Looking Back: A Year in Art at Our Coastal Gallery
As 2024 winds down, we reflect on an incredible year spent doing what we love - running an art gallery by the sea! We couldn’t have done it without our loyal customers, whose support for my art and our gallery has been invaluable. Thank you for being such an important part of this journey!
From the North East Beaches to the Wilds of Scotland
2024 has been a productive year, with a whole host of originals brought to life in my studio. I am fortunate that the beautiful beaches and landmarks of Cullercoats, Whitley Bay and Tynemouth fuel the creativity behind so many of my original paintings.
The Dove Marine Laboratory and Simpson Street made their first appearances in my local paintings this year and firm favourites such as Longsands and St. Mary’s proved to be just as popular as ever!
Our family adventures further afield through Northumberland and beyond the border to Scotland, have provided me with a wealth of artistic inspiration this year.
A trip to the mysterious St. Cuthbert’s Cave and surrounding landscape reminded me of the rich history of Northumberland and inspired a collection of paintings, bringing the tapestry of colours from these walks alive.
Ross and I continue to document our progress along the Northumberland Coast Path, a route which is continually impressive and inspiring to me as a landscape artist. You can watch our YouTube videos which track our journey here: https://www.youtube.com/@JoanneWishartArtist
Further north, the stunning Cairngorm Mountains beyond Aviemore and the serene Loch Morlich in Scotland captured my imagination early this year, resulting in two new paintings.
Celebrating the Art Gallery
Not only did we raise a glass to the gallery this year for its 5th Anniversary but the place came alive for our exhibition of 10 new original paintings in June. A lot of love, time and effort went into creating 14 handmade 3-D poppies for the event and we reflected fondly on our time here, running our business together in Cullercoats.
Now that we are 5 years settled into the rhythm of running our business, we really feel we have found our niche and are continuously learning how to improve our offering. Growing and expanding can’t be done without help and we’ve added Millie and Laura to the Saturday team, alongside our boys who are gaining vital experience in the world of work!
Greetings Cards
2024 saw us reconnect with retail buyers at Spring Fair in Birmingham and was a great success in finding new stockists for my greetings cards around the country. It’s always a pleasure when a customer comes into the gallery and tells me they've seen my cards in a shop while on holiday somewhere and takes delight in telling the retailer they know the artist! We are always on the lookout for new stockists, so if you know a local shop who you think would be a good fit for my cards, please let them know about us!
Sharing my art with the wider community has been such a rewarding part of the year! Our annual participation in the Staithes Festival of Arts and Heritage was, as always, a delight, filled with creativity and connection. We love our weekend away in this historic village and I relished the opportunity to paint ‘en plein air’, in front of a crowd!
October saw our debut at the Forage Lifestyle Winter Market - a busy and festive affair which brightened everyone’s spirits; it was nice to be back socialising amongst other creative businesses.
As the proud annual sponsor of the Cullercoats Community Advent Trail, I was hard at work preparing this year’s robin - themed contribution. Thank you to all the creatives who come together to produce this festive display across Cullercoats. It’s heartwarming to see happy families out and about, window spotting!
I’m pleased to say that Santa made it to Cullercoats in a lifeboat this year for my RNLI Christmas card design, which, as ever, has been a big success! I’m always happy to support this worthy local cause. ? cards in total were sold - what a brilliant success to end the year.
Looking forward to 2025
Now that we have staff helping in the gallery and our children are older, you may see us out and about at a few more events next year. Personal connections really are the best way forward in shouting about our art gallery.
Ross and I are aiming to finish the Northumberland Coast Path, finding inspiration for paintings along the way. Our filming and editing efforts will improve along the way too, so check out our short films over on my YouTube channel.
Paintings wise, I have a long list of new places I’d like to paint and fresh products I’d like to introduce to the gallery offering. The best place to hear about them first is via my mailing list, so please do sign up for my monthly newsletter. Some original paintings don’t even make it onto the gallery walls, so don’t miss out. Seaton Sluice is first up on my list…
We always value feedback from our supporters - it helps us grow and improve! While I’m not currently taking on personal commissions, I’d love to hear any scene ideas you have. Feel free to share them through the contact form on my website, and I’ll add them to my list for future consideration. Looking forward to your suggestions!
Don't forget to follow me on social media at:
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/JoanneWishartArtist
Instagram @joanne.wishart.art
Best wishes for 2025,
Joanne & Ross
