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Jolomo Award | Scottish Landscape Art - Scottish Landscape Paintings

Archive for the ‘Jolomo Award’ Category

An interesting week

Finally, after almost three weeks of dark, wet and very windy weather here in Irvine, today has turned out bright and sunny and cold. It’s really beautiful here on the Harbour-side this morning and it makes for a good end to what has been a very good and interesting week.

My working week actually started with a day off!! Can’t be bad eh? That said however, I did feel like I needed one as prior to Monday I’d been in the studio every day for the previous 2 weeks. My day off did include a working lunch however! You’ll remember perhaps that back in the summer one of my paintings, “Breaking mists, on Mam na Gualainn”, won the Probus Club of Irvine Prize at the North Ayrshire Open Art Exhibition. The club, formerly the Rotary Club of Irvine, kindly invited me to join them for lunch at their weekly meeting and asked if I’d give a short talk about my work afterwards. It was a really good deal as on Monday I joined them at a local hotel and enjoyed a fine lunch with them all. I’d taken the winning painting with me, along with two other pieces and after coffee I told them all about my work. It seemed to go down well and I managed just to keep within the time limit! Nita had warned them beforehand that they might need to bop me on the head with a mallet as I tend to talk too much. Me? Talk too much?!

Tuesday included a trip down to the Waverley Gallery in Prestwick to collect nine of my prints which I’d had framed ready for a couple of pre Christmas exhibitions that I’m taking part in. One of these is at “the gallery on the corner” in Edinburgh ….details of this “Winter Print Show”, at the end of this blog.

The other show is a local “Affordable Art Fair at the Harbour Arts Centre here in Irvine which will include work from many of the Courtyard Studios Artists and which will run from December 16th . Until January 8th. Full details slightly nearer the time.

Wednesday was a full day of painting and although it started badly …I completely wrecked a small 30 x 30 cm acrylic and pastel painting that I’d spent about 20 hours on, the remainder of the day went well. After the disaster with the acrylic and pastel piece, I went to work on a couple of my larger oil pieces ….and by the end of the evening at 8pm, I had developed both pieces quite well and I left for home feeling good.

Thursday was something a bit different as Nita and I had been invited along to the Opening of John Lowrie Morrison’s new exhibition, “Jolomo at the Mitchell”. The exhibition was to be officially opened by HRH the Princess Royal and so Thursday morning found me wearing smart clothes…..and a tie! The exhibition is in the magnificent space of the Mitchell Library in Glasgow and I have to say that the work looked great in the fabulous space. We had plenty of time to see the exhibition prior to the Royal party arriving and it all made for a very interesting, enjoyable and for Nita and I, very different kind of lunchtime. I think that the show is only on for another week so do pop in to see it if you are in Glasgow over the next few days. Look out for painting No 47 ….a fabulous piece of work I think.

Friday was another day spent painting and I finally finished one of my canvases and moved another one quite close to being finished. I’m really starting to enjoy working with oil at long last and am starting to think that this will be the way forward in the future.

305 'Breaking mists on Mam na Gualainnt', Acrylic & Pastel, 2013, 80 x 80 cm

‘Breaking mists on Mam na Gualainn’

Yesterday was a good end to the week as I had some visitors to my studio who purchased the “Breaking mists, on Mam na Gualainn” painting. The lady and gentleman (Nettie and Ted) had earlier this year bought one of my small pen sketches at a charity auction in Ipswich and had then gone on to check out my website. A few weeks ago, Nettie contacted me to say they had seen the Mam na Gualainn painting on the website and really wanted to buy it ….but also wanted to visit my studio and collect it in person. As they live in Essex, it meant an almost 450 mile drive and they rather heroically made it despite their car having a major breakdown in the north of England and it having to be towed back to Essex. They however were determined to get to Ayrshire and so hired a car to complete the journey. They arrived yesterday afternoon along with their five small dogs and we had a very enjoyable couple of hours together. Nettie is a painter too and we had agreed a part exchange of work. We now have one of her beautiful wee paintings on our wall and to cap it all, Ted presented me with a copy of a book his father had written back in the late 1930’s I think. He was an established British climber and with two of his colleagues they produced this fabulous book called “British Hills and Mountains”. I’ve only had a short while to look through it, but it’s full of wonderful black and white photographs….. many of them of hills Nita and I have climbed over the years. What is really interesting is that many of these photos are of angles I’ve not seem before. Wow ….in my element or what! Sadly I can’t see print any longer but Nita has said she’ll read the book to me. So then, a big thank you to Nettie and Ted who, as I type will be driving back to Essex. As I said at the start of this blog ….it’s been a very interesting week.

Print show in irvine

Winter Print Show, Irvine

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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.

Launch of The Jolomo Award 2013, all part of a very busy week.

One of the paintings I used for my Jolomo Award 2009 application

One of the paintings I used for my Jolomo Award 2009 application

I know it’s a bit of a cliché, but doesn’t time fly? It seems no time at all that I was planning my application for the Jolomo Award 2009 and on Thursday I was in Edinburgh for the official launch of the 2013 award. The award, established by Scotland’s well known painter Dr John Lowrie Morrison OBE is held every two years and the 2013 award will be the fourth one.

The main aim of the award is to promote painting ….and in particular paintings of the Scottish landscape …for which there is an admirable tradition dating back to the 1600’s. In particular, the award is aimed at emerging artists, regardless of age, who often struggle through lack of financial resources. As such, the main prize for the Jolomo Award is now £25,000. As I have found out since winning in 2009, a sum like this, coupled with a lot of publicity, can really help in establishing your career as an artist……three years on I am still using the award money to help develop and promote my work and this will continue for a long time yet. This really is a life changing award and I would urge anyone who is passionate about painting the Scottish landscape to seriously consider applying for the 2013 award. Full details and application forms can be obtained from: The Jolomo Foundation Millburn Old Philpstoun Linlithgow West Lothian EH49 7PY OR downloaded from: www.jolomofoundation.org Closing date for applications is 14th January 2013 Entry fee: £25 Best of luck!

This was part of my Jolomo Award 2009 application

This was part of my Jolomo Award 2009 application

Apart from our trip to Edinburgh last Thursday, it’s been a busy week at the studio working on two new paintings. It’s also been another hectic few days of helping to organise the Courtyard Studios Open Studio Weekend ….now only two weeks away. I’ve been contacting local press and radio stations and distributing fliers to all the artists at the Courtyard. We’ve also had 30 posters printed and several of the artists have been placing them in prominent locations around Ayrshire. After finishing writing this blog I’ll be spending several hours on the computer sending emails out to past customers and visitors to my studio, telling them about the event and inviting them along to it. So then, things are progressing well so it’s just a case of telling as many people about it as possible ….in fact …if you know anyone living in this part of Scotland who would enjoy seeing a wide range of artwork by some of Ayrshire’s leading artists ….please tell them about it.

Open Studios Weekend – October 6th / 7th, 2012

The Courtyard Studios 128 Harbour St, (next door to the popular Ship Inn)

Irvine Ayrshire KA12 8PZ

Entry: free

Open: Saturday 11 am – 5pm Sunday 12 noon – 5pm All welcome.

I hope you can make it along.