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Deadlines!

Posted by admin on March 5th, 2010
'Heavy weather, Drumochter', Acrylic & Pastel, 2010, 76 x 23 cm

'Heavy weather, Drumochter'

It’s a busy time at Studio E and this last week has been no different.

I have to get work ready for three exhibitions before I go away to Speyer in early May.  I’m taking three paintings over to the Fisher Gallery in Pittenweem in Fife for their first show of the year.  This opens on March 27.  I’ll be exhibiting three new paintings all of which are finished, framed and ready to take to the gallery in a couple of weeks.

The next deadline after that is to get seven paintings ready for the Spring Exhibition at the Atholl Gallery in Dunkeld. This opens on April 17th and runs until June 7th.   Of these pieces, three are still to be completed but one of these is almost finished.

'Blackmount', Acrylic & Pastel, 2009, 30 x 30 cm

'Blackmount'

My final deadline is to get 10 pieces ready for my joint show with Alison Thomas at Blairmore Gallery. This will open on 18th June and run for six weeks through until 28th July.  This though is while I’m away in Germany, so everything has to be ready before I go away.  My partner Anita has said she’ll take the work up to the gallery as I’ll not be able to get back for the show unfortunately.

So then, a lot of painting still to be done, but I do already have some work finished and ready for this show.

'On Rannoch moor', Acrylic & Pastel, 2010, 30 x 30 cm

'On Rannoch Moor'

The week started off though, with my meeting a deadline …which is always good.  As I’ve already mentioned in an earlier blog, I’ve been asked to act as a patron to ‘the gallery on the corner’, a new project being established by Autism Ventures, Scotland.  The gallery is in a prime location in Edinburgh and will be opening towards the end of March.  Its official launch will be on 22nd, 23rd & 24th April.  For more details about the gallery and Autism Ventures, Scotland, see below.  Suffice to say, they kindly asked me to exhibit a few pieces of my work in their new gallery and so I’ve been trying to get a few new paintings finished for them.

On Monday two of the people involved in setting up the gallery, visited my studio to pick up the five pieces of work.  Three of these are new paintings, two of which are 30 x 30 cm and one being 76 x 23cm.  I’ve also included a brand new small drawing and a pencil drawing I did last year.  I think the five pieces should work quite well together and I’m looking forward to seeing them on the walls of the new gallery.

The Gallery on the Corner

The gallery on the corner is the first social firm from Autism Ventures Scotland (AVS), part of the Autism Initiatives Group. AVS has been established to create employment opportunities and experiences for young people with Autism Spectrum Condition (ASC) in Scotland.

The gallery on the corner is an inclusive, fine art gallery situated in Edinburgh’s New Town. It provides artists who have a disability, mental health problems or those from a disadvantaged background with a platform to exhibit and sell their artwork in a high profile location in the heart of Edinburgh’s gallery district. Beneath the commercial gallery space we have four studio spaces that will be rented to practicing artists who will work with apprentices with ASC.

A third branch of the business will open later in 2010. We are in the process of securing premises for a creative studio where young people with ASC will produce original artwork for sale, using an ‘art as therapy’ approach.

AVS will be offering apprenticeships and other opportunities to 16- 25 year olds with Autism Spectrum Condition (ASC) in both retail and art. The apprenticeships will include on the job, and vocational training, resulting in a recognised qualification.

Contact details:

The Gallery on the Corner

34 Northumberland St

Edinburgh EH3 6LS

Phone numbers:

Gallery:    0131 557 8969

Studios:    0131 557 8921

Opening times: Tuesday – Saturday 10am – 5pm

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The Jolomo Scottish Landscape Awards – ‘2009 Finalists’ – Strathearn Gallery, Crieff

Posted by admin on February 18th, 2010

144 'Breaking cloud, Am Bodach', Acyrlic & Pastel, 2010, 80 x 80 cm

'Breaking cloud, Am Bodach'

Well, the exhibition opened last Saturday and the eight paintings I included in the show were finally completed, framed, delivered and hanging on the walls in time for the opening at 11.00am that morning!  Now, that doesn’t sound difficult does it?  Just eight pieces.

Of course, I couldn’t do it the easy way and select eight already completed pieces.  No, I was determined to do a few completely new paintings for this show.  And, bar for a few days of panic while I was trying to finish the ‘Winter, Blackmount’ painting … (I just couldn’t get it right for a while), everything went ok.

The framing though was another matter.  The five smaller paintings were fine.  These are always framed the same way; behind glass with a wide single mount and a stylish but simple 7 cm wide distressed ‘York’ silver frame.  This seems to work well with the scratchy, scribbled nature of my paintings.  The three larger pieces were another thing entirely.  At this scale (80 x 80 cm and 60 x 60 cm) I needed a different kind of frame; something without a mount and glass.  I tried a lot of different mouldings and colour combinations before hitting on the right thing.

It’s a fairly broad simple wooden frame with a raised outer edge, painted a pale cream colour and with a thin gold inner edge.  This seems to work well with these paintings.  This sounds quite simple but getting to this point took much bashing of my head against the wall as to start with I’d decided the frames should be dark and with a second outer edge of gold.  This made them look like window frames and so they all had to be completely re-painted ….ooops!  Oh well, we got there in the end and as my framer said …the customer is always right …but not always correct.  He may have a point

The show, containing work by the seven of us short listed for last years Jolomo Awards for Scottish Landscape Painting, looks good.  It’s a smashing gallery with large well lit spaces on two levels.  It was great meeting up with the others again and seeing what they’d all been doing.  There’s a lot of very fine work there, so if you can get to Crieff before the show ends on March 20th, then I’d recommend it …not that I’m at all biased of course!  Of all the work though, my fuzzy eye was caught by Toby Cooke’s fantastic painting, ‘View from Leith’.  It’s quite big and the composition is just great.  Anyway, you can see for yourself, even if you don’t live in driving distance of Crieff …the show can be seen on-line:  www.strathearn-gallery.com .

At the end of the preview on Saturday I was feeling pretty happy as I’d sold a few of my paintings and the gallery has asked if I’d like to put on a solo show in 2011 …Wow!  Mind you it’ll be a lot of work – something in the region of forty pieces, so it’s a good job I’ve a year to work on it!

Jolomo 2009 Finalists Catalogue

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Help Required

Posted by admin on February 12th, 2010

Last week I was contacted by Jean and Hilary, the two former owners of the successful Gallimaufry Gallery in Blairmore, near Dunoon.  They explained that they were organising a sale of artwork in Oban, in order to raise funds for the relief effort in Haiti, following the recent devastating earthquake there.  They asked if I would be interested in taking part and if I could let them have a piece of work for the sale.  This is a great opportunity to support those who do the real work and so the only question for me was which painting to donate for the sale.  I wanted something that was quite bright, something that would hopefully catch the eye and in the end decided on a painting that has developed over a number of years. 

 

'Below Ben Oss, winter', Acrylic & Pastel, 2006 - 9, 76 x 23 cm

'Below Ben Oss, winter'

Interestingly I originally did this painting for a show organised by Jean and Hilary at Gallimaufry a number of years ago.  I’ve had the painting in my studio ever since and have always like the colours but as time has gone by and my work has developed, I’ve felt I could improve it.  I’ve never really been one for that ‘don’t go back to a painting once it’s finished’ malarkey and so a few months ago I decided to‘re-work’ it.  As I’ve said in previous blogs, my work is very gradually erring more towards the abstract and is certainly more painterly.  I’ve been using broad sweeps of paint in many of the more recent works and this is how I’ve‘re-worked’ this painting.  The basic underlying structure is still there, but a new semi translucent diagonal sweep of blue / purple, has completely changed the composition.  I am very pleased with this new version and hope someone at the Oban sale will like it too.

 

The work will be part of the sale which will take place on:

SATURDAY 27TH FEBRUARY AT THE REGENT HOTEL IN OBAN – FROM 2.00 – 7.00PM

 

Many artists will be taking part, so if you can get along your support will be much appreciated.  Full details of the event below.  If you are an artist yourself and would like to take part in the sale, please contact the organiser Jean Thompson by email:  jean_thompson47@yahoo.co.uk

 

Help for Haiti

To raise much needed funds to relieve the suffering of people in the devastated island of Haiti, an Art Sale will be held on Saturday 27th Feb. in the Regent Hotel, Oban from 2.00-7.00pm. Many Scottish artists will take part to make a truly eclectic collection of works.

Among those is Elizabeth Bruce, a Scottish contemporary artist whose painting style is representational but not photorealist. She has worked in all media on a variety of subjects, usually concentrating on acrylics – still life, treescapes, figures, interiors and landscapes. In January 2003 she was elected a member of the Glasgow Society of Women Artists. Her work has been shown in various galleries in Argyll, as well as the RGI Kelly Gallery and the Lillie Gallery, both in Glasgow, and the Torrance Gallery in Edinburgh. Elizabeth likes to keep her work within the Affordable Art bracket and prices start as low as £25 for an unframed lino-cut, while paintings are all between £140 and £500.

Sue Challis has lived and worked on the West Coast of Scotland for over twenty years. Educated in North London, she qualified as a lecturer in craft and design and youth leadership.   She now concentrates on acrylic painting and pen & ink drawing. When she is not painting, Sue and her husband run the Raven Trust sending containers of aid, medical, educational and small business start-up equipment to Malawi. Sue loves the bright colours and dancing light of the North West Coast of Scotland and this is passionately evoked in her work.

Aiming to be there in person is award winning artist, Keith Salmon. Keith combines his twin passions of hill walking and landscape painting in his work. What makes him truly remarkable, though, is that he lost much of his sight almost 20 years ago. Despite these “difficulties”, his work won the Jolomo Award for Scottish Landscape Painting in 2009. Describing some of his visits with partner Anita to some wild and remote glens and summits, under all conditions throughout all four seasons, Keith says “Even with my fuzzy vision this is a truly wonderful and stunning landscape. In my paintings I try to capture something of these incredible places, something of their sheer scale, complexity and beauty.”

This sale of art is being organised by 2 former gallery owners who will donate all profits to Mary’s Meals for their ongoing work in Haiti. Many of the artists are donating the full sale price of their works to the appeal. One such is Calum MacFarlane-Barrow whose son Magnus runs this international movement from Dalmally. The following news update comes from their web page.

“Mary’s Meals has been working in Haiti since 2006 providing meals for over 12 000 children in schools in Cite Soleil, Gonaives and Hinche.    We now know that our seven schools in Cite Soleil have been damaged, but not destroyed. We will be working to help repair and rebuild these schools, to support their pupils and to assist with the wider recovery in the capital in any way we can.

In the city of Hinche, we have started to provide food and medical supplies for earthquake victims and their families who have arrived looking for food and treatment. Many have nothing but the clothes on their backs and these regional hospitals are now over-flowing as well. When local stocks run out, as we expect them to soon, we will make arrangements for aid to be brought in from the Dominican Republic.

It is becoming clear that the recovery effort in Haiti will need to be long term and widespread. Anything at all that you can give to help us will be appreciated.”

Please come along to this event to help this cause and maybe pick up a prized original art work. Prices will suit all pockets from £1 art cards to the much bigger paintings.

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Back in Business!

Posted by admin on January 21st, 2010

'Every one a critic!'

'Every one a critic!'

On Sunday last, the pipes at the Courtyard studios finally thawed out, and surprisingly there were no burst pipes or floods.  It was a great relief and on Monday morning I moved my painting gear back down and got back to normality …whatever that is!

The pipes were frozen for just on two weeks and I found it very strange working away from my studio space.  For this time I was working in a spare corner of the spare room in our house.  It was rather cramped and I didn’t have much space …but, I did have water to make coffee and I didn’t have to wander along the road in order to use the toilets in the Harbour Arts Centre.  So then, it wasn’t too bad, although the room I was working in happens to be the one the cat spends most of his day sleeping in and so we had a few falling outs over the two weeks!  This was due mainly to me keeping him awake with my cursing every time I mixed the wrong colour or lost the particular pastel I was using.

One thing the temporary move did point out though, was just how much I rely on everything being in their places.  At the studio I have a place for everything.  I can’t see things well enough to look for them when I need them …so I have to be able to find them by memory.  Now, as anyone who’s visited my studio will tell you, I certainly don’t keep it tidy.  It’s a bit of a tip to be honest, but, that said, it is usually an organised tip!  I know exactly where amongst the rubble on my desk, to lay my hands on the tape measure or the scissors.  So long as I keep to this routine, I can move about and work quite quickly.  Of course, if someone comes into the studio and distracts me and I put something down in the wrong place, then it’s usually a ten minute job finding again once the visitor has gone.

This then was what I found working from the room in the house …I didn’t have set places for my gear and so I spent all the time I wasn’t arguing with the cat, searching for the right paint or pastel.'December afternoon, Rannoch Moor'

Surprisingly enough then, I managed to get two paintings completed in my spell in the spare room.  Not big paintings, but finished all the same.  The first piece was one of my long thin (76 x 23 cm) paintings.  This is the first of a number of pictures I’m hoping to produce based on the short day we had on Rannoch Moor back just before Christmas.  The second painting was one I’ve wanted to do for a while now.  It is based on a day last year when we were over on the Isle of Arran and got caught in a series of heavy rain showers.  They made the hills look splendid especially in the early morning light and this is one of what I hope to be a number of works on a similar theme.

'Passing shower, Isle of Arran',

In the end, quite a good and productive couple of weeks in my make shift studio.  I was though glad to get back to the proper one on the harbour side …. and I think the cat is glad I’ve gone too!

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Promotion, promotion, promotion…

Posted by admin on January 15th, 2010

In 1983 I completed my degree in Fine Art at Falmouth School of Art and travelled north to set up a studio with fellow Falmouth student Keith Barrett – now a leading name in British environmental sculpture. At the time I was pretty green behind the ears, with great ideas of ‘being an artist’. And I worked hard at my sculpture and drawing but never even considered that I needed to do more than simply make art …even if it wasn’t too bad. Needless to say, three years later and much in debt, I had to leave the p/t MA Fine Art course I was doing in Newcastle in a desperate search for work …and some kind of money. The only mitigating factor was that this was 1986 and Thatcher and her government were ransacking the country and its work force. But I couldn’t blame my failure on that …as much as I would have liked to. It was much more because I really hadn’t got the idea that for people to buy my work …they had to know it existed. It was no good sitting in a studio all day simply making art.

Now, one would have thought that I would have learnt …but no, while I did all sorts of jobs, working in youth hostels, kitchens, cleaning caravans etc, I still carried on with my art …but still hidden away. As my sight started to fail in 1990, I set up another studio, this time with my partner Anita (newly qualified from a two year ceramic design course, but still we put all our efforts into the product and failed to realise we had to promote what we were doing. And again we failed …closing the studio after about three years.

By the late 1990’s after a period where I’d spent all my spare time trying to re-learn how to work with rapidly diminishing sight, we moved to Scotland and I started once again to try and exhibit work. Even so I was still going down the same line, making the work but really not pushing myself. Finally though when I took on a WASPS studio on the harbourside in Irvine I took the first tentative step …I decided right from the start that I’d have my studio door ‘open’, I’d put a sign outside and invite passers by in to see the work. It wasn’t much, but people started to notice my work …and, you never quite know (even on Irvine harbour side) quite who will walk by and see your sign.

In 2004 a local chap wandered into the studio and after looking at the work announced that he was an art promoter living and working in Columbia, and he said to keep in contact. Well, I still hadn’t learnt, and although I kept his card ..I never got back in touch. Thankfully, on his next visit to Scotland in 2008 …he wandered back. After a lengthy talk he suggested we work together, he talked about the need to promote myself as well as my work, a concept that rather sheepishly I was still only just grasping. We talked internet, websites, galleries, press releases …and finally the penny dropped!

I still spend much of my time painting and drawing, but now I spend a lot of time on the computer, writing articles, writing this blog, visiting galleries, getting involved with various projects etc …in short, getting my name and ugly mug out there as much as possible. And it’s starting to work. The website is getting busier, people are starting to contact me; a momentum is starting to build.

The latest little project is to make a short video, a sort of 4 – 5 minute advert about myself, my work and my love of the hills. It’s been fun making it, even sat outside on a snowy hillside sketching while Jim Crossan the film man did his work. The video, partially funded by North Ayrshire Council, is nearly finished. It’s to go on my website as well as being made into quality DVDs to send out to galleries and potential customers. The point is I guess, that it doesn’t matter how good your work is; if the public don’t know it exists and they don’t know anything about the artist, then you’re really going to struggle. It’s been almost 27 years since I left Falmouth School of Art and finally I’m starting to get it right, things are starting to happen. Watch this space!

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Happy Almost Christmas!

Posted by admin on December 23rd, 2009

L138a 'December afternoon, Glen Lyon', Acrylic & Pastel, 2009, 80 x 80 cmWell, the run up to Christmas this year has been quite a good one.  I’ve got a number of paintings completed this month ready for the exhibition at Strathearn Gallery in February.  This is a group exhibition, containing work by the seven finalists of the Jolomo Awards 2009.  They’re asking for around eight pieces so I’m hoping to include nearly all new work.

I also had a very pleasant surprise the other day as I heard that one of the pieces I’m currently exhibiting in the ScotlandArt.com gallery in Glasgow has just sold, along with a painting at Blairmore Gallery near Dunoon.  The harbour side in Irvine is a quiet place in winter and so sales through galleries are very important.

Like the rest of the country, Irvine this week has had a touch of winter.  Yesterday saw some heavy snow late afternoon and this morning the town was like a skating rink.  Indeed there was so much ice on the pavements that I dug out my small instep crampons (that I use on icy paths in the hill) and crunched my way over the three miles of icy pavements to the studio.  It was great, until that is, I had to walk through the shopping mall!  Not wanting to go to the effort of taking the crampons off, I clattered my way between the shoppers …no doubt getting a few odd looks en route.  The studio has been seriously cold this week and it’s been a case of wearing three jumpers and a bobble hat some days.  From the look of it outside this evening, I’ll be going through the same thing tomorrow, but what the heck….I love snow and it’s quite rare here in Irvine.

Irvine-Harbour-Arran-ViewTomorrow will be the last day for a couple.  This year I’ll be spending a quiet couple of days with my partner Anita.  Last year however, things were a little different.  Anita, who works at the local hospital, had drawn the short straw and was working a twelve and a half hour shift on Christmas Day.  I decided I might as well do the same thing …and we’d start our Christmas at 8 pm when Anita finished work.  She said that she’d drive down to the studio and pick me up on the way home.  Well, all was fine.  I had a nice walk down to the studio in bright winter sunshine on Christmas morning and then spent an enjoyable day painting.  By evening though the weather had turned bad and a fierce gale was blowing and it was raining very hard.  At eight o’clock Anita rang to say she was leaving work and I closed shop and made my way from the back door of the studios to the main gate …which I had to close and lock.  Not concentrating, I put my white cane under my arm and proceeded to walk across the courtyard towards the gate … trying to find the padlock key as I went.  In the total darkness I hadn’t notice a large wheelie bin that had been blown across the courtyard in the gales and was lying on its side right in my path.  I tripped over it’s open lid and fell face first into the empty filthy, wet bin!

When a few minutes later Anita arrived in the car, she said as I got in, ‘oooh, you’re all wet’.  I replied, much to my shame, ‘I’ve just fallen in a ******* bin!’  ‘Happy Christmas’ she said….laughing!

christmas-studio

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A Question of Scale

Posted by admin on December 11th, 2009

Eaglesham Moor Wind Farm - Near GlasgowUntil around 1990 my sight was very good.  Then as it deteriorated I found that I had to interpret what I saw in a completely different way.  This has taken quite a lot of adjustment over many years and now after a lengthy period of fairly stable vision, I move around with surprising ease, particularly in places that are familiar to me.

One of the big problems is judging  the scale of things. When I’m in a man made environment this isn’t such a big deal.  Even if I can’t see a car or a building with any clarity, I know that a fuzzy blob at the side of a road is almost certainly a vehicle; whilst a smaller one moving on the pavement is likely to be a person.  One can make fairly sound assumptions of what something is and what size it is, even when it is very unclear.  When I’m out on a hill however, things are much more complicated.  In a completely natural environment judging scale is a real difficulty.  One might be able to see a large feature showing against the grass or heather …and quite reasonably be able to interpret that as a rocky outcrop ….but of course there’s nothing to say what size it is.  On many occasions I’ve seen rocks ahead of me that I’ve judged as being a certain size …say 3 – 4 metres high and about 10 metres distance …only to find it’s a 30 – 40 metre crag at 100 metres distance.  It’s quite a strange feeling and it makes it very difficult when trying to navigate.

As for the paintings though, it makes it quite interesting.  A lot of the works I do have a similar ambiguity which mimics the way I experience the natural landscape.

Last week however I had quite a strange experience whilst we were out walking locally.  A friend had suggested that for a change we drive the few miles to the Eaglesham moors, where a few years ago was built Europe’s largest wind farm.  I’m not sure of the exact statistics but it covers something in the region of 50 square kilometers and contains around 140 turbines.  I have to admit that I was a bit sceptical but agreed that it’d be interesting and different and off we went.

Landscape photo of Eaglesham Moor wind farm.It was an amazing day.  The moors themselves are quite beautiful, wild and generally feature-less but in places with expansive views out towards the Glasgow conurbation.  It was a stunning day weather wise too, with bright sunshine and large roving rain showers, producing amazing colours and contrasts.  The most mind blowing bit though was the turbines.  Man made as they were; set in this bleak landscape, I found it almost impossible to assess their size, and the distance between each of them.  They were in fact, huge,  each one of them around 55m high and each one with three colossal 45m blades.  With my sight so limited I could only see the nearest of the turbines and so as we walked through this massive moor land site, the views were almost always the same to me.  It reminded me of what they say about the universe ..it looks the same from where ever you are.

I have not really painted any man made structures for quite a few years, but this place started to get me thinking.  I’m tempted to do some drawings and paintings that try and put over something of this amazing mixture of moor land and modern technology….though quite how I’ll do it is another question.  Anyway, time enough for that.

Wind Farm on Eaglesham Moor - Scotland

One final strange thing though was that while the wind turbines looked incredibly graceful when we were out walking amongst them, (each one turning in the breeze), when I got back and looked at the photos I’d snapped, ….in this static state the structures looked much more awkward, and rather out of proportion …the movement gave them their beauty it seems.

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The Am Bodach paintings

Posted by admin on December 7th, 2009
55 'Approaching Am Bodach', Acrylic & Pastel, 2007, 30 x 30cm

'Approaching Am Bodach', Acrylic & Pastel, 2007, 30 x 30cm

Back in the late spring of 2007 my partner Anita and I, along with a friend, spent a long day walking the fine ridges in the Mamoores just to the north of Loch Leven and the Glencoe mountains.  It turned out to be a very fine day with a complete mixture of conditions from bright sun to thick cloud and heavy showers of rain and wet snow.

As we made our way along the ridge towards the final steep climb to the summit of Am Bodach, one of these showers descended and for a while we could see nothing.  As the weather passed, the ridge and the steep rocky mass of Am Bodach loomed ahead.  It was very dramatic and the steep section looked decidedly challenging to me.  As it turned out, it was just a good scrabble rather than a scramble and with the summit now clear it was a fine vantage point.

79 'Mists, Am Bodach', Acrylic & Pastel, 2008, 30 x 30 cm

'Mists, Am Bodach', Acrylic & Pastel, 2008, 30 x 30 cm

 

119 'Approaching Am Bodach', Acrylic & Pastel, 2009, 30 x 30 cm

'Approaching Am Bodach', Acrylic & Pastel, 2009, 30 x 30 cm

The painting I did worked quite well and seemed to sum up the time.  I do though, sometimes like to go back and work up a 2nd, 3rd or even 4th painting; trying each time to develop the image further.

The first three paintings have all been quite small, (30 x 30 cm) but recently I decided to try and make a bigger version …80 x 80 cm.

I’ve been working on this painting on and off for almost a month now and it am starting to come together.  Like it’s predecessors, it‘s not the most colourful of paintings but tries to capture the atmosphere, bulk and scale of this hill.   It has certainly caused me some head-aches and I’m not convinced that I’ve got it right yet.  So then, this is my excuse for the late arrival of this weeks blog…I was too busy with the problems of the new painting to remember to write!

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Walking On Colour

Posted by admin on November 26th, 2009

136 'Autumn grass, Beinn Inverveigh', Acrylic & Pastel, 2009, 30 x 30 cm

I’ve just completed a small painting (30 x 30 cm) that I’ve called ‘Autumn grass, Beinn Inverviegh’*.  It’s based on a day a few weeks ago when a friend and I headed for a day in the hills.  The day though, was grim, but as it was the only day the two of us could get off we felt we had to get out somewhere despite the dreadful conditions.

The mountain forecast was very poor with winds predicted to gust to 80mph on the summits and prolonged heavy rain.   It was certainly not a day for the high tops, or one that involved any kind of stream crossing either.  In the end my friend suggested we could walk a section of the West Highland Way.  It would be low level on a good path and no navigational problems but we’d at least be out.  We decided to drive up to Bridge of Orchy and walk the WHW north for a few miles.  This at first climbs gradually up over the shoulder of Beinn Inverveigh before dropping back down to near Victoria Bridge and then on up onto Rannoch Moor.  We could go as far as we wanted and then just retrace our steps.

When we arrived at Bridge of Orchy the weather was pretty bad with rain, low cloud and high winds ..but, not as bad as forecast.

We donned the waterproofs and headed off and although it was dull and grey it was good to be out.  As we gained a little height and emerged onto the hill above the trees we realised that the cloud had risen a bit and was now just off the top of Beinn Inverveigh at around 650m.  The wind too, wasn’t any where near as strong as expected and so after a quick rethink we decided to leave the WHW and instead head up Beinn Inverveigh.

It’s a long heathery broad ridge stretching for several kilometres.  The views around to the bigger hills were still limited and very grey, but as soon as we gained a bit more height we realised that much closer to hand, indeed foot, everything was much brighter.  In fact the colours of the numerous grasses were quite astonishing, all kinds of yellow, red, ochre and umber, scattered still with occasional patches of bright green and speckled with small late flowers of yellow and white.  The textures were impressive too; the grass all matted and woven together by the heavy rain as it fell and drained away.

We reached the small pile of rocks marking the summit and it was a lonely place indeed on that day.  By this time the light was already poor and the weather after its brief improvement was filling in again.  We didn’t hang around too long and made back along the ridge in increasingly heavy rain and with the cloud now scudding across the top again.  But what a day, you go out expecting to see nothing and instead come back with a head full of colours!

136 'Autumn grass, Beinn Inverveigh', Acrylic & Pastel, 2009, 30 x 30 cm   * This painting is currently being exhibited at:Gallery 23

23 Parnie St

Glasgow G1 5RJ

Tel: 0141 552 6325

Email: artgallery23@btinternet.com

www.artists-scotland.co.uk
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Interesting Times: An Artist´s Life

Posted by admin on November 19th, 2009

Work in progressIt’s been an interesting day today, partly because of the weather and partly because of the work.

I realised this morning that it has been just over five months since I picked up the Jolomo award …and of course the financial reward that came with it.  But you know, it’s been strange because I’ve actually found it difficult spending some of the prize.

I’ve been working as an artist on a full or part time basis all my adult life …certainly since leaving art school back in the mid 1980’s …..and typically, almost all of that time, I’ve been near enough skint.

In Newcastle upon Tyne where I had my first studio after leaving Falmouth School of Art, I had so little cash that all my work was made out of the contents of skips.  I worked as a sculptor then and the local builders working on Grey St, used to leave out any half decent bits of wood for me.  My drawings were all done on the back of old vinyl wall paper (I still have some of these …and they’ll probably last longer than the normal bits of white cartridge).

Even when I was working full time (doing a ‘proper’ job as my father put it) I still had little or no cash to spend on expensive art materials ..the type of jobs I could get with an art degree being somewhat limited in west Wales in the early 1990’s.  For most of these years my sketch books were the cheapest of kiddies drawing pads ..soft grainy yellow absorbent paper ….wonderful stuff, although you just had not to mind the pictures of Tom and Jerry on the cover!

By the mid nineties I’d had to give up my job as my sight was so bad …and for the next few years I carried on using the cheapest of materials, a veritable recycler even in those days, painting boards from the skip, paint, often left over from decorating.

Acrylic paints and big brushes

And so ….suddenly I can go out and buy whatever materials I like.  Well that’s the theory anyway.  The thing is that I’ve been so used to making do with as little as possible that it seemed quite odd today when it dawned on my that I needn’t worry about using a lot of paint …I could just go order some more.  It’s great to be in this position but in a way I’m glad that I’ve learnt to make do in the past …you really don’t need the complete contents of the art shop to do your work …not if you really want to do it.  You can always find something to use.  That said, I’m off now to order some more pots of heavy bodied acrylic paint …fantastic sticky stuff packed full of pigment.  This I guess is what the award is all about …giving you the freedom to develop your work, risk more experimental work and above all, not worry about it! Relax…

From the studio door ...high tideOh yer, the weather.  It poured all day …and is still pouring.   From my studio door I could watch the high tide racing in and completely covering the saltings opposite.  It was a wonderful spectacle,.  An interesting place to work …in very interesting times.

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    E-mail: keith@keithsalmon.org