We all enjoy telling our clients about how Lorraine Christie weaves stories into her paintings. It’s a well known fact that she often names the paintings before painting them, and already has an idea of the characters in her paintings and their relationships to each other even before her brush touches the canvas.
Well, having just opened an excellent and tremendously successful show for Lorraine Christie, we, as gallery owners, have enjoyed the stories told by our clients who have been touched by Lorraine’s work. In some cases, they had to buy the painting. In other cases, there were some broken hearts of people who couldn’t get the painting they wanted. But in all cases, it seems, Lorraine’s evocative images and the (often romantic) stories that are woven behind them have stirred up enough emotions in our clients that we have a few stories of our own to tell: (By the way, to protect the identity of the clients, we’re just offering cropped glimpses of the works).
There was the musician from Decatur who performed at our gallery several years ago as part of a classical quartet, and who said that she’s been haunted by the beauty of Lorraine’s work ever since. She had to come to the show and meet the artist.
There was the woman who has wanted a Lorraine Christie painting for years, and now, recently divorced and just spreading her wings, came to the show, met the artist and gave herself permission to buy.
There was a couple who spent their honeymoon in Paris, and needed to know that the City of Light was the inspiration behind the painting they wanted. It was … and now they are thrilled to proudly own the painting.
At one point during the evening, some clients approached us and said, “That man over there can’t stop staring at the painting – does he know that it’s sold?” Luckily, we told them, he did, because his wife had bought it without his knowledge! And luckily, he was falling in love all over again. It was a wonderful sight to watch.
There was the couple who have collected Lorraine’s work over the years, with a keen eye and much happiness. But the icing on the cake was when the husband, a cleverly conniving kind, planned a secret trip to Paris for his wife, and bought a beautiful Lorraine Christie painting of Paris, as one of the clues in the multi-pack, beautifully wrapped present.
And maybe our favorite story of all, that of the wife who’d always deferred to her husband’s taste in art, and knew that he wanted a Lorraine. But he couldn’t attend the show, so with some hesitation, she bought a painting for him. Then she hung it in the restaurant where they were having his birthday dinner, and waited for his reaction. Half way through dinner he said, “OMG, is that a Lorraine Christie hanging over there? This restaurant must be doing well!” and she said, “I believe it is. Do you like it?”
Luckily, he loved it … and the rest is history.
Ta ta …
HH
PS Enjoy some pictures from the exhibition. And if you missed the show, we still have a few paintings hanging. So come by and see for yourself … and tell us your Lorraine stories.
Clients, with our gallery manager Sarah Sullivan
First HHFA show for Emily Sawyer, who is working for us at Huff Harrington Home, but loves to spend time at the gallery – with a friend from her home town.
Meg Harrington with artist Aaron Whitehouse and Sarah.
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