The new normal

Well here we are, nearly the end of July, and nearly 4 weeks into the new world. How's it going? Rather difficult to say just yet but not without hope. Like many others we have changed the way we operate and in our case that means that sadly you will not find the door open and - at least most of the time - you can't just wander in and out as you might want to.

We have sanitiser of course, but because our gallery space and stairs are inevitably cottage scale it means that even at the 1m distancing requirement it really is only one visitor at a time. And after they've gone we need to clean surfaces and objects just to be sure. And all this behind our face masks. So not easy to generate the informal and friendly buzz we've always aspired to.

Viewed in the context of the facts of life for a small gallery in an attractive village, namely that most casual visitors come largely to look and enjoy - which of course we have always been very happy to accommodate - our former operation no longer really works. So for the time being we are opening by appointment only in order to focus on lifeblood of any business, sales.

We know other galleries round the country are adopting similar ideas but we also know that some are trying to go back to how it was before. BCV. Thus far, we have had some – albeit limited – success but it really is far too early to tell. 

As far as our artists are concerned, they need all the sales we can encourage and that really means us focussing on that rather than the maintenance of the relaxed ambience we have built up over the years. To keep up with what we have and what's new, we do – like pretty well everybody else use social media – and we try to highlight good things there. And in due course, barring unforeseen bumps in the road, we may well promote the occasional event. We shall see.

In the meantime, amongst what we have on offer are 3 new works from one of our most popular artists, Mari French, illustrated here. Firstly, 

'After the rain', 34cm x 34cm, acrylic, ink and gouache on board, £800.00

Secondly, 'Abundance', 34cm x 34cm, acrylic, ink and gouache on board, £800.00

And lastly, 'Alchemy', 34cm x 34cm, acrylic, ink and gouache on board, £800.00

If you like these, please do get in touch. Our email is burnhamgrapevine@gmail.com