Shipping Brow Ahoy!

 I was away last weekend at my own gallery event so missed out on the opening day of The Shipping Brow Gallery. It was much anticipated and is a great asset for Maryport.

 The ground floor, reserved for local exhibitions, currently has a show by Sarah Reid. Her Solway pastel paintings capture the ever changing mood of the Solway Firth landscape. Good to see some red dots on the labels. 

 Through the stairwell there is a collection of paintings by Alan Roper. A well-known local artist commissioned to do paintings of Maryport for the Gallery. These were superb, clean and characterful images of modern Maryport that would grace any home. 

 Up the spiral staircase we climbed to the main event. The middle floor hosts the permanent collection of Brian and Dolly Money and consist of paintings by William Mitchell and Percy Kelly.

 Percy Kelly is another well known local artist whose work is currently sought after and always creates a buzz when anything appears in the local auction house.

This collection mostly of his Maryport paintings in his dark foreboding charcoal sits boldly on the scarlet walls. 

 Such a well thought out development that also includes the installation of an artist in residence, currently newly qualified artist, Felix Butterwick. 

It was a pleasure to see the vision realised and hand over my paintings of the building to Dolly and Brian. 

Those images have been recreated as 20 giclee prints on greetings cards for sale in the gallery. 

 Following the gallery visit we walked around the harbour and out to the lighthouse. It was a little wild out there but as we walked we contemplated the attractions that we could see just around the harbour area, clip and climb, the aquarium, the Roman museum, the gallery and thankfully the public toilets were open. 

All in all an enjoyable trip. Free to CA15 residents and a small fee for visitors, I'm excited to see the future and look forward to having my street paintings available in there next year.