Ted Coney’s Family Portraits re-opens

An artist in Ely is getting ready to reopen his house to the public, for the second year. After doing guided tours around his work to many visitors, every Sunday from April to December, Ted Coney is preparing to do it all again, with added improvements.

New this year is an electronic sketchbook, so visitors will be able to see how one of the paintings in each tour has been built up, from the earliest sketches to the final piece. There will be more new paintings in the house as well as another work in progress in the studio, a tiny space which forms part of a converted garage.

One of the paintings which proved popular last year was ‘Diamond Sutra’, an work over eight foot in length, which charts Mr Coney on an 800 mile journey on his 1940 bicycle from Great Shelford, his former home, to the north west coast of Scotland. The ride was to celebrate being 60 years old and part of the mission was to collect sixty objects to represent his family life so far. These are displayed in the painting.

“I think visitors are always surprised that I don’t sell my work, and there are only a few postcards for sale” said Ted Coney, now retired from being Head of Art at Hills Road Sixth Form College for over 30 years. However, from this year, through his web-site, images of some of the oil paintings will be obtainable as high quality prints on paper or stretched canvas.

Ted Coney’s Family Portraits re-opens on Sunday 11 April with tours at 2pm and 3pm each Sunday at 49, Waterside, Ely.