Decking the Walls…
The Open House weekend is over again for another year, and it’s time to reflect on an exhausting - but very enjoyable - weekend of party prep and picture hanging.
It's always a bit of a mad rush to get things ready for our annual Christmas Open House Exhibition, but I think it’s fair to say that this year’s run-up was on another level of disorganisation and last-minuteness. The house was in total disarray for most of the week. We didn’t have any radiators until Friday morning. My wife made a video, which I may share one day. It wasn’t pretty, but you don’t see it when you’re in it, do you?
We got there in the end, though, and I’m currently basking guiltily in newly radiated warmth while despatching emails (and prints!) to some new collectors. The house is slowly returning to its normal state of low-level chaos, and I’m putting off the pending artwork take-down that needs to happen at some point, before we all start suffering from New Paintings Overload.
The Open House always heralds the start of the festive season for us. The majority of the guests are friends from the neighbourhood, or friends from elsewhere, using this as a good reason to stop in and say hello before the full-on Christmas season begins.
We use it as a good reason to get the tree up a bit early and to make the house look 50% less like the scene of an explosion in a lego shop.
I really do enjoy it and I’m always pleasantly surprised by how many actual strangers also arrive at the door, alerted to our presence by my mailouts and Facebook updates.
Sometimes the transition from chats with friends to Actual Art Talk is a difficult shift, but once I got going on Sunday, I really enjoyed having some proper conversations about painting, and – as with my recent art fair experience – I feel like I started to understand some of my new work better by having to answer some straightforward questions about it.
As is often the case in December, I’m struggling to find an opportunity to do any actual painting – this year more than ever – but I’m seeing it as a chance to try and get myself mentally ready to hit the ground running in 2024.
Thanks for your support this year. Have a great Festive season, if Christmas is your thing!
My Next Event
I’ll be hosting a pop-up exhibition at www.rothschildbickers.co.uk in Cross Street, Islington on Saturday 20th January from 1pm until 6pm. Rothschild Bickers make spectacularly beautiful hand-blown pendant lighting, and their Islington store is an Aladdin’s Cave of must-have pieces. This event is the same weekend as The London Art Fair at The Business Design Centre, so why not kill two art-loving birds with one beautifully crafted stone?
Don’t Forget!
If you’re struggling for Christmas gift ideas, I still have prints remaining from my edition, which can be delivered to you in time for Christmas Day.
Visit www.matthewwebber.co.uk/shop if you’d like to place an order.
