A Snowy Surprise...

Yesterday evening we had an appointment at Mackenzie Thorpe's Gallery in Richmond to collect some work for our new display having recently been approved as a Mackenzie Thorpe Partnership gallery.

Wendy as usual was a complete oracle of information about Mackenzie and his work and everything we were expecting was ready and waiting for collection... but not before she invited us to join her in a cup of coffee and some tales of adventure.

By the time we left we had acquired another print and a gorgeous bronze sculpture! You know when you just close you eyes and wish... well it happened! 'Grandads Little Finger' was coming home to the Acorn...

'Grandad's Little Finger' in bronze by Mackenzie Thorpe

To our surprise Wendy had also planned on including an original for our display and to our total delight the piece she had in mind was one which we had admired on our last visit!

Entitled 'Snowy Tops' this magnificent pastel work has bold but simple colours and a strong message that even in deepest winter when the snow falls and the leaves are gone, the Shepherd will always take care of his flock. 

Of course the Shepherd and his sheep are not only a literal representation they also make a symbolic reference to the family and those in all places who take care of others...

'Snowy Tops' by Mackenzie Thorpe

Mackenzie's use of warm gold colours in stark contrast to the cold you know there must be, reminds us of the force of nature and yet in the strong and calm presence of the shepherd we feel comforted and safe.

My heart sang as we took a steady drive home although I'm sure the car was a little heavy on its axles!

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.