

ART IS A FAMILY THING
Art is a family thing. This post was written to coincide with an up-coming publication of a feature article in Art and Framing Today magazine. I was asked to contribute a few sentences as the magazine editor collected information about various family groups in the art business..... ...... I have been a full time professional artist for 50 years. My wife is also an artist. We met at Art College in 1959, got married, and then had our first child. Nowadays we are still full tim


That cat again.
That cat again. We have noticed that one of my most popular blogs this year was the one that I wrote about a black cat. (That Damn Cat). His name was Trevor. He was a feature of many paintings and prints that both my wife and I painted and published. We still sell original paintings and signed and numbered edition prints about him. CAT and GRAMOPHONE by Colin Ruffell Cats don’t usually listen to music on old gramophones. This picture of Trevor was inspired by a rather famous


Van Gogh didn't sell any pictures ... Wrong!
Van Gogh didn't sell any pictures ... wrong! It’s an old quiz trick question. How many pictures did Van Gogh sell during his lifetime? The common answer is ‘NONE’. That is wrong. Red Vinyard by Vincent Van Gogh The answer that gets you the point is ‘ONE’. That’s given by people who know a bit about VG and have heard about ‘The Red Vinyard’ that his brother Theo sold for 400 francs during Vincent's lifetime. That is about 1800 dollars today. The buyer was fellow painter and he


North Light in Artists' Studios
NORTH LIGHT IN ARTISTS' STUDIOS ‘North light’ means that the windows in the room face north. And this fact, here in Brighton, England, Europe in the northern hemisphere, means that the sun doesn’t shine into the room, keeping the space shadow free, cool, and consistent. ‘SUNSHINE’ detail from ‘FAMILY’ by Colin Ruffell OAR100390 Artists' studios are often sold or let at a premium if the light is only coming from a northern facing window. Most ordinary sensible people like th