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Autumn Report – 2018

Autumn update – September / November 2018

Well then, it’s a fair time since I updated this homepage and a lot has been happening. I’ve spent much of the time since the “Painting with Sound” exhibition at the Barony Centre, simply painting and trying to catch up with all the paperwork that needed to be done! Over this period a number of exhibition opportunities have arisen and so the main focus of this new blog is to tell you about these shows.

 

The Biscuit Factory Autumn Exhibition – September 8th – October 28th

As you may know, I have over the past few years, shown some of my paintings at the fabulous Biscuit Factory in Newcastle upon Tyne. Back in the spring the gallery once again contacted me and asked if I’d like to show some more work with them, this time in their Autumn 2018 exhibition. I of course accepted and during the summer have been working on several new pieces specifically for this show. One of them is this new 80 x 80cm acrylic and pastel painting based on a walk we did in Sutherland back in May. The hill, Meallan a’ Chuail, is quite rugged and although only 750m, is a far more interesting summit than its slightly bigger neighbour, Beinn Leoid ….which was originally our target.

10 'A Sutherland landscape, Meallan a' Chuail', Acrylic & Pastel, 2018 80 x 80cm RP £2500

It really was an enjoyable and quite exhilarating day and we had the hill to ourselves. Even as we made our way up the ridge, I was thinking about how I might make a painting and I had started it within a few weeks of returning home to Irvine. As an aside, the folk at the Biscuit Factory have also asked me to give a short talk about my work and in particular, about how I have in recent years, started to use sound alongside paint. Sound engineers, Graham Byron and Drew Kirkland who I have been working with now for several years, will be travelling with me to Newcastle to set up and exhibit the Kylesku Project, our first audio painting, so that people who attend the talk will also get the opportunity to experience this new more immersive form of landscape. This event is planned for Sunday October 14th at 2pm. For further information and to book a ticket, please contact the Biscuit Factory.

1 'A cold, damp winter's morning, Glencoe', Acrylic & Pastel, 2017, 80 x 80cm RP £2500

 

 

Moray Arts Centre, Findhorn – September 4th – September 23rd

Keith Salmon exhibition poster Moray 2018

Earlier in the summer I was also asked whether I would like to put half a dozen small paintings into a group exhibition at the Moray Arts Centre, for a few weeks in September. It’s a long way to travel but I kind of figured that we could make the trips to deliver and collect the work, into wee short walking trips …..taking the gear and the tent with us and then heading for the Cairngorms. That was the plan anyway, but just three weeks ago I heard that the three other people taking part in the show, had pulled out for various reasons ….and I was asked if I’d put a small solo exhibition on instead. After a short time thinking about this and checking what work I had available, I agreed. Nita and I did a flying visit about ten days ago to see the centre and to get an idea of the space and after a mad week sorting and wrapping the work, we went back on Monday to hang the show. We were very lucky in this as Graham and Tracy Byron kindly offered to drive up and help is with the installation. This made for a very enjoyable and stress free few hours. The show looks good I think and hopefully we’ll get a good few visitors during the course of the exhibition. Of course, with a car full of paintings, there was no room for the rucksacks and so no walking …but hey, you can’t have everything!

Keith Salmon - Moray Arts Centre

 

Moray Art Centre Exhibition

 

The Seagull Gallery, Gourock – September – October

I was also recently invited to show a couple of small paintings in the Seagull Gallery in Gourock. The gallery has a rolling and constantly changing exhibition and there is a wonderful variety of work on display. For us living here in Irvine, it is just under an hour long drive up the coast and so made a very pleasant wee trip out when we went to deliver the paintings.

 

Courtyard Studios Group Exhibition – Harbour Arts Centre, Irvine  – September 21st – November 4th

We are once again holding a group exhibition of work created by the artists working at the Courtyard Studios in Irvine. The exhibition which will contain work by 17 artists, will include paintings, drawings, prints, jewellery, hand bookbinding, ceramics, leatherwork, photography and textiles……so something for everyone to enjoy. Things have been such a rush for me recently that I’m still not entirely sure which pieces I’ll be showing in this show! I have a new 80 x 80cm painting completed and another on the go ….so maybe one of these. I’m also working on a new large graphite drawing and so this might be a candidate if I get it finished in time.

 

Courtyard Studios Open Weekend – Saturday / Sunday 6 / 7th October, 12 noon – 5pm both days.

Entry free, all welcome:

This will, I think, be the 14th year running that we’ve held this event and it’s proved quite a success over the years. It’s a great opportunity to catch everyone in their studios at the same time and to see all the new work that has been done over the preceding 12 months. Many of us have been working at the Courtyard for a good number of years, but artists come and go and this year we have three new tenants and so there will be completely new work to see in their studios. As usual, everyone is welcome and of course, being right on the Harbourside, there are many and varied places to eat and drink during your visit. As well as a big selection of paintings and drawings on show in my studio, I will also be exhibiting and playing the Kylesku audio painting again ….so if you missed seeing and hearing it at the Barony Centre back in March, you’ll be able to catch it as part of this event.

 

Well, that’s about it for now. I do hope that you can get along to one or other of these events.

Canisp, NW Highlands, 3 paintings

The first image in this blog is a drawing I did a number of years ago and shows two of the most well known of the Assynt mountains…… Canisp on the left and Suilven on the right.

Drawing of Suilven & Canisp

‘Assynt sky-line’

The view point for this drawing was the high ground just to the north of the fishing village of Lochinver and reaching this point by the footpath leading over to the beautiful sandy bay of Achmelvich is a very fine walk in itself.  Anyway, as you will know if you’ve been following these blogs over the years, Nita and I have visited Assynt a good number of times since our first trip there in May 2006 I think it was.  We’ve experienced it in all sorts of weather when on a couple of occasions it’s been so hot we’ve been swimming in the sea and other times when we’ve needed our winter gear in the mountains.

abstract scottish landscape paintings

‘From the SE slopes of Canisp, NW Highlands’

On our first trip to Assynt we planned to walk Canisp but we were forced to turn back at about 650m due to very strong winds ….but had a fantastic look at this fabulous hill and its amazingly ancient surrounding landscape.  We saw enough to know that we had to go back in better weather and get to the summit.  We did this the following year in what was almost perfect weather ….blue skies, a gentle breeze and warm.  We didn’t follow the small path but took a more circuitous route over great areas of bare rock, boulder fields and areas of short grass and heather.   Despite being such a perfect day, we didn’t see another soul and we reached the summit and sat there enjoying the incredible views all around, especially those across to Suilven.

abstract scottish landscape paintings

‘Between showers, from the upper slopes of Canisp’

Last year in late May we went back to this fabulous hill, but in very different conditions.  On this occasion, just like on our first trip to the hill, there were strong winds higher up, thick cloud and very heavy rain and hail showers.  We ended up doing a very similar kind of route to that first trip, reaching the same high point and then descending down the steeper north facing slopes to reach some small lochs nestling amongst the boulders.  On my return to the studio after that holiday, I decided to try and do several paintings based on this latest walk on Canisp.  I originally thought I’d do three canvases ….and here they are.

abstract scottish landscape paintings

‘Below Canisp, passing hail shower’

But I think this walk deserves another two pieces and I’m just about to start numbers 4 and 5!  The weather that day wasn’t all rain; cloud and hail, periodically there were brief interludes of bright sunshine that illuminated the very rough landscape.   There were several moments as we made our way up the south eastern facing slopes of the hill when the thinning straw coloured grasses looked really bright against the dark skies and this is one scene I’d like to capture next.  The other, was something we saw as we picked our way through the boulder fields to the north east of the main hill…..it was a strange bit of a rainbow appearing from down in the glen but petering out in the tumble of rain and hail clouds.  It was quite impressive and quite abstract ….but most of all, out here, several kilometres from the road, it made us feel very small and insignificant.  Watch this space for the final two Canisp paintings.

Selection Time

There is just a week to go until I deliver the paintings to “the gallery on the corner” in Edinburgh, ready for my exhibition, “Highland walks” which opens on Friday 7th August.  This of course means that I’m currently in panic mode!

 To be included in "Highland Walks "exhibition

To be included in “Highland Walks “exhibition

I’ve spent the last couple of weeks slowly deciding which paintings to include and panicking that I might not have enough work…..despite the fact that I know that I have ample.   I always want to include the newest pieces and so have been trying to finish several paintings and drawings and get them framed ready for the delivery date. After much thinking and looking I’ve got it down to 29 framed pieces of which I’ll probably take 25 in the end.  It’s so difficult to decide and I find the best way is to copy images of the paintings into a separate file on my computer and then just keep on viewing the selection.  If helps me root out pieces that look great on their own but might not work with others in an exhibition.  It’s very time consuming and I’m a terrible one for changing my mind!  I put this down to the visual impairment but in all honesty I’m just terrible at making decisions!

 To be included in "Highland Walks "exhibition

To be included in “Highland Walks “exhibition

Selling three pieces over the last month has actually made the decision making process slightly easier and I now think that I’ve got a good selection.  When I last had an exhibition at “the gallery on the corner” a few years ago, the emphasis was probably on the more traditional landscape views.  In “Highland walks”, the emphasis will probably be on the slightly more abstract work.

I’m also planning to include a good range of sizes of work, from one of my 125 x 85 cm graphite drawings of Glen Rosa, to five of my small post card size, (210 x 148 mm) paintings.  In between, there will be several of the 30 x 30 cm pieces, two 40 x 40 cm pieces and a number of the long thin 76 x 23 cm paintings.  Finally, although I haven’t yet decided which, I’ll be taking three of the 80 x 80 cm works.

341  'From Gael Charn, the Drumochter Hills.jpg', Acrylic  & Pastel, 2015, 210 x148 mm

To be included in “Highland Walks “exhibition

As well as the framed pieces, I’m also creating nine small graphite drawings on board which we plan to display unframed.  This is another cause for my current panic…..I have completed six of these but still have three more to do!

Thankfully, Paul the gallery assistant manager, has said that he is happy hanging the exhibition and so once I’ve delivered everything I can start to relax.   That said however, I’ve agreed to saying a few words  on the evening of the Preview and as I don’t want to say the same thing as I did at my previous show, I’ll have to write something fresh and then get it into my head ….. I can’t read notes, so any speaking at events like this, has to be done without them.

 To be included in "Highland Walks "exhibition

To be included in “Highland Walks “exhibition

I’ll probably start wrapping the work early next week so there is no mad rush on Friday.  All I need to do then is send out the email invitations to the Preview on Friday 7th August.  This always takes a lot of time and I usually call in my secretary Nita to help.  As you are aware, Nita has lots of different hats, including those of art critic, frame painter, secretary, and chauffeur among many others!  She tells me that the pay is awful but is always there to help.  I really couldn’t do all this without her….so a big thanks to Nita.

“In Sun, snow, mist and rain”, a final view

My current exhibition at the Harbour Arts Centre here in Irvine, ends on Friday January 9th and as you probably know, it has been an exhibition of paintings along with the creation of a new large graphite drawing.

'Passing snow shower, on the slopes of Ben Loyal'

‘Passing snow shower, on the slopes of Ben Loyal’

It has been a very enjoyable time working in the gallery amidst the exhibition and it has been great hearing people’s comments and remarks as they have watched the drawing develop from a huge blank piece of paper, through apparently random scribbled marks and slowly into a recognisable landscape.

'Harris, west coast'

‘Harris, west coast’

One of the most common questions has been ….when do you know that it is finished? This also has to be one of the most difficult questions to answer! I had done many smaller drawings prior to the exhibition, to try and work out quite what the big drawing might look like, but these were only ever going to give me a very general idea. Working on this very large scale I had to develop the composition and “feel” of the work, as I did it. Knowing then, quite when it was finished was tricky, but I think I’ve got it about right. There are plenty of things that I might do differently if I were to do it again, but I’m very a happy with this result. I’ve learnt a lot from doing this project and it’s given me a lot of confidence that I could do large scale commissions like this if I can get them……..if you happen to be part of a large organisation or commercial group looking to commission large scale contemporary work …. do give me a call.

'A damp morning, Buachaille Etive Beag, Glen Coe'

‘A damp morning, Buachaille Etive Beag, Glen Coe’

As for this particular drawing, well, I’m giving this to North Ayrshire Council for their collection. We’re still discussing how and where the drawing might be displayed, but I’ll be formally handing the piece over at the “End View” on Thursday evening, 8th January. We decided to hold an “End view” so that we could invite folk back to view the finished work and it seemed the perfect time to pass the drawing on to the council. If I haven’t already sent you an invitation, please except my apologies and accept this open invitation to come along and help celebrate the successful conclusion of the exhibition and project.

'Below Mid Hill, spring'

‘Below Mid Hill, spring’

If you don’t live in the area or haven’t been able to get in to see the exhibition, the images displayed here show a few of the works.

'A January afternoon, Glen Rosa, Isle of Arran'

‘A January afternoon, Glen Rosa, Isle of Arran’

“In sun, snow, mist and rain”, Harbour Arts Centre, 114 – 116 Harbour St, Irvine, Ayrshire, KA12 8PZ.
“End view”, Thursday 8th January 2015, 7pm – 9pm, all welcome.

Pieces from pieces

Although nearly all my paintings are based on the Scottish upland landscape I do like to try and find new ways of interpreting it. I’ve spent nearly all of the last week working on an 80 x 80 cm canvas in oil.  It’s quite a loose piece and I’ve just used the large horse hair house painting brush to create the marks on it. 

Work in progress, February 14 2014 - Oil on Canvas

Work in progress, February 14 2014 – Oil on Canvas

The starting point for the piece was a section of a painting I did several years ago about the peaks of the Blackmount, in particular Clach Leath and it’s wonderful southern face that always seems to catch the snow .  In the winter months it stands out from most vantage points to the east, especially as you drive across the edge of Rannoch Moor on the A82 and in particular from the gentle ridge of Ghlas Bheinne.  I’ve taken numerous photos of it over the years as it always grabs your attention and in spring 2012 we walked right underneath it on two occasions as we headed up the glen from Ba Bridge.

Since starting to work once again in oil on canvas, I’ve wanted to try and create much more abstract paintings.  I want them still to be about the wild Scottish landscape but in a much looser way. I’ve created a number of these oil on canvas paintings over the last couple of years and am always trying to develop them.   I decided therefore to start from a slightly different place with these new paintings ….instead of using photographs and sketches I’ve selected a section from one of my earlier paintings.  This gives me a far more abstract starting point but one that is still landscape based.

As I say, the new painting is being created using just one brush ….a large coarse haired house painting brush approximately 7 inches wide and at least an inch thick.  I’ve been building the painting up using quite thick oil paint and putting it down in rough, raw strokes and a very limited palette.  This coarse haired brush leaves fine textures in the wet paint that once dry, gives an interesting surface over which to put down the next stroke.  The painting is still not finished but I think it is starting to go in the right direction.  The problem, as always, is trying to get the balance between the need by me to create a landscape painting as well as one that is abstract too……this can so easily lead to a painting that looks false and awkward.  Oh well, I’ve just ordered a load more paint so it’s just a case of keeping on painting and hopefully learning.  That I guess, is what painting for me is all about.

Final selection

'Snow shower, below the east ridge of Ben Lui', Acrylic & Pastel, 2012, 80 x 80 cm

‘Snow shower, below the east ridge of Ben Lui’

We’ll be delivering the work to Blairmore Gallery on Saturday morning and so this week is one of getting everything ready and packed.

I had the final couple of paintings back from the framer last week and have had all the work spread around in the studio. There’s not a large space to exhibit at Blairmore Gallery and in the past I’ve usually selected a maximum of 20 pieces. This year, after much consideration and many changes of mind, I’ve decided to take 17 pieces, (15 paintings and 2 drawings). I had hoped to take one of the new large graphite drawings but at 56 inches long, I reckon this would be just too big for the space. Instead, (for the one large piece) I’ll be taking one of my 80 x 80 cm paintings instead.

It’s always difficult selecting which pieces to include, but now that I’ve made my final choice I’m quite pleased with how it should look. Here then are six of the paintings to be included in the exhibition.

1 'Breaking mists, Isle of Arran', Acrylic & Pastel, 2013, 30 x 30 cm

‘Breaking mists, Isle of Arran’

'Fresh snow, January 1st 2013, the Ochils', Acrylic & pastel, 2013, 30 x 30 cm

‘Fresh snow, January 1st 2013, the Ochils’

'From the east ridge of Beinn Lui, April', Acrylic & Pastel, 2013, 30 x 30 cm

‘From the east ridge of Beinn Lui, April’

'Harris, west coast, May 2013', Acrylic & Pastel, 2013, 30 x 30 cm

‘Harris, west coast, May 2013’

'In Glen Sannox, Isle of Arran', Acrylic & Pastel, 2013, 76 x 23 cm

‘In Glen Sannox, Isle of Arran’

Keith Salmon Poster the final version!

Keith Salmon Poster the final version!
Blairmore Gallery Exhibition 2013

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Are you in Edinburgh at the moment?

Visit:  ‘the gallery on the corner’, 34 Northumberland St, Edinburgh, EH3 6LS

'In the Flow Country, Sutherland'

‘In the Flow Country, Sutherland’

It’s a busy and exciting time to be in Edinburgh at the moment, but if you’re already getting a little over ‘festivalled’ and are seeking something a little different to do, why not visit ‘the gallery on the corner’.   In this small contemporary gallery, set on the corner of Northumberland St and Dundas Street, just a short walk from the city centre, you’ll find a wonderful selection of work by a broad range of artists.  It’s the perfect place to get away from the rush of the city and to enjoy some new and different art …..and maybe buy yourself something special.

 I’ve been showing work at ‘the gallery on the corner’ since it opened in 2010 and as patron to the gallery I am, of course, going to be a little biased.  That said though, every time I visit the gallery I always get a really good feeling about it.  It’s bright and welcoming and friendly ….and above all, there’s always a really interesting and exciting selection of work to see.

 Here are images of the three paintings I currently have at the gallery, but to see the full range of artists work available, take a visit to the gallery itself.

'Low tide, Harris'

‘Low tide, Harris’

'On the Pentland Hills, March'

‘On the Pentland Hills, March’

Visiting the Gallery

The gallery is open from Tuesday to Saturday, 11.00am to 5.00pm

 ‘the gallery on the corner’

34 Northumberland St, Edinburgh, EH3 6LS

Tel:   0131 557 8969

“Please note that the gallery does not have wheelchair access. There are seven steps down into the gallery making wheelchair access difficult, however if you contact us prior to visiting we will do our best to accommodate you.”

To learn more about this great little gallery and to see images of some of the other artists work, you can visit their website:

http://www.thegalleryonthecorner.org.uk/

Gallery On The Corner - Map

Gallery On The Corner – Map

From a little laziness…!

'Descending from Ben Oss'

‘Descending from Ben Oss’
(SOLD)

We had another fine day here in Irvine yesterday with mainly bright skies and a pleasant breeze.  It certainly seemed to bring folk out and down to the harbour side and that meant that we had a good number of visitors to the Courtyard during the day.

It’s amazing quite how often I’m asked about the long thin, (76 x 23 cm) paintings and this question was raised once again by one of the visitors yesterday.  People realise that these paintings are not in a standard format, say, three by one or four by one and can’t quite figure out why I chose 76 x 23 cm as the size for a painting.

I would like to be able to answer that it was all worked out with a fiendishly clever formula I’d come up with, based on mathematics and aesthetics …….but dream on Salmon, in reality it all came down to some heavy rain, a dislike of getting wet and in short ….laziness on my part!

I’d been working, as usual, on two or three different paintings but by mid afternoon had ground to a complete halt on each.  I was having one of those days where every bit of paint I mixed was the wrong colour and if I did get that right, then I put it down in the wrong place.  In short, all of these paintings were looking dreadful and it seemed like it was either time to give up for the day, or to start a completely new painting.  One of my ‘better’ traits is being rather stubborn and on this occasion I really wasn’t going to be beaten by a stupid bit of paint …..I was going to start a completely new painting and this time get it right.

The only trouble was, that on going to where I kept my painting boards, I found I’d run out.  Nothing for it ….I’d just have to walk the mile up to Homebase and get some more wood cut…….only to realise that it had just started to rain really hard.  When I’m on the hill and have all my waterproof gear, then I’m quite happy about a little rain, but getting soaked walking to and from Homebase  with no waterproofs to wear …well, forget it, I’m far to lazy for that kind of sacrifice!  Still not wanting to admit defeat on the painting front, I started poking around behind my work bench and suddenly found a few lengths of board that had been off-cuts…..and yes, you’ve got it, one of these was by chance, 76 x 23 cm.

This must have been a very good day for me because, seeking as I was, to do something different from the three failed paintings I’d been working on, I finally took the plunge with this new strangely sized painting and combined the pastel scribbles of my drawings, with the broader marks of my paintings.  The result was very pleasing and has led to much of what I now do.  That particular painting also went into an exhibition in a gallery on the Isle of Arran and was bought by a couple on their holiday from Manchester……and a year or so later; they commissioned me to create the biggest painting I’ve ever done!

I’m sure some of you will have heard this story from me before, but, if you, like me, have a slightly lazy side to your character, go with it sometimes, occasionally it can work out for the best!

Getting the work together

Work in progress ....much to do!

Work in progress ….much to do!

It’s been another week of work and walking although with the emphasis definitely on the work! As you know I’ve been trying to get some new small pieces finished ready for my exhibition at Blairmore Gallery. Well, after much looking and moving work around in the studio, I’ve decided that I now have enough work for the show and have decided on which pieces I’ll be taking …..give or take one or two that is! In all honesty I’ll probably change my mind as to the exact selection, but I have a pretty reasonable idea now. The gallery isn’t very big so I’ll probably take around 17 pieces including one large piece …either an 80 x 80 cm painting or one of the new large graphite drawings. The other pieces will comprise around 10 of the 30 x 30 cm paintings, 3 of the 76 x 23 cm paintings and several small post card size drawings. I think it should make for quite a strong little show and it’ll be nice to see it all up on the wall together in about four weeks time. …..hopefully the visitors to the gallery and café will think so too!

I’m now turning my thought’s to the work I’ll need for the exhibition with Jürgen Fischer in the autumn. The dates still haven’t been confirmed yet, which is a little worrying and it’s also difficult to know exactly how much work I’ll need ….and when I’ll need it. I’m planning to show a series of the new large graphite drawings as I think they’ll work very well with Jürgen’s very dark linear sculptures. I’m reckoning on needing between 8 and 10 of these large drawings and so have got back to the drawing board again this week. When I’m working on paintings, I usually have three or four on the go at any one time and if I encounter a problem with one, simply put it aside and start work again on another. It’s a bit different with the large drawings as I only have one large drawing board and it’s not easy to keep changing the paper over ….it would certainly increase the risk of damaging a piece. As such I have to work on the same drawing from start to finish …and if I have problems …just sit and stare at it until I work out what I need to do ….it could mean I’ll be spending a lot of time sat in my rocking chair over the next few weeks!

Finally, just to say that there may not be a blog next week as John, the chap who does all the administration on my website is away for a short while. I will however, be putting extra posts up on my Face Book page, Keith Salmon – Scottish Landscape Artist. ……so if you haven’t already done so, why not check that out. There are regular views from inside the studio and of work in progress, as well as photos from the walks we do…….even though I say it myself, it’s worth a visit!

Next step

 ' A January morning, Glen Rosa, Isle of Arran'

‘ A January morning, Glen Rosa, Isle of Arran’

As any of you who visit my Face Book page will know, I’ve been doing some more drawing this last week.  The drawing, to be titled, ‘Rock, snow and water, Harris, May 2013’ is small than the last few pieces and is square as opposed to rectangular.  I wanted it to be similar in size to the 80 x 80 cm paintings I do and so cut the paper to this size.  As you know though, I do like my drawings to have a rough edge and so the actual image size on the paper is 70 x 70 cm, ….give or take few millimetres, leaving a white border all around..

When we were over on Harris last month we had, to our surprise, one day of heavy sleet and snow.  The following day we did a great little walk through a glen between the hills.  The snow was really quite low on the hillsides …less the 100 m and after a few kilometres the path reached a bealach at about 130m.  Even at this height there were several centimetres of snow on the ground and everything looked quite wild and wintry.   By this time though, it was thawing and the streams were really full, cascading down their rocky beds in a mass of white water and it struck me how similar it looked to the patterns made by the snow lying on the rocky hillsides above.  We spent a long time wondering and looking and I decided that I’d have to do some drawings based on this scene and idea.  ‘Rock, snow and water, Harris, May 2013’ is my first attempt and I’m already working on a second piece that will be more abstract, more about the patterns of marks.

'Rock, snow and water, Harris, May 2013'

‘Rock, snow and water, Harris, May 2013’

Anyway, this first piece is finished I think and I’ve decided that it might be fun to enter it for the forth-coming North Ayrshire Open Art Exhibition.  As you can enter up to two pieces, I’ve decided that I might as well enter one of the other recent graphite drawings too.  Of course, the next step is to decide quite how to have them framed.  I normally use a distressed ‘York’ silver frame with a simple mount behind glass, for my smaller paintings and I had at first thought I do with this.  However, I wasn’t sure whether the silver would work with these quite stark graphite images and so went to my framer at the Waverley Gallery in Prestwick seeking some advice and ideas.

I’ve always found selecting a frame very difficult and so to be honest I wasn’t looking forward to this part of the business.  Amazingly though, Tim had the perfect solution …a very simple charcoal coloured frame.  The moment he put it down against the drawing I knew this was the one and although we tried several other options we came back to this first choice.  To retain the ‘rough’ edge of the drawing, there will be no mount, just the glass sitting directly onto the paper.  I’m quite excited and am looking forward to seeing the pieces framed in this way especially as the second piece I’ve chosen is one of the large Glen Rosa drawings.

Well then, that’s about it for this week.  Nita and I are finally starting to get over the nasty bug we’ve had although my voice is still very rough.  Needless to say there have been a few jokes down at the studios about my needing to take up singing the blues instead of painting!  Of course though, we haven’t been out walking for over three weeks now and have been missing all the fine weather which has been most annoying and now that we’re starting to plan our next outing ….the rain is back on!  Hopefully by next week we’ll have made it out onto a hill and my next blog can include a few nice photos of the Scottish Highlands.