counter hit xanga
Artwork of the Week | Scottish Landscape Art - Scottish Landscape Paintings

Archive for the ‘Artwork of the Week’ Category

Autumn and winter 2024 – Art and Life update

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:

471 ‘Towards Troon from the dunes near Irvine’, Acrylic & Pastel, 2023, 80 x 80 cm (SOLD)
481 ‘In the hills near Braemar, winter’, Oil, 2023, 20 x 20 cm
482 ‘In Glen Sannox, Isle of Arran’, Acrylic & Pastel, 2024, 76 x 23 cm
483 ‘Towards Ben Nevis from the Commando Monument, December’, Acrylic & Pastel, 2024, 76 x 23 cm (SOLD)
486 ‘Beinn Dorain from the West Highland Way, January’, Acrylic & Pastel, 2024, 30 x 30 cm
487 ‘Towards Goatfell, Isle of Arran, November’, Acrylic & Pastel, 2024, 76 x 23 cm
488 ‘Late evening light, Loch Glencoul, Assynt’, Acrylic & Pastel, 2024, 30 x 30 cm
489 ‘Overlooking Loch Tulla, February’, Acrylic & Pastel, 2024, 80 x 80 cm
490 ‘Memories of a winter afternoon, from the String road, Arran’, Acrylic & Pastel, 2024, 76 x 23 cm
491 ‘Across the Firth to Arran, a dreich December evening’, Acylic & Pastel, 2024, 76 x 23 cm
493 ‘October afternoon, Argyll’, Oil pastel, 2024, 30 x 30 cm

….

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:

Creation process of the Glen Rosa, Isle of Arran drawing (Harbour Art Centre, Irvine, Ayrshire UK – Nov 2014)

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!

….

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.

From the slopes of Beinn Chaorach
Nita taking in the landscape!
Nita at the summit of Beinn Chaorach
Overlooking Glencoe

….

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.


458 ‘Wetlands, Crook of Baldoon, Solway Firth’, Oil, 2023, 120 x 120 cm
‘Evening light, evening colours. Badcall Bay, Sutherland’, Acrylic & Pastel, 2022, 76 x 23cm

….

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.

485 ‘A January afternoon below Beinn Dorain’, Acrylic & Pastel, 2024, 30 x 30 cm
492 ‘Overlooking Glencoe’, Acyrlic & Pastel, 2024, 76 x 23 cm
493 ‘Towards the Bridge of Orchy from the West Highland Way’, Oil, 2024, 80 x 80 cm

….

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.

….

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:

Keith@keithsalmon.org

Tel: 07568 380552

Spring / Summer 2024 – Art and Life update

Since my last blog I’ve been pretty busy both painting and walking. Indeed, I’ve completed several new paintings during this time, as well as two holidays up in the north west of Scotland too! I justify the trips north by using them to fuel new work and in fact my most recent piece, 484 ‘A late evening in May, Achmelvich, Assynt’, Acrylic & Pastel, 2024, 80 x 80 cm, is based on the beautiful beach close to where we stayed a few weeks ago. We have visited Achmelvich for holidays many times since our first trip there in 2006 and I have always wanted to try and create some paintings based on the late evening colours there. This is the first of what may, over the next year or so, be a series of four or five Achmelvich paintings.

484 ‘A late evening in May, Achmelvich, Assynt’, Acrylic & Pastel, 2024, 80 x 80 cm

Upper Badcall, Sutherland, 16th – 30th March, 2024

Our first trip this spring was to Upper Badcall, a small community overlooking the beautiful Badcall Bay a few kilometres from Scourie. We’ve stayed here several times in the past but not as early in the year as this. It was really interesting seeing this wild landscape at this time of year. That said, the first few days were really warm and we enjoyed several walks in bright sunny conditions and the sun block had its first outing of the year on a hike up Ben Strome. This is just a small hill of around 420 m, but being close to the sea-loch at Kylesku, it offers magnificent views into Assynt as well as big views north into Sutherland. Over the previous years we have climbed many of the hills that we could see from Ben Strome and it was interesting sat in the sun trying to work out which was which. We could clearly make out the long escarpment of the remote Beinn Leoid and its neighbour Meallan a’ Chuil which we climbed in 2019 and 2018. Below are two paintings I did based on these walks.

399a ‘Towards Beinn Leoid, Sutherland’, Acrylic & Pastel, 2018, 30 x 30cm
415 ‘A Sutherland landscape, Meallan a’ Chuail’, Acrylic & Pastel, 2021, 80 x 80 cm (Sold)

Into Assynt from Ben Strome

In the past when staying in Upper Badcall we had visited the wild and remote Sandwood Bay and it was from these visits that I got the idea and sound recordings for three audio paintings. Scan or click the QR codes (below) to see and hear these pieces.

This year however, we decided to venture a little further north still and spent a lovely day wandering along the coastal path by the Kyles of Durness to the rocky point of Filean Dubh. It was stunning coastal scenery and watching the surf break over the sand bar at the mouth of the Kyle was really impressive. I’ve started another of my 76 x 23 cm paintings based on just one of the fantastic views from that day ……. and an image of it will hopefully be included in my next blog!

Into Assynt from Ben Strome

By our second week the warm weather had gone and the landscape took on a more wintry aspect, especially up on the high tops of Quinag, which turned white on several occasions that second week. On the Thursday we walked up into this magnificent mountain and enjoyed walking in falling snow …… as well as in bright sunshine. This is the view out over Loch Assynt from the Bealach a’ Chornaidh. It was bitterly cold here in the wind and we needed all our winter clothing for a while …….but it was well worth it as you can see……. It is a great view point.

Loch Assynt from Bealach a’ Chornaidh, Quinag

Achmelvich, 4th – 18th May, 2024

On our second trip north, this time to Achmelvich near Lochinver in Assynt, we did a really nice variety of walks. We met with friends who live in Assynt and on several occasions enjoyed gentle strolls with them just looking at some of the wildlife of the area. On one of these we spent almost an hour watching an otter as it splashed around in the seaweed at the edge of the shore. This was amazing for me as I usually can’t see these things and have to make do with an ‘audio discription’ from Nita ……this time however I was lucky …….. it was the first time I had seen an otter since before I lost most of my sight back in 1990 …so quite a big event for me. During this holiday we also finally got back into the bigger more serious hills, spending a fabulous day up on one of my favourite hills, Canisp …..and another day on one of its neighbours Cul Mor. Below are a couple of snaps from these walks as well as two paintings of these wonderful mountains from previous visits.

Cul Mor from Canisp
Keith Salmon arriving at summit of Cul Mor
Suilven from Canisp
350 ‘Below Canisp, passing hail shower’, Oil on canvas, 2015, 80 x 80 cm (Sold)
322 ‘Evening light. On Cul Mor, Assynt’, Acrylic & Pastel, 2014, 30 x 30 cm (Sold)

Back to the studio

So then, it is back to the work now and although I haven’t any exhibitions lined up this year, I am trying to get some new smaller paintings completed and I guess that I’ll be doing this for the rest of the summer. If you are on the Harbourside at Irvine, do call in to the Courtyard Studios. If you are planning to make a special visit to my studio, do just call or email before setting out ……just to check that I am here rather than out on a hill somewhere!

Winter / Spring update 2024

New Year – new artwork

 

As you are probably aware, for the last few years I’ve been working almost entirely on larger paintings that are accompanied by sound. I’ve had a lot of fun developing this collaborative work with sound engineer Graham Byron and the last show (which ended just a few weeks ago) ‘Painting with Sound – Short walks along the West Coast of Scotland’ at the Scottish Maritime Museum in Irvine, was probably the best exhibition I’ve had.

Painting with Sound exhibition, Scottish Maritime Museum, Irvine

The final configuration of the visual and audio elements, using QR codes to give a very immersive experience, proved very successful and I will now be looking for venues in which to exhibit and sell this kind of innovative landscape work. Watch this space!

Painting with Sound exhibition, Scottish Maritime Museum, Irvine

Of course, this audio-visual work has taken a huge amount of time to develop and even doing the large 120 x 120 cm oil paintings has been very time consuming, with each one of the 11 such pieces in the recent show taking anywhere between two and four months to complete……and that doesn’t include all the hours Graham and I have put into creating the soundscapes. As such I have done almost none of the smaller acrylic and pastel paintings for which I became known and which sold well enough to pay for the upkeep of my studio over the years.

I have therefore decided to get back to painting some of these smaller pieces and now have three new 76 x 23 cm acrylic and pastel paintings completed:

478 ‘Towards Glen Sannox, Isle of Arran’

 

479 ‘A passing view from near Crianlarich, January’

 

480 ‘An afternoon in December, Creag Meagaidh’

 

 

Something completely new

 

In the past I have only ever used oil for the larger paintings but have really enjoyed building the oil colour for these in thick layers. I have decided to try and do this on a much smaller scale, creating small, (20 x 20 cm) semi abstract landscapes in thick choppy oil paint. I have been doing these small pieces quite quickly in just one or two sessions. I’m quite pleased with them as they are a nice cross between the smaller acrylic & pastel paintings I have done in the past and the more recent larger oil pieces. Here are images of several of these new pieces, I hope that you like them:

463 ‘Luss Hills sketch, early winter’

 

473 ‘An early winter afternoon, Glen Lyon’

 

474 ‘In the Drumochter Hills, early spring’

 

475 ‘In the mountains above Glen Shiel, winter’

 

476 ‘Above Glen Ogle, Febraury’

Finally, if you run a gallery and would like to exhibit and sell some of my work, please don’t hesitate to contact me:
Email: keith@keithsalmon.org or
Tel: 07568 380552

PRESS RELEASE: ‘Painting with Sound – Short Walks along the West Coast of Scotland’

INNOVATIVE ARTISTIC COLLABORATION BRINGS

SCOTTISH LANDSCAPES TO LIFE IN A

NEW AUDIO VISUAL EXHIBITION AT THE

SCOTTISH MARITIME MUSEUM

Painting with Sound – Short Walks along the West Coast of Scotland’

Saturday 14 October – 21 January 2024

A new audio visual exhibition opening at the Scottish Maritime Museum on Irvine Harbourside on Saturday 14 October is set to give visitors a unique experience of landscapes across Scotland.

‘Painting with Sound – Short walks along the west coast of Scotland’ is a collaborative exhibition created by artist Keith Salmon and sound engineers Graham Byron and Drew Kirkland.

The exhibition features 23 new landscape paintings by Keith, who is based in the WASPS Courtyard Studios on Irvine Harbourside.

Seventeen of the paintings will be on show alongside video soundscapes produced by Graham and Drew.

The video soundscapes draw on recordings Keith took whilst walking and researching his paintings as well as tonal pieces composed by Graham.

The paintings and video soundscapes capture scenes as far apart as Sandwood Bay in the far North West of Scotland, Garlieston and the salt marshes at the Crook of Baldoon on the Solway Firth.

Visitors to the immersive exhibition can view the paintings and hear excerpts from the soundscapes live in the space or alternatively access the individual full-length video soundscapes by scanning a QR code with a phone and listening through their earbuds.

Scan or click the QR code to start video.

Eva Bukowska, Exhibitions and Events Officer at the Scottish Maritime Museum, says:

“We’re thrilled to host this innovative and collaborative audio visual exhibition of artworks by Keith Salmon, Graham Byron and Drew Kirkland.

“‘Painting with Sound’ will give our visitors a rare opportunity to immerse themselves in sights and sounds out in the wild which have inspired the paintings and video soundscapes and get a feel for the creative processes at work. We look forward to welcoming everyone to the exhibition when it opens next month.”

Artist Keith Salmon adds:

“We’re delighted to open ‘Painting with Sound’ at the Scottish Maritime Museum.

“The exhibition reflects my passion for the Scottish landscape and is the latest installation in my long-term collaboration with Graham and Drew.

“Introduced to hillwalking by my father when I was ten, I have spent the last 50 years exploring the varied landscapes of Britain, focusing on wild and sometimes remote parts of Scotland since moving to Irvine in 1998.

“I’ve walked the Scottish hills and mountains, wandered through glens and along shorelines and experienced the landscape in all weathers, from baking summer days to those when ice axes and crampons are called for.

“More recently, I began taking sound recordings on my travels to help create paintings that really capture the essence of these wild and beautiful places.

“Over the eight years since I first contacted Graham, he and Drew have had a real impact on how this audio element to my work has developed.

“Graham in particular, has had considerable creative input with the video soundscapes in this exhibition and we’re all excited to present our latest collaborative work to the public.”

Painting with Sound – Short Walks along the West Coast of Scotland’ is on show at the Scottish Maritime Museum, Irvine, from Saturday 14 October to 21 January 2024.

The exhibition is open 10am – 5pm daily and entry is included in Museum Admission.

www.scottishmaritimemuseum.org

Facebook/Twitter/Instagram @scotmaritime

Issued on behalf of the Scottish Maritime Museum by 

Joanna Harrison, Mobile: 07884 187404

Below is a copy of the exhibition poster along with further images of paintings included in this exhibition. If you like this please help us spread the word by sharing this with your friends, family and colleagues. Thank you.

1s’Sandwood Bay. Part 1. Dune Song’, Oil, 2023, 120 x 40 cm, £2250
2s ‘Sandwood Bay. Part 2. Surf Song’, Oil, 2023, 120 x 40 cm, £2250
3s ‘Sandwood Bay,.Part 3. River Song’, Oil, 2023, 120 x 40 cm, £2250
4s ‘Evening light, evening colours. Badcall Bay, Sutherland’, Acrylic & Pastel, 2022, 76 x 23cm, £1250
15s ‘Towards Arran from the dunes above Irvine beach’, Oil on canvas, 2023, 120 x 120 cm, £7500
16s ‘Mud-flats, Garlieston Bay, Solway Firth’, Oil, 2023, 60 x 90 cm, £2350
20s ‘Early evening, Loch Glendhu, Sutherland’, Acrylic & Pastel, 2019, 30 x 30 cm, £750
22s ‘West coast, Harris, May 2013’, Acrylic & Pastel, 2013, 30 x 30 cm, £750
23s ‘Memories of a frozen Harbourside, Irvine’, Acrylic & Pastel, 2023, 118 x 61 cm, £2500
24s Towards Troon from the dunes near Irvine, Acrylic & Pastel, 2023, 80 x 80 cm, £2500

Spring / Summer 2023 – Latest Life & Exhibitions Update !

Walking and working …..but getting there

I finished my last blog by saying that there was an awful lot of work to do …….and this is my excuse for not writing another Life & Exhibitions Update – until now! That said, it has not all been work.

After several years when we have failed to get into the hills on a regular basis, we were determined this year to get back out and if possible, reclaim some of our hill fitness. To start with we were doing fairly short walks, heading for the smaller hills Beinn Dubh, Ben Inverveigh, Ben Cleuch and Beinn Leabhain. Then, as our legs started to complain less, we ventured a little further and managed some good hikes in the fine spring weather.

Towards Arkle

By the time we were heading off for our annual early May holiday in Sutherland we were feeling reasonably fit and one of the first trips we did was to venture up close to the remote and rugged peak of Foinaven. It is a fairly long walk in and the conditions weren’t great to start with, but as we made it to the rocky escarpment leading up towards the hill, the cloud lifted and we had amazing views across to Arkle and up to the serious parts of Foinaven. It all looked fantastic and definitely worth another visit ……..next time with an even earlier start.

On Meall an t’Seallaidh

We enjoyed several other fine walks that holiday and on getting back had a really fine couple of days on Meall an t Seallaidh above Glen Kendrum and Meall nan Subh in the Southern Highlands. It is difficult to pick any one day out, but here are a few photos from our trips.

At the summit of Meall Odhar
From Beinn Chaorach

Work!

Most of my time at the studio, over the last year or so, has been spent creating new work for the next ‘Painting with Sound’ exhibition. This show, titled ‘Painting with Sound – Short walks along the west coast of Scotland’ is to be held at the Scottish Maritime Museum in Irvine and will open on 14th October 2023 and run until mid January 2024. The museum has a purpose-built exhibition space in the main body of the museum and it will be perfect for this combination of visual and audio landscape work.

Ref. 461 ‘Sandwood Bay, river song’, Oil, 2023, 120 x 40 cm

As with the last exhibition of Painting with Sound at the Barony Centre, this show is a collaboration with sound engineers Graham Byron and Drew Kirkland. The exhibition will include 23 paintings, of which 17 will have accompanying soundscapes. Eleven of these will be 120 x 120 cm canvases and it has been these larger pieces that have taken up so much of my time recently. The paintings and soundscapes are based on locations from Sandwood Bay near Cape Wrath in the far NW of Scotland, down to Garlieston and the Crook of Baldoon on the Solway Firth.

Ref. 465 ‘High tide on the west coast of Harris’, Acyrlic & Pastel, 2023, 80 x 80 cm

At the time of writing, all but two of the 23 paintings are completed and 15 of the 17 individual video soundscapes are finished. The exhibition will have a special video soundscape playing live that will have excerpts from all 17 pieces and for anyone interested in hearing the full length versions or wanting to get a more immersive experience, each piece will be available to listen to through their phone and ear-buds via a QR code. The following link will take you to ‘Wetlands. Crook of Baldoon, Solway Firth’. It will give you a taste of what the exhibition is all about.

Ref. 467 ‘Stoer, 2018, part 1’, Oil, 2023, 120 x 120 cm
The Seagull Gallery in Gourock

Finally, I have also made several new acrylic and pastel paintings and two of these are currently showing at The Seagull Gallery in Gourock. Both are based on the kind of views we had last September when we did a walk on Quinag in Assynt.

Ref. 456, ‘Overlooking Loch Assynt, a September afternoon’, Acrylic & Pastel, 2023, 80 x 80 cm
Ref. 457 ‘A September afternoon in the mountains of Assynt’, Acrylic & Pastel, 2023, 80 x 80 cm

Autumn & Winter 2022 – Art & Life – Pleased to report a real success!

The story so far!

In my last blog I talked about the forthcoming exhibition of Painting with Sound that Graham, Drew and I were holding at the Barony Centre in West Kilbride between 29th Sept and 22nd October 2022. I’m really pleased to report that it all went very well and although I’m not usually one to ‘blow my own trumpet’, this show was definitely our best yet and proved a real success. Of course, of course, it really helps if you have a great venue in which to exhibit your work and in the Barony Centre we certainly had that.

For anyone who hasn’t visited the centre, it is a large old church that has been converted into a really impressive arts venue…….and it must be one of the best in Ayrshire I think. As our work included large paintings and soundscapes, the space was just about perfect. The acoustics in this old church were excellent and the soundscapes playing through Graham’s Bose system came across really well.

“Painting with Sound – the story continues”

The full title for the exhibition was “Painting with Sound – the story continues” and this refers to the fact that the Barony Centre has been supporting our developments in audio visual landscape work since the autumn of 2017 when they gave us the use of the space for several days to test out our first experimental ‘audio painting’ as part of their annual Vertex Festival. They then offered us a full exhibition the following March in which we exhibited the completed piece along with around 30 of my standard landscapes.

This most recent exhibition was to have taken place in 2020 but of course, the pandemic and all the related restrictions meant that we had to cancel both these 2020 dates and the rearranged dates in 2021. Strangely, this worked well in that during this time we continued to develop the work and by September this year we had completed 12 audio paintings …… a good few more than we had in 2020. You can see and hear these pieces by clicking on the link at the bottom of this blog.

I visited the exhibition on several occasions throughout the course of the show and it was great watching visitors looking at the paintings and listening to the soundscapes, indeed, apparently over 1400 people visited the Barony Centre during the course of the show and seven paintings sold …..we must have all been doing something right!

I want to take this opportunity to thank Claire Edgar and all her staff and volunteers for helping to make this show the success it was. THANK YOU from Graham, Drew and I.

It has been a long time since I first approached Graham and asked his advice about using sound with my work. That was back in November 2014 when I was creating the big Glen Rosa drawing as part of my exhibition at the Harbour Arts Centre. This first collaboration led through a good friend and colleague, Seattle based independent film maker Dan Thornton, to us becoming involved with a hugely interesting hi-tech audio- visual arts project being developed by Microsoft researcher Neel Joshi.

The work which used scanning cameras to identify a persons’ proximity to a painting and then deliver a series of audio interpretive responses, was in its early stages and they wanted to start working with an artist to help them create a finished piece of art. Dan introduced me to Neel and the rest as they say… You can read the article commissioned by Microsoft about the finished Oregon Project by following the link here. This article also contains a link to a short video that Microsoft made at the same time:

And now for 2023…..

So then, with the exhibition finished, it’s back to work again …..and I really have to get going! Our next audio- visual exhibition starts in the autumn 2023 at the Scottish Maritime Museum. The show will include a series of new works based on different coastal locations both in NW Scotland and here in SW Scotland. It’s very exciting but, there’s so much work to do. Full details nearer the time.

Back to the hills

With all the work lately, Nita and I haven’t got out into the hills much, but here is one photo I snapped just the other day as we were making our way along the beach at Brodick Bay on the Isle of Arran, heading for the main path up Goatfell. We never went all the way to the top, the heavy showers were very heavy higher up and so we turned back about half way and headed for a pint of Arran Blonde instead! It’s good to be flexible!

===========================================

You can see and hear some more of the paintings and sound in this video exhibition: Follow the link or watch below: https://youtu.be/FuoalSuqSTE

Summer and Autumn 2022: Art & Life update

A slightly clearer view again

As you probably know, I’ve been registered as blind since 1999 and only have just a small amount of sight left in my right eye, the left one being totally blind. For a good number of years, despite this, I was able to get a lot done. Then, around 2007 I was told that I had a cataract forming in my right eye. It didn’t really have much effect for a number of years but by 2014 I was starting to notice it and it was affecting my ability to do both the work and hill walking. Things deteriorated very quickly after the end of 2019 and I was really struggling. Thankfully, last year my consultant agreed to do the cataract operation and this took place back at the start of April this year. So then, five months on and I am pleased to say that everything went well and although I am of course still registered as blind, I now have a little more light and colour back and perhaps most importantly, I have a sense of depth again. It has taken me a little while to get used to this improved view, but we’ve spent the summer getting back into the hills once more and this is already feeding into my work. Exciting times ahead!

Beinn Dorain from the summit of Beinn Odhar, August
Beinn Dorain from the summit of Beinn Odhar, August 2022

“Painting with Sound … the Story continues”

Back in March 2018 I had an exhibition of work at the Barony Centre in West Kilbride. The exhibition was called “Painting with Sound” and it included the first audio painting that I worked on with sound engineers Graham Byron and Drew Kirkland. The work was experimental but there was a great response to it and we’ve been continuing to develop it ever since. I’m pleased to say that we’ve been invited back to the Barony Centre to show the new work. I have spent a lot of time this summer getting everything ready for the show, called “Painting with Sound ….the Story continues”. The exhibition opens on 29th September and runs until 22nd October. The show will include 12 audio paintings, each with their own short soundscape and there will also be around 15 other new paintings on display. We have created a special exhibition soundtrack that runs for an hour and includes excerpts from each of the 12 individual soundscapes. This will be played three times each day at 11am, 1pm & 3pm). Further details on the poster below:

“Painting with Sound … the Story continues”

Back in the hills

Our first opportunity to get back out walking again after my cataract operation, was in early May when Nita and I spent two weeks staying in a caravan in Upper Badcall in Sutherland. We had actually stayed at the same place the previous year and the owner of the van had asked whether I would be prepared to do a painting based on his favourite local view, one looking out over Badcall Bay toward Quinag and the distant Assynt peaks. It wasn’t quite the thing I normally do but I agreed to have a go and finally came up with this painting for him. It tries to convey something of the huge view out over the island strewn bay and I’m pleased to say that he liked it. When all is balanced out, I guess we had a free holiday this year!

'Overlooking Badcall Bay, Sutherland'
‘Overlooking Badcall Bay, Sutherland’

Anyway, we managed a good number of walks over our two weeks long stay and finished off with our first proper hill walk for a few years, climbing up to around 600m on Meall Horn near Loch Stack. It is rugged country up there and it certainly tested out my new improved bit of vision. Since then we’ve done several other good hill walks and I am starting to feel more confident again ……just need to keep on getting out.

Foinaven from Meall Horn, May
Foinaven from Meall Horn, May 2022

Looking ahead

Finally, Graham, Drew and I have recently agreed to create a new body of audio visual work for an exhibition at the Scottish Maritime Museum in the winter of 2023 / 2024. We visited the exhibition space there and it is a great venue …..but it will need quite a lot of new work. The exhibition will contain pieces about the west coast of Scotland, in particular the far north west and south west of Scotland. We have some great recordings from our January 2018 trip to Stoer and Clachtoll as well as some very nice recordings I made at Sandwood Bay back in May last year. I have started some of the paintings but still have to make recordings to work from for the more local paintings. It is all quite exciting …..but a lot of work. Watch and listen to this space!

New painting

I just can’t stop doing paintings about Canisp, one of my favourite hills and locations. This is my latest piece, simply called ‘Around Canisp, evening light, evening mists’. Oil on canvas, 80 x 80 cm, £2500.

‘Around Canisp, evening light, evening mists’

=================================

You can see and hear some more of the paintings and sound in this video exhibition: Follow the link or watch below: https://youtu.be/FuoalSuqSTE

Winter/Spring 2022: Art & Life update

I’ve just read through my last blog, Autumn / Winter update 2021 and I notice that I ended it by saying that with the latest variant of Covid appearing, ……who knew what would be happening in 2022. Well then, I’m currently sat at home self-isolating after testing positive for Covid last Sunday 5th March. Thankfully I haven’t felt too rough and so am now using the time to catch up with the many urgently needed jobs on this computer ……writing a new blog being one of them. With a bit of luck I should be back at my studio next week having completed my ten days isolation.

New acrylic and pastel paintings

‘A December morning, Glen Sannox, Isle of Arran’

I’ve managed to get quite a lot of new work done since the start of January. I want to get some new pieces completed ready for the Barony exhibition in the autumn. So far, I’ve completed two new 76 x 23 cm acrylic and pastel paintings and have just started two other new pieces, (one quite abstract 80 x 30cm and the other, a quite representational piece, 80 x 50cm),

Scottish Art

‘Evening light, evening colours. Badcall Bay, Sutherland’

 

Walks in January and February

We have started to get back out walking again, ……desperately trying to get a little hill fitness back after a fairly lean 2021. Our first foray into the hills was a fairly minor affair but proved very enjoyable and not too tiring. We didn’t go too high but made our way up to around 450m on Beinn Dubh in the Luss Hills ……one of our favourite little jaunts. The ground is in places steep enough to test unfit legs, but the views from the hill are superb, regardless of how far you walk.

A lunch spot with a view ….on the slopes of Beinn Dubh, the Luss Hills

Our second trip saw us over in the Ochil Hills near Stirling and this time we made our way up to the summit of Ben Ever at a little over 600m. The weather and light were beautiful and so we weren’t the only folk out enjoying it. Indeed, the main paths were busier than I think we have ever seen on our previous visits to these hills. That said however, a quick detour off-piste and we soon had the hill to ourselves and we were able to enjoy a very peaceful lunch looking out towards The Nebbit and the flat low plain of the Forth river showing brightly in the low sun beyond.

The next week we were back on Beinn Dubh and this time we made it to the summit at around 640m. The light and colours were once again beautiful and as we walked I made plans to get back to the two 80 x 80 cm canvases I had started last year, based on these fabulous little hills.

The Luss Hill paintings, now completed

There are three of these paintings. The first, completed last year, was based on the kind of view I had with my pal Guy as we were descending from Mid Hill on a wintry spring day.

‘On the slopes of Mid Hill, spring’

The second painting, just completed, is more about the view looking into Glen Luss from the lower bracken shrouded slopes of Beinn Dubh…….also on a winter day with snow up on the higher slopes.

‘An early winter view, Glen Luss’

The third and final painting in this group, is about being up on the rough grassy tops of Beinn Dubh and Mid Hill with the snow lying in the grass. All three of these pieces are done in traditional oil colour put down with broad coarse brushes and built up into choppy rough surfaces. I haven’t as yet photographed them properly but these images taken on my phone will give you a good idea.

‘A winter day near the summit of Beinn Dubh’

Three other paintings now completed

As you know, I don’t just work on one painting at a time. I usually have quite a few pieces on the go at any one time and some of these, once started, will get put aside for several years before I finally feel ready and able to finish them. These three paintings were all started several years ago, but for one reason or another, I never quite got my head around them. I went back to them recently and spent a lot of time finally working them out …..and so here they are ……finally finished and waiting to be framed.

‘Towards Ben Lawers, winter’

 

‘A winter scene, the Blackmount’

 

‘Below the east ridge of Ben Lui, snow shower’

As I said, I hope to be back in my studio next week. Visitors are, as usual, still very welcome, but, regardless of the UK governments scrapping of restrictions, I would still ask everyone entering the studio to please wear a face covering, use the hand sanitiser provided before touching anything and not to enter if they have any symptoms of cold, flu or Covid. I’m afraid I’m still quite wary and, health risks apart, can’t really afford to take ten days off work to isolate.
You can see and hear some more of the paintings and sound in this video exhibition: Follow the link below:

An autumn / winter update 2021

So then it has been another slightly strange few months. My sight, which has been very bad for many years, has deteriorated further in recent times and as such, even the easier tasks and walks have become somewhat more problematic. We’ve still been getting out walking, but not doing some of the more challenging mountain routes we used to do. Instead we’ve started to explore more of the lower level tracks. We have had several short breaks away and one of the best of these took us over to Angus to visit our good friend Norma and to join her on a fabulous wander in the low hills around Glen Esk. The broad gentle paths here were perfect for me, but still led us up to around 600 m and so gave us some great views.

Autumn Holiday in Achmelvich

We also had an extra holiday, spending a week in a caravan in Achmelvich in Assynt in September. Anyone who has followed these blogs over the years, will know that we have visited this beautiful place in Assynt many times …….but never in the autumn. The colours were great and it was so nice to see this familiar landscape as the trees were turning and the sun getting lower. It has always been a very peaceful and quiet place when we have visited it in May and so we were rather surprised to find it a lot busier and sadly, more noisy. We walked along the beach most days, but instead of just being accompanied by the sounds of the waves, wind, birds and the chatter of people enjoying themselves, the calm this time, was spoilt by the constant annoying buzz of drones. Heck, I must be getting more grumpy as I become older ….. or maybe I have just become more aware of the beauty of natural sound now that I need to listen more and have started recording my surroundings rather than sketch them.

Achmelvich, a September evening (2021)
Assynt, an autumn landscape (2021)

Latest Landscape Paintings of Scotland

I am pleased to say that I am still painting, albeit far more slowly than before. I have generally been working on the larger paintings but have managed a couple of the long thin 76 x 23 cm pieces ….. although these take me almost as long to do as the 80 x 80 cm ones. When I look back at my records, I see that I used to get somewhere in the region of around 30 paintings completed each year. Now I reckon I’m lucky if I can get a dozen completed in the same time. For the moment I’ve held my prices but of course as there is less work available and each piece takes so much longer, I will have to increase my prices before too long. So then, not wanting to sound too much like a sales pitch, but if you’ve ever considered buying one of my paintings, well, it could be a good time to do so! Enough said! Here are images of several of the paintings I’ve completed this year:

Ref. 438 ‘On the slopes of Mid Hill, spring’, Oil on canvas, 2021, 80 x 80cm
Ref. 439 ‘Overlooking Loch Stack, Sutherland.’, Acrylic & Pastel, 2021, 80 x 80 cm
Ref. 442 ‘Memories of a winter walk near Braemar’, Acrylic & Pastel, 2021, 80 x 80 cm
‘A Sutherland landscape, Meallan a’ Chuail’. ( I finally completed this painting after almost three years. )

Next Art and Sound Exhibition

Finally, you will remember that back in March this year, in collaboration with audio engineers Graham Byron and Drew Kirkland, we were to have held an exhibition of our audio visual work at The Barony Centre in West Kilbride here in North Ayrshire. Sadly the show had to be cancelled due to the COVID 19 situation at the time. I am pleased to say however, that we have been invited to hold the exhibition at The Barony Centre in the autumn next year instead. The dates pencilled in are September 29th – October 22nd 2022. We will be holding a meeting in early February to finalise everything and I’ll give more details then. That said of course, as I write this, news of the latest COVID 19 variant is causing concern …… so we’ll just have to wait and see how things develop. In the meantime, why not watch and listen to our video exhibition; just click on the link below. The video contains three of our audio painting projects along with a small selection of my usual Scottish landscape paintings and drawings:

Summer 2021 – a brief update

We were out walking in the hills near Crianlarich a few days ago and there was a decided chill in the air. It’s only the middle of August, but in that chill was the first hint of autumn maybe? This summer is rushing by and if I don’t get this written soon, I’ll have to call it the autumn update instead!

So then, what has been happening? Like most folk I guess, I’ve been slowly getting myself back into a slightly more normal way of life since the easing of many of the COVID restrictions. The front section of my studio is now once again OPEN to visitors – albeit, mask wearing visitors! It’s been great having people in and hopefully we are all benefiting from being able to meet other people.

Back in May last year we had booked a caravan for two weeks in Upper Badcall near Scourie in Sutherland, but of course, with the first lock-down this had to be postponed. We re-booked for the first two weeks in May this year and were lucky that the travel restrictions were lifted just a couple of weeks before we were due to go away. Fantastic, it was so good to get away up north and to see and explore the wild landscape of Assynt and Sutherland once again. In all honesty we weren’t feeling particularly fit and so we didn’t do any big hill walks during the holiday but instead enjoyed exploring some of the many lower level tracks that wander across and through this rugged landscape.

On Fiarach near Crianlarich

We re-visited Sandwood Bay so that I could make some more sound recordings and were very lucky in that the rain that had been falling steadily during the two hour walk out to the bay, suddenly stopped as our feet touched the sand and stayed stopped for the next five hours. The sun even came out and it was really pleasant just sat enjoying the peace and quiet of this remote place while the sound recorder did its thing. I’m hoping to make a new painting based on these recordings sometime later this year.

Sandwood Bay, Sutherland

During most of the holiday the cloud level was very low and so we didn’t actually miss much by choosing to stay off of the tops. We actually enjoyed many dramatic views as dark clouds drifted across the higher hills and I’m hoping that some of these encounters will prove good subject matter for future paintings…….indeed, I’ve already got a couple of the smaller acrylic and pastel pieces finished.

‘Overlooking Badcall Bay, Sutherland’
‘South from Badcall Bay, Sutherland’, Acrylic & Pastel, 2021, 30 x 30 cm

With the sudden easing of restrictions we had the opportunity to finally exhibit the “Kylesku Project”. The exhibition which was originally planned for May 2020, was rearranged for June 2021 and so as soon as Nita and I returned from Sutherland, I was rushing around to get everything ready for the show. Sound engineers, Graham Byron and Drew Kirkland, Graham’s wife Tracy, Nita and I, all travelled up to Lochinver along with the work in Graham’s big van and it made quite a road trip. On Sunday morning we met up with Assynt Field Club members David and Avril Haines (who had organised the exhibition) and together we spent several hours hanging the five paintings and setting up the audio system and big screen. The work was exhibited in the Marine Room at An Calla Café and Bunkhouse in Lochinver in Assynt and our thanks go out to Julia and Jason for inviting us to show the work in there café: http://www.ancalacafeandbunkhouse.co.uk

The exhibition lasted for a month and it was great to exhibit this piece in the north west of Scotland. I think it went very well and I think everyone was happy with the outcome. A really big thank you to David and Avril for all their help and support. You can learn more about the Assynt Field Club by visiting their website: https://www.assyntwildlife.org.uk

Just a week after hanging the Kylesku work in Lochinver, Nita and I were back up north again, this time to deliver three paintings to the lovely An Talla Solais Gallery in Ullapool. Of course, we just had to turn the trip into a mini holiday and so managed to get a really nice walk done at the same time!

As you are probably aware, I’ve been showing a few paintings at the Seagull Gallery in Gourock for the last few years. They sold the painting they had last December but I had to wait until May before we could travel there with a couple of new paintings. In the past I’ve just shown my smaller work, but this time they have one of my 80 x 80 cm acrylic and pastel pieces as well as one of the 76 x 23cm paintings.

So then, do pop into these galleries if you have a chance, or call into my studio if you are in Irvine. Alternatively, just check out the “Paintings for sale” section above or to see and listen to several of the audio paintings, click on this link that will take you to our YouTube channel and the virtual exhibition of paintings and audio that Graham and Drew put together earlier this year: https://youtu.be/oOUvhjP_XZQ

    Listen to RNIB interview on my "Painting with Sound" Art

Click Video for Maritime Museum Exhibition

  • List of Latest Blog Posts


  • Keith in the News

    • Featured Video

  • Art Galleries Showing My Art

  • Art Resources

  • Artist Friends

  • Mountain Resources

  • Recent Artworks of the Week

  • Autumn and winter 2024 – Art and Life update
  • Spring / Summer 2024 – Art and Life update
  • Winter / Spring update 2024
  • PRESS RELEASE: ‘Painting with Sound – Short Walks along the West Coast of Scotland’
  • Spring / Summer 2023 – Latest Life & Exhibitions Update !
  • Blog Post Categories