Ted Coney’s Family Portraits reopens for 2016

Ely artist, Ted Coney has opened his house again for the eighth season to give guided tours around his work. All his paintings are about family life and family relationships and Ted has been working on the same theme for nearly fifty years so there are lots of paintings on display.

‘Dont’ worry, I only talk about seven paintings on each tour’ said Ted. Each tour lasts about an hour and begins with a short film to introduce the work and ends in the studio to see the latest painting in progress.

This year’s painting, entitled ‘Bicycle Thieves’ is about marriage and changing attitudes to it since second world war. Ted actually made drawings of his 1940 bicycle and uses it in a symbolic way in the painting.

Ted has owned the same bicycle for the last forty years and still uses it to travel to work.

‘It did actually get stolen in Cambridge several years ago’ explained Ted ‘but after five days I managed to track it down.’

The bicycle is also featured on Cambridge TV, in a film made about Ted’s work, as one of six programmes currently being shown.