The Big Elmer Auction

Elephish - Great North Elmer

Wow!  I have just about come down to earth after the excitement of the Big Elmer auction at the Sage last week. 

What an exciting night, Elephish was Lot No. 1 First up, I am proud to say it was voted as the most popular Elmer on the trail and sold for a whopping ten thousand pounds. 

My heart was pounding and I was please that the bidding reached 5K then was astounded when two determined bidders kept on fighting it out until the hammer went down at 10K!

I know that Elephish's sponsors First Classs Supply are devastated to say goodbye to their Elmer but are thrilled with the amount raised for the hospice.

Elenora the Explorer - Great North Elmer

Elenora the Explorer was Lot No. 4 so I didn't have long to wait for my second Elmer sponsored by Tyne Tunnels to go under the hammer. I have to say that auctioneers Anderson & Garland did a splendid job of keeping the tempo up and she sold for an amazing £5,000. 

What a great feeling £15,000 raised for St Oswald Hospice from the sale of my two Elmers. I am so please for St Oswolds Hospice that raised a grand total of £182,000 on the night. Much needed funds for a wonderful local charity.

I wish my Elmer's a fond farewell and wish them best of luck in their new forever homes x


www.joannewishart.co.uk

To donate to St Oswalds Hospice visit https://www.stoswaldsuk.org   

Elmer's Great North Parade

Elmer's Great North Parade


Yeah! It's finally time to reveal my designs and visit Great North Elmer's parade. The trail is now open. You may already know that I have painted two Elmer's for the parade which is a charity art trail in aid of St Oswolds hospice.

Elmer is an elephant character from the well know children's books by David Mckee and published by Anderson Press.

The parade will showcase 50 large scale Elmer's painted by North East artists showing the strength and diversity of talent we have in the area. Over 100 baby Elmer's will also be part of the herd with these little sculptures being designed by local school children.

Out of an entry field of over 300 designs my two designs were chosen and I am super excited to be part of this event again. 


Elmer's Great North Parade

My first Elmer is "Elephish" sponsored by First Class Supply, based in Whitley Bay. You can find Elephish on our amazing North Tyneside coastline near the Whitley Bay Dome.

 "Elenora the Explorer" is my second Elmer and is sponsored by Tyne Tunnels, another fantastic sponsor based in North Tyneside.

You can find Elenora at the North exit of the Tyne Tunnel where they have created a fabulous setting for her to set up camp for the duration of the trail. There will also be refreshments available from the Great North Coffee Co. LTD  

We have a few trail maps here in the gallery for a £1 donation, let's not forget what it's all  about. Please give generously to St Oswolds Hospice, download the app and 

go find them! 

Northumberland Artist paints North East Pictures

Northumberland artist paints North East Pictures


Thank you for following my work! Northumberland is of great inspiration to my paintings.  I spend much of my time exploring the Northumberland coastline. 

Bamburgh Castle and Bamburgh Beach are particularly splendid early summer when the poppies are in full bloom.

Craster is another personal favourite, with views of the harbour, fishing boats and Dunstanburgh Castle in the distance. 

Let us not forget Alnmouth nestled in Northumberland a stones throw from the market town of Alnwick. Lovaine Terrace is such a colourful street it was just asking to be painted! It make a perfect Northumberland picture.

Low Newton by the Sea. I can recommend the walk from Craster to Low Newton, taking in Dunstanburgh Castle.

Northumberland artist paints North East Pictures

I feel so privileged to have such a fantastic landscape as Northumberland as my inspiration and feel lucky to have grown up in a rural area just outside Berwick upon Tweed. 

Berwick upon Tweed has a lot of charm and history that makes it a great subject to paint. Situated at the mouth of the river Tweed and famous for its three bridges the historic town is awash with interesting features. 

If you are visiting the area you can see my work in the Dockside Gallery in Tweedmouth.

Spittal, Seahouses, Lindisfarne and Druridge Bay are next on my list of places to paint. Northumberland never fails to deliver on subject matter. 

This summer I am hoping to squeeze in one more camping holiday with my family and a few more coastal walks to get my creative juices flowing. 

My sketchbook will be at hand to capture all of my latest ideas! 

If you would like to see more of my work please visit my website at www.joannewishart.co.uk or join my mailing list to be the first to hear about my latest paintings and upcoming exhibitions.

Elmer's Great North Parade

Hoorah, I've been chosen to paint two Elmers for Elmer's Great North Parade! After the success of the Great North Snow Dogs St Oswolds Hospice and Wild in Art have teamed up again to bring the North East another colourful art trail.

This years trail will feature 50 large scale Elmer sculptures which will be located in prominent locations around the North East. All to raise funds for St Oswolds Hospice.

Elmer the patchwork elephant remains one of the most iconic and widely read children's book series of all time, selling over 10 million copies worldwide since it was first published by Andersen Press in 1989. The books are written and illustrated by celebrated children's author and artist David McKee.

My blank canvas Elmer's arrived safely at my studio in Cullercoats this week so let the painting begin. Keep an eye on my social media for progress updates, and I will be revealing soon who my local sponsors are and where my sculptures will be on the trail! So watch this space!

For more information about the event please visit https://stoswaldsuk.org/elmer/ and follow the hashtag #greatnorthelmerhttps://stoswaldsuk.org/elmer/

We are open!

On the 30th March 2019 we opened our doors to the public for the very first time.  Here are a few photos of the opening launch night! 

We are so grateful to everyone who came along and for all of the support from friends, family and neighbours from St Georges Road. We have received a very warm welcome from the residence of Cullercoats and we are settling in well. So its onwards and upwards and time to get painting!

I'm so looking forward to working at the coast and soaking up the seaside atmosphere. I've started to cycle to work  ( 6 miles a day ) so it's a start to improving my fitness and helping the environment by using our car less.

I'll be working on some Cullercoats inspired work over the summer .......so watch this space.

www.joannewishart.co.uk

So we bought a shop!

Exciting times ahead as last October we bought an old pet shop in Cullercoats. Ross and I have always wanted to run our own gallery. We have been looking for premises for a couple of years but it was tricky to find a large enough space for a gallery and studio, with an office, close to the seafront.....my list of requirements was quite large! 
We thought this property was already sold but by chance we passed in the car and saw it back on the market.....with only a few days until the auction. It was a huge risk but we went for it and made an offer. 

 As you can see it was in need of a bit of work, the property is 1930's I think and has been a Pet Shop for some 20-30 years prior. We know this as most of Ross' school friend bought their family pets from here!

We took out a large cupboard in the the back room to make more space for my studio. When I say we, I mean our builder Martin and his team!  As with all old buildings we have discovered rotten floorboards, had to strengthen the roof with steal beams, install central heating, new windows, insulation, new w.c. etc etc. 

I couldn't resist keeping a few features like the brick pillars. I would have loved to have kept the old brick fireplace too, but it was in a poor condition.

It's been a big learning curve and the builders, electricians, plumber and joiner have been very patient with my indecision and constant changes of plans. We started out with a biro sketch with a few ideas of what we wanted...not exactly architectural plans but we seem to have winged it so far!  

Ross getting his hands dirty.

New flooring.

So that is progress so far...we still have a way to go with the finishing touches but we are hoping to be open by the end of March!