Autumn and winter 2024 – Art and life update
New work
I’ve had quite a busy time since the spring and early summer and have completed a number of new paintings and drawings. After spending the best part of 2 years working on the large oil paintings for the Scottish Maritime Museum exhibition last year, it has been really nice doing the smaller acrylic and pastel pieces once more. Below are images of some of the new paintings:
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Big Glen Rosa drawing – 10 years ago!
I realised the other day that it is now almost exactly 10 years since I created the big graphite drawing of Glen Rosa, as part of an exhibition I had at our excellent Harbour Arts Centre here in Irvine. You may recall that I did the drawing in the main gallery during the course of the exhibition and so as it is a very public space, it was almost like a performance piece. With the help of Graham Byron and Dan Thornton, we made a short time-lapse video of the piece as I worked on it and I thought that it would be nice to show it here. The video runs for just over 12 minutes:
If I remember rightly, the exhibition was on for about six weeks and so I had a reasonable time to complete the drawing. As it happened, I actually completed it in around 17 days and even this, (as you can see from the video) included plenty of time drinking coffee and talking to visitors! The finished piece was 500 cm wide and 150 cm high and I did it using a range of graphite sticks …..the softest being 9B, hence the very dark marks in parts of the drawing. I also used soft erasers to ‘cut’ back through the graphite to create some of the ‘white’ lines. I had spent much of that year doing trips over to the Isle of Arran to do drawings and take photos and so I was well prepared by the time I started work on the first day of the exhibition. That said, it was quite stressful to start with, but became more and more enjoyable as the drawing developed. I still have the original drawing and so if you are part of a big company who are looking for a large scale Scotland based artwork, do get in touch. Noth Ayrshire Council, who run the HAC, also created a slightly larger than life copy of the drawing and this is sited on the wall of the café in the Portal Leisure Centre in Irvine. If you live locally, do check this out, …..the cakes and coffee there are great ….and the drawing isn’t bad too!
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Walks
We haven’t managed to get out walking much since our return from Assynt back in May but here are a few photos from two of the walks we did do, one of them on Beinn Chaorach near Tyndrum and the other a day in the hills above Glencoe.
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Where to see my work
ScotlandArt Gallery, Glasgow
I have recently delivered six paintings to the ScotlandArt Gallery on Bath Street in Glasgow, so do call in if you are passing by, or check out their website. Below are 2 of the paintings they currently have.
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Seagull Gallery, Gourock
I’ve been showing work with Seagull gallery for a number of years now and as from Sunday 10th November 2024, they will be exhibiting the following three paintings.
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Courtyard Studios, Christmas Open Studios Evening
The artists at the Courtyard Studios are also holding a pre-Christmas Open Studios Evening on Friday 29th November from 5 pm – 9 pm. There should be ten studios open and so it is a great chance to see and buy something special for Christmas. I’ll be taking part and so I look forward to seeing you then.
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Own Art Scheme
Do remember, if you are interested in purchasing one of my paintings, this can be done through the Own Art Scheme when buying original art directly from my studio. This scheme allows people to buy an original piece of art and pay for it over 10 months interest free.
For full details of how it all works just contact me:
Tel: 07568 380552