Family portraits are exhibited

Great Shelford artist Ted Coney held an exhibition of paintings at his home last week to coincide with his 40th birthday.

Mr Coney, who is an art teacher, decided to hold an exhibition as a way of taking stock at this juncture of his life.

The paintings in a collection called “Family Portraits” were exhibited in the places they normally occupy in the Coney family home, because it was felt as they were about the family they should be seen against the background which inspired them.

There were 16 paintings on show, mainly oil on canvas or oil on wood, and dating back as far as 1969.

A collection of films he and his wife have made of their life since the birth of their two children was also shown.

Some of the paintings are highly complex, such as the collection of 12 to form a calendar. On the first Sunday of each month at 3pm, Mr Coney persuaded his family to stand on the same spot on a white line around Great Shelford football field.

He took a photo, and made a pastel drawing of the weather conditions, and then worked up the paintings from these.