If you’ve visited SerenArts Gallery over the last few weeks, you might think everything looks wonderfully calm. The paintings are hanging neatly on the walls, visitors are browsing at a leisurely pace, and there’s the usual friendly chat about colours, favourite places and whether that painting would look just right above the fireplace.

Behind the scenes, however… it’s a slightly different story!

In just a few weeks, we’ll be heading north to Art in the Pen in Skipton – one of the country’s best-loved art fairs – and while we’re incredibly excited, we’re also at that familiar stage where every flat surface seems to have become a temporary storage area for something art-related.

There are paintings waiting to be framed. Others are drying just that little bit longer because “one more day won’t hurt.” Serena’s 4-inch oil paintings are appearing in neat little rows ready for framing, while larger originals are quietly competing for a place in the van. It’s a bit like putting together a football team… everyone deserves a place, but sadly not everyone can make the starting eleven!

Then there are the lists.

Lists of paintings. Lists of display items. Lists reminding us to check the lists. Somewhere there may even be a list of where we’ve put the other lists.

Thankfully, experience has taught us that all this organised chaos eventually comes together. It always does. The bubble wrap gets wrapped, the labels get printed, the van gets packed (usually with military precision after several rounds of artistic rearranging), and before we know it we’ll be setting off on another adventure.

One of the nicest parts of preparing for an exhibition is seeing a collection of paintings slowly come together. Individually, each one tells its own story, but together they begin to create a conversation. Looking around the gallery, it’s exciting to imagine them hanging in a completely different setting, meeting thousands of visitors over the course of a weekend, and hopefully finding new homes.

Of course, before any of that happens, there’s still plenty to do. A few finishing touches here, a bit of varnishing there, perhaps the occasional cup of coffee (or three), and undoubtedly a few moments where we both stand in the gallery wondering, “Are we sure we’ve remembered everything?”

We probably haven’t.

But that’s all part of the adventure.

The countdown has well and truly begun, and we can’t wait to share the journey with you.

Wish us luck… and if anyone invents a way of packing a van so that it still has room for the kettle, we’d love to hear about it!