The Search - An Interview with Mackenzie Thorpe

Q, What was your inspiration for the title 'The Search'?

A, The title was from the 1956 John Ford Movie 'The Search' What makes a man to wander, what makes a man to roam, what makes a man turn his back on bed and board, what makes a man turn his back on home.

Q, Is the duffle coat characters search over?

A, No the search lasts forever.

Q, What music were you listening to when you painted this piece?

A, Vera Lynn's 'Harbour Lights'

Q, Is the painting set in a particular place?

A, No

Q, Is the path red for a reason?

A, Yes, it is the passion of the journey.

Q, The colour spectrum in the sky is amazing, how did you know it would turn out so powerful?

A, I knew because I painted the rainbow colours of the sky as homage to Tom Wall, my tutor and my friend.

Q, Do you think you will use new techniques after using lacquer and varnish on this piece?

A, Yes! I have just found new metallic inks with patterns such as fish scales, which I am really excited about using!

Q, Can I buy this piece?

A, You can buy the original! It's big, like you!

This interview took place by phone whilst Mackenzie was drawing new works for his November show in New York and Mackenzie likes quick conversations on the phone so it was pretty good that it lasted this long!

SALE AWAY!

It's hard to believe its been 8 months since we switched our blog to the website, are you following us there too? You'll find it HERE

Well it's January now and time for us to make you a seasonal offering of pieces which are all brand-new, never-before-owned and sometimes even sold out from the publisher and therefore quite sought after... 

Here are just a few of the sale images but there are almost 60 to look at... You can find ALL the bargains on our SALE PAGE !

'One Man and His Dog'
by Alexander Millar

'No, I'm Spartacus'
by Craig Davison

'Who Would Have Believed It?'
by Paul Horton

  

'Hold Me Close'
by Peter Smith

'Thumpers in Jumpers'
by Peter Smith

'The Powerful Truth'
by Paul Horton (The ICON Collection)

'The Lost Snowflake'
by Paul Horton

Wow! Dylan - What A Rush!!!

Friday 13th June - Diane & I spent the evening moving the gallery around and hanging the Bob Dylan signed limited edition prints with help from our kids who, after being fed some very nice fish and chips from the Railway Street Chippie, we got stuck in with great gusto! They helped to unwrap the framed pieces and wrap up the pieces that we had taken down to accommodate the Dylan work. By 8.30pm we were finished!

Saturday 14th June - Diane & I arrived at the gallery early and shut ourselves in with the shutters down! We still had bits and pieces to finish off in readiness for the launch time of 10am. At bang on 10am we put the shutter up hoping to see a crowd but the street seemed no busier than usual - but the minute we opened the door the gallery filled up - I don't know where they came from! People had obviously been waiting to get in and grab their piece of Dylan artwork.

By 10.30am we were well and truly underway and the sales were coming thick and fast. People were loving his work and we had fans old and young coming in to have a look!

Before we knew it it was 4pm and the gallery had gone quiet for the first time so we took the chance to put the kettle on and try to grab a sandwich but before the kettle had boiled or we had taken a bite of the sandwich we were starting to fill up again!

By 6pm we had managed to close the door and sat back and just hugged each other! Our decison to be in on the Dylan launch - after only 6 months in business - had paid off! Sales for the day were phenomenal!

We had sold to France and Holland and even had someone trying to gazump a portfolio from under a customers nose such was the demand!

Monday 16th June - We got to the gallery to find answerphone messages from people over in the USA wanting us to ring them ASAP as they wanted to buy! One guy even said he didn't mind which pieces we had he just wanted one!

Due to our misinterpretation of time zones we rang a lady back only to find that it was only 5am with her! Nevertheless she was delighted to be in time to buy and promptly chose a superb selection of prints which will be winging their way over to her very shortly! (Thankyou Linda - for your business!)

We even had a message from BBC Look North who wanted to come along and do an interview - unfortunately they didn't have a VT man and had to put it off but are still hoping to come down later in the week (I'll keep you posted!)

So, now we have only a few Dylan pieces left and we think that even they will be soon gone! We have left only nine individual graphics and one portfolio! Anyone wanting to be a part of this journey needs to get on board fast!

Diane & I would just like to say a massive 'THANKYOU!' to all those people who bought and those who came along for a look and a chat! Many people were happy to simply buy a book or a brochure and I'm sure that even these will become very collectable! More books are on order and brochures are still available to buy!

To sum it up Dylan has been one hell of a rush and we haven't stopped grinning from ear to ear!

We can't wait for the next installment of Dylan mania!!!

Opening Day

Well 3rd December 2007 crept up on us very quickly. We (myself and my lovely wife Diane) opened the door at 9am and sat there wondering if any one would call in and say hello!!!


Our fears were vanished within 30 minutes of opening the door we had our first visitor call in and say Hi, what a relief!!!. The day was hectic we had people calling in all day with good luck cards and words of support. By the time 5pm came we were tired out! We reckoned that we had 40 people through the door. No sales but a great feeling that we had brought something new to Pocklington and by the response we had received it looked like we had done the correct thing by opening here.


Our first sale came on the 6th December 2007 at the late night shopping event quickly followed by our second sale - what a rush! We had made a couple of sales on what was a very, very busy evening. The gallery was packed out, there was no room to swing a cat!! I don't know if that was down to the weather (it was pouring down outside) or whether it was down to the wonderful limited editions that were on display and possibly the pull of free wine!! Who cares we were having a great evening and our database was slowly filling up with details of people interested in the artwork on display.


For the rest of December we were busy with people coming in and showing great interest in the originals and limited editions that were on display. Our sales increased with our best week being the week ending 22nd when we sold a Paul Horton original now that was a rush I can tell you!!


It has been a fantastic month for us and we would just like to say thank you to all those people who have been into the gallery and we hope that we can continue to show you the different array of pieces that these very talented artists can produce.