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Seattle / Oregon drawing project – a quick update

At this time of year we would normally be getting out for long summer hikes in the mountains, but this year I am so busy that I’ve been in my studio nearly every day since we got back from the United States about six weeks ago.

I’ve basically been working on the big Seattle / Oregon drawing and audio project nearly all of this time.  As you know, I’m creating three large 8’ x 4’ pastel drawings for the project, all based on the Hell’s Canyon area of Oregon.  Anyone who has been to my studio will know also that it is pretty cluttered and so finding the space to do all three drawings has meant some major rearrangements!  This would have been impossible if it wasn’t for a wee bit of luck.  When I got back to my studio from Seattle on May 24th I learnt that my colleague, photographic artist Alex Boyd, was leaving the Courtyard to take up an exciting new arts based job on the Isle of Lewis. It is a great shame he is leaving, but it freed up his studio and painter Maree Hughes who has been working in the small studio upstairs from mine, took the opportunity to move to the bigger space vacated by Alex.  This of course meant that I had the opportunity to rent this additional space upstairs which in turn has allowed me to work on all three large drawings at the same time downstairs.  Phew!!!

abstract landscape paintings

The new look studio ….three big drawing boards

It has been a hectic  last week for all three of us with a mass shuffle of gear but everything is now done and with a bit of luck Alex is now on or heading for the Isle of Lewis. The very best of luck to him with his work up north.  We recently swapped a piece of work each …… he selected one of my big graphite drawings for his new wall and I selected one of his fine prints of Cir Mhor on Arran.  I have this piece hanging in my small work room at home alongside another fabulous photograph by Courtyard Studios rep Brian Craig.  The two pieces look fabulous together as Brian’s photo is also black and white and also landscape.

abstract landscape paintings

Hells Canyon drawings 1 and 2, in progress

On Sunday last I moved all my painting gear upstairs where I’ll now be doing all my smaller acrylic and pastel work.  It took me most of the day to sort it all out but I now have the third wall free downstairs and on Tuesday morning I had another 8’ x 4’ drawing board delivered and Nita and I set about fixing it to the wall.  We are not the fastest of carpenters but after almost six hours not only was the new board all firmly in place but the final large piece of 200 gm white cartridge paper was all fixed to it and ready for me to start drawing.

The first two pieces are well under way and later today I’ll be starting the final drawing ….this piece to be based on a location in the bottom of Hell’s Canyon, right by the side of the river where it cut through a narrow cliff lined section.

abstract landscape painting

the new big drawing board …all ready to go

With all three pieces now on the go, I’ve turned my efforts more towards the audio side of things.  I’ve been working with Ayrshire based sound engineer Graham Byron and we are starting to sort out all the various recordings Dan and I made while in Oregon.  Graham has been ‘cleaning’ them up so that Dan and his team over in Seattle can start to fit them to the audio system they have been creating for the purpose of this project.  I’m going to be spending many many hours listening to sound files over the next couple of months and will also be heading out into the landscape soon to record extra close up material.  It’s all go but very exciting.  Must get a good relaxing walk in the Highlands soon though ….or my head will explode!

A question of price

I have to say; that I haven’t really been looking forward to writing this blog, but it’s something that has to be done I’m afraid.  It is, as the title says, a question of price, or should I say, a question of increasing the price of my work.

'Towards the Mamores, a showery summers day'

‘Towards the Mamores, a showery summers day’

Ever since starting to work professionally back in 2009, I’ve tried to keep my prices at a level that matched my then newly emerged status as an artist ….in other words, a little on the low side .

Of course, what you can ask for and what you can get for a painting, may not match and so at the time, it seemed best to be realistic  ……people had to find my work, and, as it is rather different from so much Scottish landscape painting ……they not only had to like it, they also had to get used to it and gain confidence in it.   I have over these last almost 7 years, worked very hard to increase the quality of the paintings I create and I’ve also put almost as much effort into promoting both myself and my work,  in as professional a manner as possible.  This all takes a huge amount of time and time, as they say, is money.

As you know, I have a severe visual impairment and this doesn’t help when it comes to running an efficient small business.  Everything I do including the actual painting, takes much longer to do than if I was fully sighted.  As such I can not only produce less paintings but I have to spend much longer promoting them and so I tend to spend money paying others to do  this side of the work for me.  In short, my business expenses are quite high and my production levels are quite low.

I was however, fortunate enough back in 2009 to have my work win the prestigious £20,000 Jolomo Award for Scottish Landscape Painting.  I’ve used the award money very carefully to cover some of the increased costs I incur. It has also allowed me to continue developing my very distinctive style of work rather than be tempted to try and produce more “sellable”, more traditional Scottish paintings.  This has been great for me as an artist and it has been great for my work.

Now, 6 years on from the award and from my first steps into self employment, my work is being recognized and its quality and individuality  appreciated and sought after, both in Scotland, the rest of the UK, and to an increasing level, internationally too.    My prices however, do not reflect this and sadly despite all the hard work and time that I put into it, I am still not able to make a living or even a wage from it at present.  I either need to produce a lot more paintings ….which I can’t do, due to my very poor sight, or I have to increase my prices considerably.    This is good of course for those of you who have already purchased paintings, but not so good for those who haven’t!  I am therefore going to give six months notice of a general price increase so that people have an opportunity to purchase work at the 2014 level.  Any work commissioned in this period will also be at the current levels regardless of when the commission is completed.  So;

I will be increasing my prices by 40% as from 1st September 2015. I tend to work in standard sizes and so below you will find both the current and post 1st September 2015 prices:

Size                                       Current price                    Price from1st Sept 2015

 210 x 148mm                     £325                                      £455

30 x 30 cm                          £485                                      £679

76 x 23 cm                          £720                                      £1008

80 x 80 cm                          £1250                                   £1750

During the six months between now and 1st September, I will be holding exhibitions and showing work at the following locations.  My work can also be obtained at the same prices directly from my studio or website.

April 24, 25, 26th 2015     Glasgow Art Fair

May / June 2015              Wild Space, John Muir Trust, Pitlochry

August 2015                      “the gallery on the corner”, Edinburgh

I am also in negotiations to show work in two further locations in Ayrshire during this period.  Watch this space for more details.

Right then, that’s it.  I hope this hasn’t been too much of a shock and that you understand my reasons for this price increase.   I do however genuinely feel that the new post 1st September 2015 prices, still offer very good value in today’s art market.

I am also looking into introducing a larger range of prints in the future and will announce news on this front later this year.

After all is said and done, do remember that my studio is always open when I’m working and it doesn’t cost anything to come in and just look at the paintings and have a chat ….everyone is welcome.

Getting back to normal

Back paintingWith one thing and another, it’s been a strange last few months. The last walk we did was way back on September 21st when we walked Beinn Odhar in beautifully hazy autumn weather. Then we had the annual Open Studios Weekend while at the same time we were madly negotiating to go down to Brazil. A few days later on the 9th October we flew down to Sao Paulo and had five very hectic days working in the heat. Following that, I became unwell and had a strange and rather alarming 11 days in hospital while Nita kept everything going for me in the way of preparations for the Harbour Arts Centre exhibition and the big Glen Rosa drawing project. Dan Thornton and Cindy Apple came over from Seattle to film the start of the project and I got straight into it still far from recovered from the illness. I finished the big drawing after 17 days , (ahead of schedule) and this allowed me to start work on the Brazil commissions. Between the end of the big drawing and the start of the New Year I worked on several preliminary pastel drawings and a whole number of small line sketches, ready to start the four paintings. Christmas came and went especially as Nita was working Christmas Eve and Day and so I just followed suit ….. strangely it was very pleasant being down the studio on Christmas Day. Finally started the Brazil paintings on 31st December 2014 and have been working on them ever since, with days off to dismantle the HAC exhibition work and the big drawing …..after of course we’d had the “End view” of the exhibition on January 8th.

Phew! It’s certainly been quite a tiring time but despite that the work side of it has been very enjoyable. It’s been particularly nice getting back to using the paints again and I’ve put quite a lot of time into the first and largest of the Brazil paintings. It’s coming on quite well now although still a lot of work to do to sort it out. Two of the small 30 x 30 cm paintings are under way too with another one about to be started. There is no official dead-line as far as I know but we have a verbal agreement, made on the final afternoon in Sao Paulo and I’ve agreed to get the four paintings completed by the end of February. It’s quite a tight dead-line but not impossible and in deed, it’s quite good having something to focus my mind on …..no loafing around for the next few weeks! If time allows, I’m also hoping to start a new 80 x 80 cm acrylic and pastel painting based on our walk up Lochnagar last summer ……this hopefully ready for my exhibition at the John Muir Trust ‘Wild Space’ in Pitlochry in May and June.

So then, it’s good to be getting back to normal …..whatever that is of course!

Back in Scotland…..and painting again…..take 2!

I actually wrote this blog yesterday evening but after 3 hours my computer crashed and I somehow lost the whole document! So here we go again.

Well then, that’s us back in sunny Scotland and back to business as usual at the studio. We arrived back from Brazil after a very long journey, at about 01.00 last Thursday morning. Wow, quite a trip, especially as only about two weeks before I been bumbling along getting work ready for the Harbour Arts Centre show in November and planning the big studio tidy-up before the Courtyard Studios Open Weekend on 4th / 5th October.

On the initial tour of the Matarazzo Hospital exhibition

On the initial tour of the Matarazzo Hospital exhibition

Then, right out of the blue I get an email from a company in Brazil asking if I can get down to Sao Paulo for a few days before October 12th. To be honest, I didn’t really know quite what to make of it as sadly there are a lot of internet scams aimed at artists these days. I decided to send it to John who not only does all the admin for this website but also acts as my agent and advisor. He very kindly checked it out and got back to me the next day saying that all was OK and that if I was prepared to rush down to Sao Paulo at short notice, he’d try and fix everything with the people in Brazil.

Sketching the old buildings

Sketching the old buildings

Well, it was a hectic few days with emails winging there way back and forth between John, (who is based in Bogota), Lucila (the lady organising the trip in Sao Paulo) and I. Finally on Tuesday 7th we got the email from Brazil saying all was “go” and that they’d be booking the flights and hotel and getting back to us. Things in the Salmon / Groves house were somewhat crazy at this stage as we suddenly had to get everything arranged to go away the following evening ….Nita had to arrange time off from work, we had to get the cat to the cattery, (he wasn’t amused) and we also had to get everything packed. In the end the flight left Edinburgh at 06.00 Thursday morning and so it wasn’t quite as mad a rush as we’d thought ….but pretty mad all the same!

In the Matarazzo Hospital

In the Matarazzo Hospital

I had been invited to travel to Sao Paulo to take part in a large arts project in the city. The project involves creating a new art, culture and tourism centre on the site of the old un-used Matarazzo hospital. Before the work starts though it had been decided that they would hold a large contemporary art exhibition in the grounds and buildings of this fine old hospital. The exhibition ended on Sunday 12th October and one of the sponsors thought it would be a great idea to invite a professional artist who was visually impaired to visit the exhibition and to then create a small series of paintings capturing the spirit of the place and work. I was the lucky person to be invited.

A quick hop took us to Amsterdam and then we had the eleven and a half hour haul down to Sao Paulo. Phew, was I glad to get off that plane or what?! Thankfully we were met by a very nice chap called Gilsom who drove us the 45 minutes into the city and our hotel.

Friday proved a very busy one as we met up with a representative of the company sponsoring my trip (Absolut Elyx) and were then given a guided tour around the exhibition…..being followed the whole way by a small film crew who were there to record the meeting for the company. The afternoon found me being interviewed for one of the Sao Paulo daily newspapers. After that I was able to get down to some work and expertly guided as usual by Nita, I spent the rest of Friday and a good chunk of Saturday and Monday wandering around the exhibition, just looking, photographing, sketching and just taking everything in ….in short, doing exactly what I do when we’re in the hills. After 4 hours in very hot conditions on Monday (it was 38° C) I decided that I’d probably got enough to work with and we retreated to the cool of our very posh air conditioned hotel ….and finished with a cold beer!

One of the many exhibits

One of the many exhibits

We flew back the following day, but with a nine hour wait in Paris for the connecting flight to Edinburgh ….hence the 01.00 arrival home in Irvine on Thursday morning. Suffice to say that we were a little whacked by the time we finally put our heads down and only surfaced mid morning for an hour or so in order to go claim our cat back from the cattery…….he wasn’t amused!

It’s hard to believe that we’ve been all the way to Brazil and back ….perhaps it was just a dream? But no! We have the packet of Brazil nuts from the hotel mini-bar to prove it! Now the interesting bit begins…..I have five paintings to complete by late February.

I have my attention back on the Harbour Arts Centre exhibition and the big drawing project there in November / December, but reckon I’ll probably do the smaller Brazil paintings in the evenings after I’ve finished the days work on the big graphite drawing. I’ll then be able to do the final larger painting once the HAC show is over at the end of the first week in January. The finished Brazil paintings are to be shipped back to Sao Paulo and then put in a gallery and auctioned to raise funds for the on-going project. I’ll keep you updated on all this work … doubt that I’ll be spending much time at home over the next few months. Watch this space.

A few days in Brazil

Twelve days ago I was bumbling along, starting to get in a bit of a panic about preparations for our Open Weekend. Then, out of the blue, I received an email from Lucila Longi, an employee of a Brazilian PR company, working in Sao Paulo. She explained that a client of theirs was involved in a large arts project in the city and they were keen to know if I could travel to Sao Paulo for a few days to take part in the project.

One of the large sculptures in the Sao Paulo exhibition

One of the large sculptures in the Sao Paulo exhibition: ‘Made by Brazilians’

As you can imagine, this was somewhat of a surprise and I passed it on to my agent, John and asked him to find out more about the project. There were a number of quite frantic days of negotiation before finally, on Tuesday we got the go ahead.

The project is based in an old, large and disused hospital building close to the centre of Sao Paulo. The building is shortly to be converted into an Arts and Cultural Centre, but before the work starts, the sponsors have organised a huge exhibition there, consisting of a hundred Brazilian and international artists.

Entrance to the old hospital at Cidade Matarazzo, Sao Paulo

Entrance to the old hospital at Cidade Matarazzo, Sao Paulo

I have been invited to spend a few days visiting and recording the building and exhibition prior to the new development. On my return to Scotland, I have been asked to create several paintings that capture the spirit of the building and this remarkable exhibition.

This all happened very rapidly and with the exhibition closing today, they needed to get me down to Brazil straight away. The sponsors very kindly agreed to pay for both myself and Anita to travel to and stay in Brazil, as they appreciated I would need a guide.

Suffice to say, it’s been a remarkable few days. The exhibition is really excellent and the old hospital building is a great venue. With the exhibition now over, the curator is meeting us tomorrow, so that we can spend a final day taking more photos, videos and for me to do some further drawings. We’re flying back on Tuesday evening and will arrive in Scotland somewhat crumpled, no doubt, around 24 hours after leaving Sao Paulo. Phew! Quite a week! More about this later.

Photographing part of the exhibition 'Made by Brazilians' at Cidade Matarazzo

Photographing part of the exhibition ‘Made by Brazilians’ at Cidade Matarazzo

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An Teallach commission almost finished

Near the summit of Mam-na-Gualainn - Starting point for a commission

Near the summit of Mam-na-Gualainn – Starting point for a commission

As anyone following my blog or FB Keith Salmon – Scottish Landscape Artist page will know, I’ve been working on a painting about An Teallach for a chap we met near the top of Mam na Gualainn back in the late summer.

It’s been a really interesting process and yesterday I decided that the painting was probably finished ….and I signed it!   I’ve been trying to create a painting that captures both, the idea of being at the summit of An Teallach as well as a more general feeling of being up high in the Scottish mountains.

The painting is now on the wall in my studio while I get on with some other work.  I’ll be able to look at it for a couple of weeks and make any final adjustments before declaring the painting finally finished!  It’s a difficult process knowing when a painting is finished or not and you have to give it  some time.  I’ve worked fairly intensely on this piece and as I’ve neared the end there’s been a lot of just sitting and looking rather than wielding of the paint brush.

 The photo here was taken near the summit of Mam na Gualainn …..it’s a strange starting point for a commission ….but a very fine one.  Hopefully the gentleman who we met here and who has commissioned the painting will like it.  More news of this in another blog.