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Spring / Summer 2023 – Latest Life & Exhibitions Update !

Posted by admin on August 9th, 2023

Walking and working …..but getting there

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

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

Towards Arkle

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

On Meall an t’Seallaidh

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

At the summit of Meall Odhar
From Beinn Chaorach

Work!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ref. 456, ‘Overlooking Loch Assynt, a September afternoon’, Acrylic & Pastel, 2023, 80 x 80 cm
Ref. 457 ‘A September afternoon in the mountains of Assynt’, Acrylic & Pastel, 2023, 80 x 80 cm
Posted in Artwork of the Week, Exhibitions, Sound Art Tags: , No Comments »

February Report 2018: Kylesku Project & “Painting with Sound” Exhibition

Posted by admin on February 27th, 2018

There has been a lot happening since I last updated this home page back in November. 

The most significant happening, although not really art related ……. was that after just over 30 years of being together, Nita and I finally got married!  That was back at the start of December and we spent a fabulous week away staying in one of the old lodges in the Brodick Castle estate on the Isle of Arran.  We had magnificent weather the whole week and actually arrived as snow was falling.  We managed to get several good short walks done, enjoying the cold crisp weather and the amazing views of the snow covered Arran peaks.  Since returning to the studio, I’ve completed several new 30 x 30 cm paintings and one of them tries to capture the scene looking into Glen Sannox….see below.

'Glen Sannox, a December morning', Acrylic & Pastel, 2017, 30 x 30cm

“Glen Sannox”

 

'From the Devil's Staircase, winter', Acrylic & Pastel, 2018, 30 x 30 cm

‘From the Devil’s Staircase, winter’

1s 'A Coigach landscape, January', Acrylic & Pastel, 2018, 30 x 30 cm

‘A Coigach landscape, January’

1 Towards the Arran mountains from Brodick Castle ground

Towards the Arran mountains from Brodick Castle ground

Of course, much of my time has been taken up with the larger and more experimental audio paintings.   As you know, the first of these, called the Kylesku Project, has been on the go since the summer and in October we were able to test out the partially finished piece for a few days in the magnificent space at the Barony Centre in West Kilbride.  The work was only up for a few days, but it gave us a chance to assess how effective the 5.1 soundtrack was and how well it worked with the 120 x 120 cm Kylesku painting.   We were all very encouraged by this first test and especially by the response we had to the work from visitors and staff at the centre.  It was so positive that we have been invited back to the Barony for a full exhibition early in March.

 

The exhibition, which we are calling, “Painting with Sound”, will open on Monday 5th March and run until 22nd March.  Below is the exhibition poster with all the relevant details:

A2 Painting with sound poster 600px

“Painting with Sound”

“Painting with Sound” is an exhibition of work by Ayrshire artists and sound engineers, Keith Salmon, Graham Byron and Drew Kirkland.

The focal point of the exhibition is the “Kylesku Project”, the trio’s latest audio visual collaboration.  Created from a series of sound recordings made on the shore of the sea loch near Kylesku in Sutherland in May 2017, the work consists of a 120 x 120 cm oil painting, produced by Keith Salmon and inspired by a 30 minute long 5.1 surround-sound track. Engineered and installed by Graham Byron and Drew Kirkland, the sound track will be playing throughout the exhibition and contains sounds from the natural Kylesku environment, sounds recorded as the painter works in his studio and a unique selection of computer generated tones.  As a viewer looks at the painting and moves in front of it, different elements of the soundtrack are heard through the five surround-sound speakers.   The Kylesku Project is the first in a series of evolving and uniquely Scottish sound / landscapes.  

 The exhibition will also contain around 25 of Keith Salmon’s Scottish landscape paintings, along with drawing, text, video and projected film footage that will plot the development since 2014 of this new and exciting Ayrshire based audio visual collaboration.

 

Although we are only just about to exhibit the Kylesku Project for the first time, we have already started work on our second audio piece.  This will also focus on the dramatic coastal scenery of Sutherland in north west Scotland.  A week after New Year, Nita, me, Graham and his wife Tracy, headed up north, aiming for the Stoer Head lighthouse that is situated on the prominent and rugged Stoer peninsular about 10 miles to the north of Lochinver.  It’s a wild spot at the best of times and Nita and I had visited it on several occasions in the past.  On one such trip last year, we had seen a notice at the lighthouse saying that the two flats adjoining it were available to rent.  Now, just for instance, if you wanted to make sound recordings of waves breaking and crashing against huge cliffs…..where would be better? So that was our destination….. both cars arriving at this lonely spot just as the light was fading and the lighthouse was doing its business.  It was quite amazing unloading our gear and carrying it up the spiral staircase to the top flat….. with the sound of the waves crashing below.

 

We stayed there for a week, each day heading out, armed with a variety of sound recording equipment and cameras.  While Graham organised and set up each of the recordings, Tracy filmed everything so that we had a record of this part of the work for future promotional material.  It all worked very well and we were especially lucky with the weather, it not only being dry all week, but also not that windy.  On the Wednesday and Thursday it was very nearly calm….. but with a big swell rolling in that made for some great sound!  At the end of each afternoon we would retreat to the warmth of the flat and then spend several more hours checking through the sound and film we had recorded.  Beer, good food and conversation added to the enjoyment and the week raced by.  Before long it was Sunday morning and we were packing the cars for the journey back to Ayrshire.  Only then did the weather break and we had to battle our way around the side of the lighthouse in a howling gale to get to the cars!  It was certainly a dramatic departure and my final sound recording was made of the wind howling in the stairwell leading down from the flat.

We got some very good recordings from the trip and Graham has already edited the film footage Tracy took, into a series of short clips which we’ll be projecting onto a large screen as part of the “Painting with Sound” exhibition.  I do hope you can get along to both see and hear our work…. it will, I’m sure, be a very different and hopefully, thought provoking experience.

Posted in Exhibitions, Information Updates, Mountain Photos, Personal, Sound Art, Sound Recording 1 Comment »

Autumn Report – 2017

Posted by admin on November 19th, 2017

November 18th 2017

Autumn report

It has been quite a busy time since the summer with quite a lot of work done and exhibited.

The “Landshapes” exhibition at Dean Clough in Halifax ended in early September and Nita and I had another very enjoyable over-night trip down through the Yorkshire Dales, to collect my work.  Unfortunately none of my eight pieces sold during the course of the exhibition, but it was a very good experience taking part and meeting several of the other artists at the preview.  Interestingly, a couple who saw the exhibition then drove all the way back up from Yorkshire to see more of my work at the studio.

In October the artists at the Courtyard Studios held our annual Open Studios Weekend and this coincided with our annual Courtyard Studios Group Exhibition at the Harbour Arts Centre.  Both events went very well, with around 350 visitors to the studios over the weekend of October 7th and 8th.  The exhibition, which ran for about six weeks, was a pretty strong show I think, with some really good work on display.  Thanks to Maree for making such a good job of co-ordinating the Open Weekend and to Brian for doing such an excellent job of hanging the group exhibition.  With such a broad range of work by 15 different artists, it must have been quite a task!

This summer saw the final completion of a project I started several years ago.  The idea was to create a series of five 80 x 80cm oil paintings based on a walk Nita and I did on Canisp in May 2015.  The weather that day was pretty violent with torrential rain and hail showers battering their way across the wild Assynt landscape.  Our plan had been to walk Canisp via its south eastern slopes, but by the time we had got up onto the broad back of the hill, the heavy showers had arrived, blown along by a very strong gusting wind.  The cloud descended to quite low levels at times as the showers raced by, but in between, there were brief bursts of sunshine lighting up the wet rocky landscape and of course, there were plenty of rainbows as a result.  With the weather being so rough though, we decided against continuing all the way to the summit and instead, from a high point of about 600m we descended north down steep slopes to a small loch situated amongst vast areas of boulders and small crags that had leads of moss and grass running through them.  As we started to make our way across this area we were caught in one of the biggest showers of the day.  The hail was just something else, battering down on us with tremendous force.  We just stood waiting for it to ease.  As it did, Canisp started to reappear, rising up behind us.  The sun came out briefly through a break in the cloud and made for a breathtaking scene.

Even while we walked back that day, I was already having a vague idea for doing not just one painting, but a small series of paintings based around the day.  I started the first piece quite soon after returning to Irvine but 2015 and 2016 were so busy, especially with The Oregon Project, that by the start of this year, I only had one of the pieces completed and another two on the go.  I had figured out five compositions based on various viewpoints throughout the walk and so once we had finished our exhibition in the Tent Gallery, Edinburgh in April, I was able to get back to work on this Canisp project.  The final two paintings are being framed as I type and I am hoping to find a place to exhibit all five pieces together……hopefully sometime next year.  Any galleries out there, who might be interested in showing these works, please get in touch.   Below are images of the five paintings presented in a slideshow:

As I said in my summer report, Graham Byron and I have been working on a new audio visual piece and this has developed well over the last few months.  The piece is technically far simpler than The Oregon Project last year.  I wanted to try and make a piece in which the sound element was a really integral part of the painting…. and the painting an integral part of the audio.  In other words, I didn’t want to use the sound just for audio interpretive purposes, although the sound will still work in this way for anyone with sight loss who visits the work.  After much thought, Graham and his colleague Drew Kirkland, came up with the solution.  This was to mix a single long soundtrack, but engineer it to 5:1 surround sound.  Different elements of the sound would be heard through different speakers.  This seemed like a very good way to take things and the new piece is well under way.  It is based on a series of sound recordings I made one day back in May when Nita and me walked a track along the northern shores of the sea-loch near Kylesku in Sutherland. From these, Graham mixed an initial eight minute long sound track and with this playing in my studio, I have been creating a new oil painting.  The piece is 120 x 120cm and it is based on my memories of the loch-side location as well as my interpretation, through line and texture, of the sounds I heard there.   The painting is almost finished now and I see it rather as a kind of natural graffiti!

Kylesku audio painting

When I worked on The Oregon Project, I came up with the idea of including the sounds of the actual drawing process.  I want to do something similar with this new piece and Graham and I are planning to book a local hall, (which has good acoustics) to record the sounds the various brush strokes make.  Graham will then include these into the final mix.

Although the piece was only partially complete, we decided to get it up and running ready for the Open Weekend.  We had a pretty good response from the visitors that weekend and as a result, were given a short slot in the Barony Centre in West Kilbride, (as part of their Vertex Festival of new music and art”.  This time we were able to exhibit the piece in a proper space with perfect acoustics and with enough space to place the speakers properly.  I have to say, that even with a partially completed sound track and painting, the piece worked well and once again we had a very favourable response.  Apparently the folk at the Barony Centre have talked about the possibility of getting the work back when it is completely finished.  I do hope so as it is a fantastic venue for the arts.  Watch this space.

Posted in Art and Autism, Courtyard Studios Open Weekend, Sound Art Tags: , No Comments »

The Oregon Project in Edinburgh !

Posted by admin on March 9th, 2017

“The Oregon Project and other works:
A Keith Salmon landscape retrospective in light and sound.”

The Oregon Project was first exhibited at the 9e2 Art, Science and Technology exhibition in Seattle in October 2016. Below are links that will take you to an article and short video made by Microsoft to help promote the work.
Article: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/blog/keith-salmon-oregon-project/
Video: https://www.facebook.com/Microsoft/videos/10154184382973721

The work will soon be present in Scotland at the Tent Gallery. Details of the exhibition:

Tent Gallery,
Edinburgh College of Art,
Evolution House,
78 West Port
Edinburgh
EH1 2LE

Exhibition preview: Friday April 7th, 5pm – 8pm
Exhibition runs: Saturday 8th April – Saturday 22nd April 2017
Open:   Daily, 11am – 5pm, Except Thursdays: 1pm – 7pm
RNIB evening: Tuesday 11th April, 5pm – 7pm

 

Keith and Neel Joshi from Microsoft, in Seattle, 2017

 

9e2 2017

Oregon project – 9e2 2017 – Seattle, USA

 

 

 

Posted in Artwork of the Week, Exhibitions, Microsoft Project 2016, Sound Art, Visual Disability 2 Comments »

Happy New Year! – A short review of the last few months

Posted by admin on January 9th, 2017

 

If you are one of those long suffering souls who have been reading my blogs over the last few years….. well, there are changes afoot.  I’ve written close on 300 blogs over this time and for the most, I’ve really enjoyed doing them.  I tried to write a new one each week and for quite a few years did this with very few breaks.  Over the last year – 18 months however, you will have noticed that they have appeared less regularly and indeed, during the whole of 2016 I wrote only 19 blogs I think.   The reasons for this are simply that I have become increasingly busy but at the same time, my little bit of sight has deteriorated further and this means that everything takes even longer and is more difficult to do.  In short, the writing of my weekly blog and ‘artwork of the week’, was taking more and more time to do…..on average, I guess it is taking me almost five hours a week.  With the increased work load now that I am developing the audio visual projects as well as my usual paintings, I just can’t do everything ….and something has to go.  Five hours a week doesn’t sound that much, but over a year that adds up to a huge amount of time which I could better use to produce more work, or promote and sell the work I have.  So then, I’ve decided to update my website less regularly this year.  I’ll be updating it about eight times over the year.  The blogs will become more like reports of what’s been happening over the previous couple of months and the home page will show one of my most recent paintings.  I hope this will still be of interest. Anyway, without further ado, here is a little catch-up on the last few months.

A large part of 2016 was, for me, taken up with The Oregon Project.  This is the large audio visual piece of work I did in collaboration with Microsoft researcher Neel Joshi, Ayrshire sound engineer, Graham Byron, and independent Seattle based film maker, Dan Thornton.  The work finally all came together in mid October when the work was installed as part of the big “9e2” Art, Science and Technology Exhibition in Seattle.  I’ve written much about this project as it developed and so I think the best will be to add the following links.  These will take you to an article and very short video that were commissioned by Microsoft to help promote The Oregon Project. 

article: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/blog/keith-salmon-oregon-project/

video: https://www.facebook.com/Microsoft/videos/10154184382973721/

As you will see, this was a huge project that required many months of almost non-stop work.  As such, I had little or no time to do anything else during the period May – end of October.  This meant that for the first time in almost 18 years, we didn’t do any serious hill or mountain walking during the summer.  Not only had we rapidly become unfit…. we had both put on a few pounds too!  So, on returning to Scotland from Seattle we’ve started to get out walking again.  We’ve only done some easy and fairly short walks but the legs are starting to feel a bit better already.  Our latest outings included a fine little tromp up and over the Dumyat on the edge of the Ochil Hills, just before Christmas and a fine wander up Cairn Table near Muirkirk, a couple of days ago.  Of course, it’s not just the fitness I miss when we don’t get out, it’s the ‘being out in the wild’ bit that I really miss and this is such an important part of my work.  On these two short walks we experienced hugely different conditions.  In the Ochil Hills the light was extremely poor with thick dark low cloud sitting on even this little 400 m hill.  On Cairn Table however, we had almost cloudless skies with very bright low winter sunshine that made the winter colours really glow at times.  I will probably not create paintings based on these two walks but I will draw on the memories of the differing light conditions, at some point in the future. 

I’ve also been working hard on getting back into the actual painting.  The Oregon Project was all about drawing and sound and so the painting got put to one side.  It’s been great getting back to sticky oil paint again and I’ve completed one painting, (see the artwork of the week) and have another three canvases well under way.  I haven’t given up on my smaller acrylic and pastel work either and managed to get several new pieces completed. 

Work in progress

Exhibitions have been rather limited this year too, but I was lucky enough to be invited to show some work at both The Strathearn Gallery in Crieff and Scotlandart.com on Bath Street in Glasgow.  Looking ahead, I will have work showing in an interesting exhibition of contemporary landscape painting taking place in Halifax during the summer.  I’m still waiting final details but will post these nearer the time.

Smaller artworks

The next major event for me however, is the continuation of The Oregon Project work.  We have been invited to show the work at the Tent Gallery in Edinburgh University in April and so we are already planning this.  Unfortunately it isn’t as simple as it sounds as not only will we have to re-configure the work (the space is a different size and shape to the one we used in Seattle), we will also have to generate the funding to bring the work and the US team over for the event.  This is going to be the most difficult part as my limited sight makes it very difficult for me to do all the computer based work required to make applications etc.  Thankfully I’m not on my own with this though, Nita and Graham are both helping and so between the three of us we should get there with a bit of luck.  No doubt that by the time I write my next update, we’ll know quite how successful we’ve been!  More details nearer the time. That said of course, if you are part of a company who sponsor innovative projects, please do get in touch ….we need all the help we can get!  Thank you.

Posted in Documentary, Exhibitions, Galleries with Keith Salmon artwork, Information Updates, Microsoft Project 2016, Personal, Sound Art, Visual Disability No Comments »

Update!

Posted by admin on October 17th, 2016

The Oregon Project

For the best part of the year you have heard me talking about the big sound and drawing project I’ve been working on.  The work is nearing completion with the installation almost built in Seattle and myself and Graham Byron flying out to assist the final install tomorrow.  The work will open to the public on Friday 21st October  as part of the big “9e2” exhibition in Seattle.  Below is a piece I wrote last week and this should give you a good idea of how everything has come together over the last few years.

Background

I trained in Fine Art in the early 1980’s, attending Shrewsbury School of Art, Falmouth School of Art and Newcastle upon Tyne Polytechnic.  In 1990 however, my sight which had until then been fine, deteriorated rapidly and by 1998 when I moved from Wales up to Ayrshire, I was officially registered as blind.

Throughout this period though, I was determined to continue doing my art and have, over the course of time, developed new ways of working that allow me to continue to paint and draw.  I turned professional in 2009 and now work from my studio on Irvine Harbour side, exhibit my work regularly and received the Jolomo Award for Scottish Landscape Painting.  Over the last few years I have been involved in several international projects that have involved creating works in Germany in 2010, Brazil in 2014 and now in Seattle in the USA.

In 2013, a chance meeting with Seattle based landscape photographer and independent film maker Daniel Thornton, (during the preview of my exhibition at ‘the gallery on the corner’ in Edinburgh) led to us working on a documentary project together. The documentary looks at my work as well as the role the visual impairment has played in its development.  The documentary is built around a large drawing project I worked on here in Scotland in late 2014. I created a 5m long, 1.5m high graphite drawing based on Glen Rosa on the Isle of Arran, in the main gallery of the Harbour Arts Centre here in Irvine.  I produced the drawing in the public gallery as part of a bigger exhibition of my work.   I worked on the drawing each day and visitors to the centre could watch it develop.  This was I guess, more a kind of performance piece.  I also wanted the work to be more than a local event and as such arranged for each day’s work to be recorded on a time-lapse camera and then have it posted each evening on the Internet.   The time lapse recordings were made by the resident sound engineer /technician, Graham Byron.

Around that time, I had become aware that the very limited sight I had, was gradually getting worse and I started to wonder what I would do if it became so limited that my drawings became very minimal.  How would I continue to work as a professional artist?   One of my ideas was to use sound in some way to supplement the visual image, but I had no idea how I might go about this.  While talking with Graham during the big drawing project, I mentioned my idea for using sound and asked him how best I go about making the recordings.  He was very enthusiastic and kindly lent me some sound recording equipment along with some basic instructions on using it.  For the whole of 2015 I took the sound recorder with me on our regular walks into the Scottish Highlands and started to develop ideas for possible new work.

I had kept Dan Thornton up to date on this work and by chance he heard of an interesting project being developed by Microsoft researcher Neel Joshi.  The idea was to use Microsoft Kinect technology to create a system to help visually impaired people interpret two dimensional images with sound.  Neel had created a prototype and was looking to work with a visual artist who also worked with sound.  Dan told him about me and put us in contact.

The Oregon Project

After a good deal of discussion in late 2015, Dan Thornton and I were invited to join the team working on the project, which itself had been established in order to take part in the big “9e2” arts and science exhibition taking place in Seattle in October 2016.  A general view of the exhibition, its purpose and aims, can be found by visiting the website: www.9e2seattle.com .

My partner Nita and I flew out to Seattle in early May where we joined the full team to talk about the project, test the prototype and set plans for the work.  We decided to try and create something that was more than just a rather blunt interpretive tool for visually impaired people.  Instead we planned to try and create an art installation that was experimental, challenging and enjoyable for all concerned but that also had as an integral part of it…. an audio interpretive element that would allow visually impaired people to better interpret the purely visual side of the piece….. this being 3 large (8’ x 4’) pastel drawings.

Ever since first meeting with Dan Thornton, he had expressed an interest in seeing how I would interpret the NW American landscape and for this project he had organised a short artist’s residency for me at the Josephy Centre for Arts and Culture in the small town of Joseph in NE Oregon.  After our initial meeting at Microsoft we travelled down to Joseph where we spent 8 days exploring the stunningly varied landscape.  The plan was for me to gather as much information about it as possible and as such we were out in the landscape every day.  I did many small sketches, we all took numerous photos and Dan and his assistant Cindy Apple recorded the process on film.  We also made many sound recordings too.  By the time we had returned to Seattle we had formulated a plan for the work.  I would create three large pastel drawings based on three different views of the Hell’s Canyon region of Oregon.  One based on the view from the canyon rim, one from a position well down in the canyon and one based on the view we had at the river’s edge in the base of the canyon.

Hell's Canyon region, Oregon

Hell’s Canyon region, Oregon

Hell's Canyon region, Oregon

Hell’s Canyon region, Oregon

Hell's Canyon region, Oregon

Hell’s Canyon region, Oregon

As far as I understand it the Microsoft connect technology will recognise a person’s location within a three dimensional space.  We would use this system to direct sounds to a viewer and these sounds would change according to their position in front of the drawing ….whether they are close to or further back from the surface of the drawing .  The Kinect technology can also recognise a person pointing at different parts of the drawing and once again send a corresponding soundtrack.  We decided that the work would have three different levels of sound:

Level 3: Furthest away from the drawing.  Here you would hear sound tracks relating to the view depicted in the drawing and mixed from recordings we made out on location in the canyon.

Level 2:  A position closer to the drawing.  Here we have added computer generated tones to match the main blocks of colour within the drawings.  You would hear the main colours.

Level 1: Very close to the drawing surface.  In this position the sounds you would hear would be made from recordings of the actual drawing process ….you would be ‘in’ the drawing. These sound tracks are really quite abstract and relate directly to the different types of mark used in the creation of the drawings.

On returning to Scotland in late May, I started work on the three large drawings.  I also spent many hours listening to the sound recordings Dan and I had made during our time in Oregon and selecting the elements that might best be used.  At this stage of things we invited Graham Byron to join the team and together the two of us created 18 different individual soundtracks for each of the three drawings.  I had no idea how we could mix these sound tracks and so it was great working with Graham who had been in the music industry as a sound engineer and musician for over 30 years.  In short, it was like drawing with sound ….quite amazing.

Dan, Neel and a colleague of theirs, Ryan (along with several other folk) have been working away in Seattle designing the technical side of this project and they will shortly be starting to build the installation.  Graham and I will be travelling out there on 17th October in time to help with the final installation ….adding the sound tracks to the work.  The piece opens to the public, along with many other installations and performance projects …on 21st October.

This is a very experimental piece of work created by 4  people with very different skills……

Neel Joshi: Microsoft researcher  ….this project was his idea.

Daniel Thornton: Independent film maker, landscape photographer and educator.

Graham Byron: Sound engineer and musician.

Keith Salmon: Visual and audio artist

This is a collaborative work and each element and area of expertise is as vital to the whole as the others.  This is also a very experimental piece and we will only know how well it works once the installation is complete and we start getting feedback from visitors to the work.  Hopefully everyone will be able to enjoy it.

Future plans

The Oregon Project is to return to Scotland in April 2017 where it will be exhibited in the gallery in Edinburgh University.

I think we are all hoping that The Oregon Project is just a start and that we will develop these initial ideas to create new and even more exciting pieces in the future.  We are very keen to create a large Scottish sound drawing in 2017.  Watch and listen to this space!

Posted in Commissioned Artwork, Documentary, Exhibitions, Information Updates, Microsoft Project 2016, Sound Art, Sound Recording, Uncategorized Tags: , , No Comments »

Seattle / Oregon drawing project – a quick update

Posted by admin on July 8th, 2016

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!

Posted in Commissioned Artwork, Commissions, Documentary, Microsoft Project 2016, N. America, Sound Art, Sound Recording Tags: , , , No Comments »

Art and landscape – a short trip to the American North West

Posted by admin on May 24th, 2016

This morning before leaving home for my studio, I had another quick look at the map of the United States of America. I looked at the state of Washington in the far North West and then across and down just a little bit to the state of Oregon. It looked just a short distance on the map until you glance at how much more …much, much, much more of the USA there is. The journey we made from Seattle to the small town of Joseph in Oregon seemed long and the landscape amazingly varied and huge and yet the map says there is so much more. It really is a very big country.

In reality of course we caught just a tiny glimpse of its beauty and grandeur but it has quite taken me aback. I wonder now why it has taken me 56 years to get to see some of this amazing country. Probably something to do with being an artist and always being skint I guess. Strange then that art was the reason Nita and I were over exploring this stunning landscape but very exciting and rewarding.

art trip to Oregon

Wild flowers at Buckhorn, Hells Canyon, Oregon

As you already know, I am taking part in a collaborative art and science project with a small research team working at Microsoft in Seattle. The piece of work we are creating will combine 2 dimensional visual arts with an audio system that delivers different levels of audio / sound interpretation depending on the proximity of the viewer to the artwork. The purpose of the two week long trip was two fold. Firstly, we went to meet up with the team I’ll be working with. We needed to fix the basics for the work and to start planning how the audio and technological side of this piece might work. In short, we had two full meetings at one of the huge Microsoft buildings just outside of Seattle and two more informal meetings in restaurants in the city.

Art trip to Oregon

In the Hells Canyon area of Oregon

The second part of the trip, lasting for 11 days, saw us driving down to the small town of Joseph in Oregon where a week long artist’s residency had been arranged for me at the Josephy Center of Arts and Culture. The main emphasis of this part of the trip was for me to explore the very varied and rich landscape of this part of Oregon and to record as much information as possible about it in order for me to create three large (8’ x 4’) pastel drawings on my return to Scotland. We also needed to make a large number of sound recordings while out in the landscape in order to support the audio side of the artwork. We made the journey with film maker and photographers, Daniel Thornton and Cindy Apple, Dan who is the lead audio artist for the project and Cindy who was making a photographic / film record of the trip and work.

As I say, the landscape in this region of Oregon is incredibly varied and has three main areas. The small town of Joseph sits at a little over 4000 ft and has the huge 10,000 ft peaks of the Wallowa Mountains rising immediately behind it. In the opposite direction lie two very different regions, a huge area of high prairie and an even larger area of deep canyons known as the Hell’s Canyon area. All three of these very distinct geological regions are stunningly beautiful and are very individual. We needed to visit all three areas on our arrival and with time so short, I had to make a decision as to which area I would base my drawings on. The mountains and prairie were amazing but I decided that I’d work on the canyon area ….it is so different from the landscape I’m used to.

Art trip to Oregon

Nita and Kendrick, Hells Canyon region, Oregon

We were very lucky to be guided on three occasions by a local botanist and wildlife photographer called Kendrick Moholt and he took us to some amazing locations within the complex region of canyons. On the Monday we drove to Buckhorn, a view point over looking one of the huge deep canyons. When we arrived everywhere was in cloud (we were at around 5000ft) but as we waited in this high and quiet place, gradually the cloud started to break up and lift and the scale and depth of the canyon became evident. It was quite a breathtaking scene. The following day saw us way down in the canyon driving along a dirt road to reach a magnificent viewpoint where I spent several hours drawing. The canyon at this point dropped steeply down to the river but also climbed high above. Finally Kendrick took us to the farm of a friend of his, situated right in the base of the canyon next to the river. It was an impressive situation and once again I was able to spend quite a while drawing and recording. The final large works will I think be based on these three locations and I am hoping that the sound recordings we made will convey the different positions within the canyon.

Art trip to Oregon

The Columbia River Gorge

We got back to Scotland yesterday morning and this is the first day back in my studio. I’m planning to start work on some preliminary studies in the next day or so and will also be starting work on sorting through the numerous sound recordings we made.

It was a really amazing trip and the people we met were so friendly and helpful. There is a huge amount of work to be done for this project over the next four months but it is very exciting. When all is complete we’ll be exhibiting it as part of the big “9e2”project in Seattle in late October. After that, we are hoping that the work can be shown in other locations and with a bit of luck, brought over to Scotland…..hopefully to be exhibited alongside a large Scottish audio / drawing work that I’m planning. As they say ….watch this space!

Finally, my thanks must go out to Dan who has done so much to put this project into place. …. I look forward to working with you and the others on the project over the next few months or so.

Posted in Documentary, Information Updates, Microsoft Project 2016, N. America, Sound Art, Sound Recording Tags: , , , , , , , , No Comments »

An art and science collaboration in Seattle

Posted by admin on April 17th, 2016

As you will know if you’ve been following my blogs over the last year or so, I’ve been starting to experiment with the idea of using sound with my large drawings and paintings. The original idea developed as a result of further deterioration in my sight over the last five years and although so far, this gradual deterioration hasn’t affected my ability to paint too much, I am aware that there may be a point sometime down the line where my work becomes more and more minimal. So then, I’ve started thinking about how I might continue working as a professional artist if this happens. My original plans had always been to return to making sculpture in a purely tactile way……I trained and worked as a sculptor right up until my sight started to fail back in 1990. I decided instead, however, to see if it is possible to create works that combine drawings or paintings with sound ….with the sound helping to convey the subject depicted in the two dimensional work.

I first mentioned this to Graham, the then sound engineer working at the Harbour Arts Centre, back in December 2014 when I was working there creating my large Glen Rosa drawing. He was very keen on the idea and lent me the use of one of his sound recorders. Since then, I’ve been taking the recorder out with me on our walks into the hills and have just been experimenting with it.

abstract landscape painting

Beinn Dubh drawing (Section 2)

This new work is progressing slowly and I have in the last few months been starting to work on my first drawing / sound project. I want to create a large multi section drawing based on Beinn Dubh in the Luss Hills. This wee hill offers great views and a range of different terrain. Although generally grass covered, the shortish climb from the village of Luss to the cairn marking the top at around 650m, takes you over or past a variety of ground. In places lower down, the path is stony and eroded and picks its way under broad leaf trees and then out onto open bracken covered hillside. Higher up, a level section is in places extremely boggy and waterlogged with tussocks of grass and reeds. To one side are conifer plantations and higher up small rocky outcrops. This not only offers rich visual material but also rich audio material too. Nita and I are heading back to Beinn Dubh again tomorrow to collect more recordings but I’m still not too sure exactly how I’ll use them with the drawings yet.

abstract landscape painting

Beinn Dubh drawing (Section 1)

Right then, with this work starting to develop, another angle has just opened up…..and a very exciting one too. You’ll remember that over the last three years I’ve been working with Seattle based independent film maker Daniel Thornton to create a documentary about my work. This project is still on going and as such I’m in regular contact with Dan and have been keeping him updated with the new developments. Well then, a few months ago he put me in contact with a small research team working at Microsoft in Seattle. They are currently working on a project to create a system that will help blind and visually impaired people better interpret 2 dimensional images ….paintings, drawings etc, using different levels and types of audio interpretation. They were keen to work alongside an artist and when Dan explained that I was an artist who was starting to work with sound and drawing, and that I was visually impaired too, they got in contact.

In short it has been agreed that we will collaborate on the project and all is arranged for Nita and I to fly out to Seattle in a few weeks time. We will be visiting the team along with Dan, for a day when we first get there, to see the system they are working on. Then, Dan, Cindy, Nita and I will be driving down to Joseph in Oregon where a short residency has been arranged. The point of this is for me to explore the surrounding landscape and to gather as much information, both visual and audio so that on my return to Scotland I can create a new large (8ft wide x 4ft high) pastel drawing. Before heading back home however, we’ll be visiting the team at Microsoft once again to look at the material we’ve collected and discuss how we use it to interpret the new large drawing I’ll be creating. Wow!

Back in Scotland, I’ll then have until the end of August to create the new drawing and as it develops, we’ll all be working together to create the audio interpretation to go with it. At the end, the work will go back to Seattle and I’ll be heading back there too to help present it as part of a much larger art and science project taking place in Seattle in October. I’ll be giving more information as the project develops and I should be able to post regular updates while we’re away in May.

Finally, I’ve been doing quite a lot of work on the sound for my new Beinn Dubh piece and so with a bit of luck we’ll be able to get something for you to hear soon……..listen to this space!!!

Posted in Documentary, Harbour Arts Centre, Information Updates, Sound Art, Sound Recording, Visual Disability Tags: , , , No Comments »

A sound plan – my new Loch Lomond National Park drawing project …… and more?

Posted by admin on February 5th, 2016

Yesterday we were out walking in the Luss Hills again. These fabulous steep sided, mainly grassy little hills are situated on the edge of the Loch Lomond National Park and give fabulous views in all directions. As you know, we are particularly keen on walking the two hills of Beinn Dubh and Mid Hill that sit behind the village of Luss and over the 15 years since our friend Guy first introduced us to the hills, (on a cold, damp, misty day) we must have been back at least a couple of times each year. In the summer they make for a very pleasant short day …perfect for ambling along and sitting just looking and enjoying the scenery. In winter they are a perfect place for the short daylight hours …especially if like me, you can’t see too much and move very slowly.

Beinn Dubh

Beinn Dubh and Glen Luss, Loch Lomond National Park

So then, we were back there yesterday in what was, for this last few months, a rare day of calm and bright conditions. This time though, we didn’t just go for the walk and the scenery; this time it was for me, a working walk.

Glen Luss

Overlooking Glen Luss from Beinn Dubh

Since completing the big Glen Rosa drawing project at the end of 2014, I’ve been keen to do another large drawing project and as you may know, I’ve been starting to work on using sound with my paintings and drawings. I was very kindly lent a sound recorder by a local theatre sound engineer and told to go out and just see what happened. For most of last year I was taking the recorder with me on our walks into the hills and just seeing what kind of sounds I captured. I didn’t really have much idea of what I wanted or what I was doing ….just that I wanted to capture sounds that conveyed something of the place we were in. I have to admit that I made many really poor recordings during last year but that said, I have started to have a better idea of what I’m after now and have several quite interesting recordings.

Beinn Dubh summit

From near the summit of Beinn Dubh

I decided a few months ago that it was important for me to fix some kind of actual project so that I wasn’t just going out making random recordings. I wanted to do a piece of work that was based on somewhere I knew really well and that we could reach fairly quickly without too long a drive …. and somewhere that we could go throughout the year and in all sorts of conditions. Beinn Dubh and Mid Hill seemed to fit the bill and so this new large drawing / sound project is to be based on these hills.

Loch Lomond

Over looking Loch Lomond

With the Glen Rosa piece I wanted it to be one large drawing and this meant ‘borrowing’ the local Harbour Arts Centre gallery wall to do it. That drawing was done in graphite and as it turned out only took 17 days to complete. But of course, I can’t keep on borrowing the HAC gallery wall every time I want to do a big drawing and so I’ve decided that this new project (to be completed in pastel rather than graphite) will be done in sections or panels, each one being based on view points on Beinn Dubh and each one based on the scene viewed under different light and conditions.

I started the first section back before Christmas and am about to start the second piece shortly. I think that the completed work will be made up of around 7 sections. I am now in process of trying to gather sound recordings and to work out exactly how I might use them when the finished work is finally exhibited. At the moment I’m working along the lines of having a different recording for each section of the drawing and these to be played as a loop during the course of the exhibition. But, as you know, most of my work evolves and so these early plans may well change. I haven’t yet got a way to share these early recording with you but am planning to seek advice soon.

art project

Section 1 of new drawing

Finally, as you know, I’ve been working with US landscape photographer and film maker, Daniel Thornton over the last couple of years. He is making an hour long documentary about my work and this project is still in progress. A few months ago he put me in touch with some colleagues of his who work for a very big software company and who are working on new technology to help blind and visually impaired people appreciate two dimensional images ….. paintings, drawings, photographs etc. They are keen to work with an artist and when Dan told them about my own work they were interested in discussing some kind of collaboration. The discussions are at an early stage but I think we all feel that there is huge potential. It would be great to have the opportunity to create another large sound / drawing work based on a landscape in the US and combines it, not just with a background sound but also with different levels of audio that would help other visually impaired people enjoy the work. Perhaps the new Loch Lomond NP / Beinn Dubh work could be exhibited alongside a new American work? A long way to go in more ways than one, but it is really interesting and it may allow me to continue working as a professional artist even if my sight deteriorates further in the future. I’ll keep you updated with developments.

Posted in Documentary, Inspiring Mountain Walks, Mountain Photos, Sound Art, Sound Recording, Visual Disability Tags: , , , , , No Comments »
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    E-mail: keith@keithsalmon.org