing of Loweswater church, stashed it in his rucksack and set off to walk back down the River Cocker. This was just the beginning of its journey. It will travel by bus, several trains and planes to its new home north of the Arctic Circle. Loweswater was Kelly's favourite place in Cumbria. His second wife Christine referred to it as Percy's Happy Hunting Ground. It's things like this that make running a gallery so interesting and rewarding.
Our Norweigian friend bought his first Kelly, spotted on our web site 2 years ago making the same special pilgrimage. His second was posted in an appropriate canister which had contained a bottle of Scapa single malt whisky. But the Scapa had flowed and the empty tube came in handy.
The first painting to sell on the opening day of the Bennett show was by Michael Bennett and is also going to make a long journey - to Washington DC. The purchaser has not yet seen it and has acquired it by the magic of the web and e mails.
The Bennett show is roaring along. There are a few things left; see the exhibitions page of the web site www.castlegatehouse.co.uk and see the red spots. You'll have to be quick to secure one.
If the genii of the lamp appeared in my office with 2 wishes, the top of the long list would be superfast broadband and a cumbrian airport no matter how small and limited. Tourists and IT dinosaurs love this place for its peace and quaintness but to run an international business here is frustrating at times. I wouldn't want to live anywhere else BUT we do need efficient tools to exist and compete in such isolation so far from the capital.
I suppose I want it all - but it's good to dream.
