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Just before we disappear off to the British Art Fair at the Saatchi Gallery next week, we’ve been even busier than usual over the past two weeks, driving around the UK, acquiring many new and rather special works for Castlegate. I’m fully expecting to be asked to officially open any new motorway service stations that may appear in coming years.

As always, we’ve been busy; we have a large selection of new work to the gallery, including a private collection of works by the late Cumbrian artist, Bill Bell; eight works from the studio of Anthony Whishaw (RA) and a fabulous focused body of work from David Storey. These, together with much more, can be seen in our latest exhibition, New into September or via our Latest Work page.

As usual, we’ve been busy around the UK seeking out new work for Castlegate. Our latest works include some finds from a visit yesterday to the estate collection of Michael and June Bennett. We brought back a fabulous very early portrait from 1951 by June (then June Steer, pre-marriage) which we’re just a little captivated by, as well as a wonderful larger painting, Nude Sleeping, from 1987.

We’ve added a new feature to the Castlegate House website that now allows the viewer to see every work that’s listed online and which remains available, all with just one click of the mouse/keyboard. Whilst Latest Work remains the key to see what’s newly acquired / arrived, with several paintings arriving in the last day or so, All Works now allows you to see, in surname alphabetical order, all available works from all artists we show.

Our hunt across the country to bring back new works for Castlegate continues, with recent trips to Cornwall, Surrey, London, Lincolnshire, Wales and Edinburgh to add to our list. The most recent acquisitions may be seen in our Latest Works section, although a more complete list of the ceramics by William Plumptre may be seen on his specific page of our website.

It’s been a busy three weeks, it sometimes feels like we’ve got to know every motorway services far too well over the years. Thirteen new works are now on show and may be seen online in our New Work section. Two works by Norman Cornish have come from the Cornish family; reacquisitions of works by the late Michael Bennett sold through Castlegate in years passed are now ready for new homes, as are paintings by the very influential twentieth century artists John Bellany (RA) and Roger Hilton, along with Scottish artist William Crosbie.

We’re proud to announce our collaboration with Jake Attree, one of the most respected of contemporary artists at work in the UK today. The initial selection of new-to-the-world works comprise six oil paintings and two oil pastels, three of which explore Jake’s fascination bordering on obsession with the paintings of Peter Bruegel the elder.

It’s been a busy week, up and down the country, but as I sit here, typing away in the gallery, looking out through the large Georgian front windows towards Cockermouth Castle, there’s a touch of Spring glimmering through; I’m ready for Spring. Our travels over the last few weeks have resulted in new acquisitions for the gallery, most of which may be seen in our Latest Work section.

As always, we never stand (or sit) still for very long; more acquisitions have made their way to the gallery, (see Latest Work) and they include one of the finest Sheila Fell paintings from arguably her strongest period, along with a wonderful large painting by the late Percy Kelly; firstly, the Fell. We acquired Cornfield, Evening from a private collection in Holland Park, London.

Well a happy new year to one and all. We ended the year on the acquisition trail right up until the 31st, see Latest Works for our latest finds. Included is a wonderful Paul Nash / Eric Ravilious-like painting by the late Edgar Hereford, a painting of a yet to be located town near Collioure in Southern France, when there with Rennie Mcintosh in 1922.

Our Winter Exhibition is now online, with most works to be hung over the course of the next week. This will be an evolving showing, with new works arriving weekly following our travels around the UK, and sold works heading off to new homes. Amongst others, we’ve acquired works by Percy Kelly, Bill Peascod, Ben Levene (RA), Kate Nicholson and Anthony Whishaw (RA) as well as receiving new paintings from Craig Simpson and Stefan Orlowski.

Firstly, as usual, we’ve been busy beavering away travelling around the UK acquiring new works of art to bring back to the gallery. In truth, looking back at the last 2-3 weeks, it’s been a little portrait-tastic, with works by Philip Naviasky and William Johnstone as part of the mix. We’ve also acquired the most wonderful 1928 portrait of a young lady with a tennis racquet by the go-to society portrait painter of the day, David Jagger.

We had the pleasure this week of visiting a client with a wonderful art collection and bringing back to the gallery seven works; three by Norman Cornish and four by L S Lowry, all now listed in our New Work section of the website. Taking the latter first, of the four works by Lowry, all of which have impeccable provenance, three are quite wonderful works on paper, including one of the finest of drawings, Industrial Scene, from 1951.

We spent yesterday rehanging the gallery with a raft of new work, ably assisted by a splendid young chap getting some work experience. Works may be seen in our Autumn exhibition page or in our Latest Work section (albeit the latter with a slightly curtailed list of those by Rebecca Swainston). As part of the new-mix, Alex Hain, a young man who we’ve been proud to work with now since 2015, has produced four wonderful works, three being large energetic and immediate Scottish coastal paintings, largely painted out in-situ, which given their sizes is no mean task.

We’ve had a busy last couple of weeks, up and down the UK, acquiring new works for the gallery by Percy Kelly, John Bellany RA, John McNairn and Carel Weight RA, to name but a few. Firstly, two medium-large paintings by Cumbria’s own Percy Kelly. Both from the same private collection and originally acquired from Castlegate 15-20 years ago or so.

We’ve just received a new eleven-painting body of work from Alice Campbell; a small, focused body of work that Alice has been working on for us since mid-late last year; all are now live online and in-gallery. We’ve worked with Alice since 2018; a 2017 graduate of the prestigious Duncan of Jordanstone art school, Alice won a Royal Scottish Academy travelling scholarship to Florence that same year and has gone on from strength to strength since.

A brief update about new works in-gallery, both those we’ve sought out on our travels, and those directly from some of our contemporary artists. The full list of new work maybe seen in our New Works for Summer exhibition or within Latest Work.  We have works acquired from private collections from both Chantal Joffe (RA) and Norman Cornish, together with works from the likes of Joan Eardley and David Hockney (RA) complimented by contemporary works directly from Helen Fryer, David Storey, Craig Simpson and Halima Cassell.

Firstly, a reminder that the doors open to our latest exhibition, The Appleby Brothers, on Saturday morning; the show is now fully installed and some in-situ images maybe seen towards the bottom of the Exhibition Page HERE. We also have a walk-round video which maybe seen on Facebook or Instagram. This is a show for two young contemporary artists, ploughing a furrow for painting in the modern era; very contemporary yet obsessively and painstakingly produced.

We’re very proud to be going live online with The Appleby Brothers exhibition, a collection of twenty eight new works by two very talented brothers, including three joint collaborations. Both Louis and Alex studied at the very well-respected Wimbledon College of Arts, with Louis going on to obtain his MA at the Royal College.

We’ve been very active over the last three weeks, acquiring new works for the gallery, all may be seen HERE. We have work from the 1980s by the late Bill Peascod, nude studies from both Duncan Grant and Sir Terry Frost, a very rare oil by Ivon Hitchens from 1966, exploring the figure, together with a raft of other acquisitions from the length and breadth of the UK, including our ever-popular affordable Mid Century Modern Alternatives selection.