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Artistic mystery filling in the blanks

Being an artist, I am often asked questions relating with things to do with art, but not necessarily about painting pictures… a few weeks ago I was asked the best way to just clean an oil painting hanging on the wall (gently with a slightly damp but very clean, lint free cloth), and about two weeks ago a friend asked me the best way to get her 13 year old daughter started on oil painting, and what subject matter she should paint (whatever she loves painting the best! was my reply).

I saw a friend of mine at the weekend, and the minute she saw me she got out her phone to ask me if I had a clue as to what the name of the artist was on the painting she wakes up to every morning. I looked at the writing in the place where the artists name should be in the photo and couldn’t work out even the first letter of what I was taking to be the surname.. was it an F? or a T? or even a J? or a stylised  S? When I said that outloud to my friend, she said she thought the word on the other side was the artists name, and where I was looking was the title of the picture. I looked doubtfully at it, and saw what she meant. She’s had that painting for many years and loves it, and just wanted to know more about the artist who painted it.

Just in passing I asked where she had bought it, thinking that would help me a bit to find the answer for her.. if it was on holiday in this country or abroad, or in a gallery, that might give me a clue. But the answer was “At a Boot sale”. 

Ok, no clues then.

And just to add to the mystery I don’t think that the title is written in English..

And also, and maybe partly due to that, the letters are written in a flamboyant way, so what I am taking to be the letter “O”.. might just be a U, or an A….

I think the best start could be to work out all the permutations of what the letters could be, and start from there… And having said that, there is no saying that the artist might even be found easily.. some artists aren’t out in the world on the internet!

I shall enjoy the challenge though, its a fun artistic one..