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Speyer | Scottish Landscape Art - Scottish Landscape Paintings - Part 2

Archive for the ‘Speyer’ Category

Away!

Posted by admin on October 14th, 2011
'Approaching snow shower, above Braemar'

Work in Speyer exhibition: 'Approaching snow shower, above Braemar'

Wow, after many weeks of painting, wrapping and organising …that’s everything away.  The 13 large boxes containing the 19 paintings for the Speyer exhibition were collected last Friday afternoon and I had an anxious wait until receiving an email saying that they’d arrived safely on Tuesday, phew!   Mike Lauter of the Künstlerbund (the man driving the tandem last August) emailed to say that they were planning to open the boxes and get everything hung on the walls either Thursday or Friday evening this week. So with a bit of luck it’s all in place …or nearly so.  I’m quite looking forward to seeing it all up ….the two galleries at the Künstlerhaus are great for showing work.  The exhibition comprises 8 paintings 80 x 80 cm, 2 paintings 30 x 60 cm, 4 paintings 76 x 23 cm and 5 paintings 30 x 30 cm.  The exhibition preview is at 7pm on Friday 21st October and the Künstlerhaus is open Saturday 22nd, Sunday 23rd, and Saturday 29th and Sunday 30th October.  For more details: www.kuenstlerbund-speyer.de .

Once the work was away to Speyer it was a mad rush to get the other pieces wrapped and ready for delivery to The Strathearn Gallery in Crieff and Queens Gallery in Dundee.  I got up at about half past six in the morning to find the rain pouring down  …not a great day to be loading and unloading paintings ….but the forecast did reckon it’d improve as the morning went on.  We picked the van up at about half past eight, spent a good few minutes trying to discover quite how the fuel cap opened …but eventually filled up and had the 23 paintings packed into the Transit van by about half past ten …luckily the rain had stopped by the time we started loading.

Work in Speyer exhibition. 'Towards Blackmount, winter'

Work in Speyer exhibition: 'Towards Blackmount, winter'

First stop, The Strathearn Gallery.  We were delivering six paintings here..these are going down to London for the Battersea Affordable Art Fair.  This runs from Thursday 20th – Sunday 23rd.  Open Thursday11am – 5.30 pm, Friday, Saturday & Sunday11 am – 6pm.  The Strathearn Gallery will be showing their work at Stand 114.  If you live in London then why not go along.  As well as my own six paintings, you’ll see a great selection of work by other Scottish and Scotland based artists at The Strathearn Gallery stand 114.

Work in Speyer exhibition: 'Towards Beinn Toaig, winter'

Work in Speyer exhibition: 'Towards Beinn Toaig, winter'

After a quick bite to eat, it was on to Dundee to deliver the 17 paintings for my exhibition at the Queens Gallery.  It’s always a little worrying when arriving at galleries with a van …where to park while unloading?  This time we were remarkably lucky …we found a spare space right opposite the gallery and so it was an easy job moving the paintings.  This exhibition opens on Saturday 22nd October and runs until November 5th.  At the same time there will also be an exhibition of work by other gallery artists.  For more details:  http://www.queensgallery.co.uk/exhibitions.html .  A late change of date for this exhibition means that I’ll be away in Germany and will therefore be unable to attend the preview.  If you’re living within driving distance of the gallery then do go along and see the show, it contains a good number of new paintings including three of the new 80 x 80 cm pieces.  I’ll be posting images of some of these paintings in next week’s blog.

So then, everything is away …..…and I’ll be away too, as from Wednesday.  With any luck I should be getting ready for the preview of the Speyer exhibition in exactly one weeks time.  It’s a long way to travel so I’m not expecting too many of you to get over to see it …but with work in both London and Dundee over the next few weeks, hopefully a few of you will get to see some of my new paintings.

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100 not out …but no telegram from the Queen!

Posted by admin on October 7th, 2011
A little bit of Europe at the summit of Beinn Dubh

A little bit of Europe at the summit of Beinn Dubh

Well, according to my records …this is my 100th blog ….give or take one or two that is.  I’ve quite enjoyed writing these blogs, admittedly, some more than others.  Some weeks it’s easy …..there has been something definite to write about …a walk, an exhibition or something to have a moan about …like the council dismantling the crane on the harbour side.  Occasionally though, nothing obvious has taken place during the preceding week and then it’s more difficult.  On these occasions any resemblance of writing disappears and as you’ve no doubt noticed …all you get is a bit of a ramble.

Now then, by pure chance, ‘a bit of a ramble’ is just what we had on Tuesday!

But before I go on to tell of this I need to set the scene …and go back to an evening in September 2008.

Loch Lomond from Beinn Dubh

Loch Lomond from Beinn Dubh

I had been working in my studio and to my surprise at about seven o’clock in the evening, there was a knock on the door and four people came in to have a look at the work.  Stewart, a Scotsman now living and working in Germany, was visiting family in Irvine along with his wife Evelyn and two friends from the same region in Germany.  They had just been into The Ship Inn (where Stewart and Evelyn first met …I wont say how many years before) ….and on coming out onto the street they’d noticed the Courtyard Studios sign and decided to take a look.  The main reason for coming in was that their friend Markus is a sculptor and was interested in seeing what was being done in Irvine. At the time I had been working on a large 200 x 100 cm painting and Markus was really interested in this.  After quite a time he told me abut the artists group he was a member of over in Speyer…and went on to say about the annual scholarship offered each year to an artist from around the world.  He asked me if it was something I might consider applying for …and very casually I said yes.  Well, I didn’t really expect anything to come of this, but Markus good to his word, went back to Germany at the end of his holiday and passed details of my work and website onto the members of the committee of the Kuenstlerbund Speyer eV.

In January 2009 I received a phone call from them formerly asking me to apply for the 2010 scholarship.  The rest, as they say, is history.  For anyone reading these blogs, you’ll no doubt have followed the preparations for my trip to Speyer last summer …and the weekly reports from said city.  And of course, it didn’t stop on my return to Scotland in September last year for as you know, I’m just about to go back to Speyer with an exhibition of my latest Scottish landscape paintings.

Take-off point for Paisley!

Take-off point for Paisley!

So then, it was rather nice timing to learn a few weeks ago that Stewart, Evelyn and Markus were to be visiting Irvine again in early October.  They all turned up at the Open Weekend last Sunday and it was great seeing them all again.  Needless to say we ended up going for a pint of Guinness in The Ship later and arranged to meet up again on Tuesday morning in Luss on the side of Loch Lomond.  Markus had particularly wanted to see the loch, and what better way to see it than from one of the many hills rising around it.  It was a perfect excuse to go and walk my favourite little circuit in the Luss hills.  The only problem though was the weather.  There had already been much rain and severe gales and it seemed to be getting worse through the week..and getting colder too.  There was even forecasts of snow on the higher hills come Thursday.  So, Tuesday seemed the best of a bad bunch …showers and very strong winds forecast (gust to 75 mph) …but relatively high cloud …certainly above the Luss Hills if not the Munros.

We had a great little walk and Markus certainly experienced the Scottish hills in ‘real’ Scottish weather ….bursts of bright sunshine, heavy dark clouds sweeping across the skies and temporarily shrouding everything in sheets of rain …and all blown along by an increasingly wild wind.  Once above 500 m it was quite a battle just to make progress at times.  The gusts were so strong that we were almost blown off our feet and it was very slow progress over the last few hundred metres to the small cairn marking the summit of Beinn Dubh at a little over 600m  Wow….wild or what, but we made it.  Our plan had been to walk the usual horse shoe circuit around and over Mid Hill before descending to the single track road in Glen Luss, but it would have taken us a long time battling against these severe gales …so we decided to go back the same way with the wind behind us.  How we all didn’t end up being blown all the way to Paisley I really don’t know.

As I say to my colleagues sometimes …if you invite people into your studio, you never quite know what will come of it.  Little did I think back in September 2008 that three years later I’d have completed a four month long scholarship in Germany, held an exhibition of my Scottish paintings there …and been for a crazy walk in the Scottish hills with a Scottish / German translator, a German sculptor and a German teacher (retired!) …it could almost be the opening line for a joke!

Anyway, thanks again to Stewart, Evelyn and Markus for visiting my studio back in 2008 …it’s been a great adventure since then. I hope they enjoy the exhibition in Speyer in a couple of weeks time when we all meet up again at the preview on Friday 21st October.

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Behind the paint

Posted by admin on September 24th, 2011
'From the studio, Irvine harbour side'

'From the studio, Irvine harbour side'

The last week has been a fairly typical week recently ….lots of painting.  But behind every finished and exhibited painting there’s a safe full of other tasks.

I’m now on the final run up to the Wasps Studios Open Weekend, my exhibitions in Speyer and Dundee and ….the Battersea Affordable Arts Fair.  I have I think now completed the minimum amount of work needed for these shows but am still trying to complete another two 80 x 80 cm paintings and another one 76 x 23 cm piece.  Whether I will get these three pieces completed is debatable as from now on the back room tasks start to take precedence.   Thankfully many of these have already been taken on by my partner Anita (who reckons the pay rate for artists assistant is ****!).   While I’ve been wielding the paint brushes she has spent many hours doing this less romantic side of the job for me.

I’ll not only be shipping work out to Germany for my exhibition but am also finally in the process of setting up Papal on this website so that it will make it easier for customers to purchase paintings.  Before I can do this though I’ve needed to think carefully about how I ship work ….in other words I’ve needed to find out about and order boxes.  This doesn’t seem a great deal of effort but with there being a number of different sized paintings with several different framing options, it’s been vitally important that we’ve found the very best box ‘solutions’.  Part of the problem is storage space….or the lack of it!  As anyone who has visited my studio will know …there aint a lot of space there ….and as I said last week …the house is rather chock a’ block too.  The boxes I’m getting have a minimum order of 25 …so they’ll take up quite a lot of space…. hence the need to work out the very minimum number of different size boxes.  It’s all taken a lot of time especially as we’ve needed to get samples sent out and each of the different boxes tested out …but we’re getting there and Nita has just  placed the first order for me.

Other back room jobs this week have included sending out around 50 invitations to the Open Studios Weekend, delivering the last five paintings to the Waverley Gallery in Prestwick for framing …and collecting the one large painting (122 cm x 61cm).  I also spent an entire morning putting together a press release for our local paper the Irvine Times…..this to try and get some coverage for the Open Studios event next weekend.  The local papers have always been very helpful in the past and I received an email from the Irvine Times saying they’d put something in next week’s edition …perfect..it makes the time I spent on the press release worth while.  Hopefully it’ll bring a few extra folk through the doors and perhaps a sale or two for some of the artists taking part.

I’m leaving the actual organisation of the studio right to the last minute …well I’ll start tidying and cleaning on Thursday morning after we’ve been down to pick up the work from the Waverley  in Prestwick.   The tidying is the biggest job but I should have that done and the couple of walls painted by the time I go home on Thursday evening …quite late in the evening I reckon especially as I’ll also have to transport  one of the work benches, all paints and a good number of paintings home for the weekend.  Friday will be a day of setting up …selecting and hanging the paintings, printing and fixing labels, putting out a selection of business cards and other postcards, fixing clear signs directing folk to my studios and arranging lighting.  There’s probably a load of other jobs that I’ve forgotten now but will no doubt come to me on the day …and cause PANIC!

On top of this there’s a statement I need to write and send for my Queens Gallery exhibition, a van to be hired for delivering the work there and to the Strathearn Gallery on the 10th, and after the Open Weekend on 1st and 2nd, we have to wrap and box all 19 or 20 paintings ready for shipping to Germany.  These all have to be very carefully measured and weighed before I contact the shipping company.  Oh well, it keeps me busy …and Nita too.  It’s amazing isn’t it …you think you’re just doing a nice bit of relaxing painting……!   I love it, though it might not be so good when Nita sends her bill in!.

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Paint, paint, walk!

Posted by admin on July 25th, 2011
Cruachan reservoir

Cruachan reservoir

Yes, I know, this blog is late!  No real excuses except I’m busy getting all the work together for the various exhibitions coming up this autumn ..and it’s already the end of the third week in July.  And of course, new paintings demand new information, new inspiration … in the way of me getting up and out into the hills.  So then, this week has once again been made up of painting with a day walk added for good measure.

The new paintings are coming on well I think and I now have 9 of the larger 80 x 80 cm pieces completed (or almost) ….but I’ve sold one of these at my Blairmore exhibition …so in practice I have eight.  I currently have two more pieces on the go and plans for another two following a very informative and beautiful walk on Saturday.  This would give me the ten large pieces for Speyer in October with a couple of others for the exhibition in Dundee in mid September.  But I would still like to get a couple more finished at this size too.  That I think means six more large pieces to complete before the end of September …and no doubt a few smaller pieces too.  It certainly means putting in the hours at the studio and so days like today where I’ll be bashing away at this computer are going to have to be cut back a little …. I’m afraid my next few blogs may be somewhat shorter and more thrown together than normal!!!

In the studio - Sunday

In the studio - Sunday

In the midst of all this rushing around I also have the Wasps Open Studios Weekend to prepare for ….this is being held on Saturday / Sunday 1st & 2nd October.  I’m not sure quite how many of the Courtyard Studios artists are taking part this year …but I think that the usual crowd of us will be there again this year …so as always, it’ll be a good and varied selection of work on display.  If you’re a local to Ayrshire then make a note in your diary.  If you want to be added to my mailing list for this and other events just drop me an email to; keith@keithsalmon.org or click on the red link at the bottom of the page to subscribe.

Loch Awe from the hydro road

Loch Awe from the hydro road

As I said though, the week ended with another fine walk.  Once again we were tracking the weather via the Mountain Weather Information Service and matching it with available days …not many this week with my partner Anita working more but shorter shifts for the next few weeks.  Saturday though looked good for both of us and indeed the weather was superb over in the west of Scotland and so a trip to the Ben Cruachan group of hills seemed like the place to go.  Over the last few years we’ve walked most of these large and rugged mountains but there is one hill we’ve never visited …Beinn a’ Bhuidh.  This slightly more modest hill rising to just below 900 m sits above the Cruachan Reservoir and just to the SE of Ben Cruachan.  It’s location as a view point both for the fine mountain scenery and the large expansive views west along Loch Awe and right out to the sea and the mountains over on the Isle of Mull …well, I doubt it can be beaten.

Towards Ben Cruachan

Towards Ben Cruachan

We decided to go for the short steep option ..but one that gave us the maximum view.   Parking at the side of the main road a kilometre to the west of Lochawe village we followed the hydro road up to the Cruachan reservoir dam.  It gains quite a bit of height and is a bit of a slog but the views out over Loch Awe and the Pass of Brander are superb and it makes a good and pleasant start to the walk.  From the dam though …well, it’s straight up with the deep blue of the reservoir looking stunning with the rocky Cruachan peaks all around.  Beinn a’ Bhuidh is quite rocky too and the higher sections are made up of numerous small broken crags and jumbles of boulders which need avoiding or clambering over.  The steepness doesn’t really let up until almost at the top but with all the rocky outcrops and the huge and ever expanding views as you gain height, it makes for an enjoyable haul.  We returned virtually the same way but the weather was so good that on both the ascent and descent, we spent much time just sitting and looking …and at one point …dozing.  It was so peaceful and so beautiful.  Interestingly, the rock formations of the main Cruachan hills were quite amazing.  As the afternoon progressed the shadows started picking out the various layers of the rock.  These seemed to change direction in different places and reminded me very much of some of the marks I make in my paintings.  As I sat looking at this wonder of nature I was already planning my next couple of paintings.

West from Beinn a' Bhuidh

West from Beinn a' Bhuidh

We got back to the car about 7pm and had a stunningly beautiful drive back through the southern highlands under a cloud free sky with the hills almost glowing in the low evening sun.

Sunday was to have been a trip up to Stirling to attend the preview of an exhibition by Lorraine Nicholson, but with everything building up, my blog and work of the week still not written and paintings urgently needing finishing …well, I just had to get back down to the studio.   It was worth it though as I did manage to finish one piece and had a couple of folk in to see the work.  No sales but they were enthusiastic and went away with some of my post cards …so who knows where those may end up.  It’s a good way to promote the paintings and of course each card has my website address included on the reverse.  Right then…back to the painting!

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Big is not always best-but it may be the right way to go

Posted by admin on April 29th, 2011

'Approaching snow shower, above Braemar'

'Approaching snow shower, above Braemar'

Many years ago, many many years ago as it now seems…when I was in my teens and still working towards my ‘O’ level art at Welshpool High School,  I was told by my art teacher (a Mr Roberts) that when painting it was vitally important to consider every inch of the paper or canvas with equal importance.  This bit of advice has always stuck with me and now that I’m working more regularly on larger pieces, it is something that I am constantly reminding myself of.  It may seem obvious but with constraints of time and cost of materials it can be easy to forget.

The reason for thinking along these lines is that I’ve been considering my own work recently, especially the size of the work I do.  Many of my paintings have been quite small and this has I have to admit, been part due to the need to sell.  That’s certainly not the only reason but it is often one of the deciding factors.  Quite simply, it’s easier to sell smaller works if for no other reason than that most people don’t have the room or the finances for large work.

'The saltings, Irvine harbour side'

'The saltings, Irvine harbour side'

Painting on a small scale is though I think, just as challenging for the painter as working on a large or even grand scale.  It certainly concentrates the mind and focuses ones attention on the composition but I am starting to feel a little trapped when working on this scale now.  I’ve always done the odd larger piece but never really spent a period of time creating larger paintings…..until last year that is.  When I went to Speyer I realised that this would be a chance to do exactly this.  During my stay at the Kunstlerhaus in Speyer I completed 17 pieces of work, all but 2 of them being 80 x 80 cm or larger.  This was very enjoyable at the time and I really didn’t have too many thoughts about selling these larger works…..this was a scholarship and all my accommodation and living expenses were being paid.  At the end of the scholarship though, much of the work sold …even the large 400 x 150 cm drawing.

'The artist with 'Late December afternoon, above Wanlockhead'

'The artist with 'Late December afternoon, above Wanlockhead'

I’ve now been self employed as an artist for just on two years and over that time I’ve developed my work and my art practice quite well.  I’ve increased my sales over this period but have started to come to the realisation that it may be difficult to earn a living through the smaller work.  With my sight as it is, there is a limit to the number of pieces I can do in any one year …I really work quite slowly, and as such, there is a limit to the amount I can reasonably expect to earn.  I have then been starting to think that it would make a lot more sense both financially as well as artistically, to concentrate on larger pieces.  My main aim as an artist has always been to try to do good work …not just to sell and I certainly think that working on a larger scale is where my best work lies.

I am certainly not going to abandon the small pieces entirely …I enjoy doing them and they quite often themselves lead to larger paintings.  I am though, going to put a much greater emphasis on the bigger paintings and as I have the opportunity in October of returning to the Kunstlerhaus in Speyer with an exhibition of my Scottish landscapes I’m doing large pieces for this.

So then, it’ll be interesting to see quite how this gradual change in emphasis works out.  I’ll have to target slightly different outlets and probably look to generate commissions but I’m sure it’ll do me good artistically and in the longer run, financially too. Winning the Jolomo Award in 2009 will allow me to take this ‘gamble’ secure in the knowledge that I can afford to lose some sales of smaller works in order to generate better and potentially more cost effective larger paintings.  I must of course remember the words of Mr Roberts and think about every square inch of the painting surface with equal consideration.  So often when I look around galleries I notice that as the paintings get bigger, the paint quality diminishes and the colours become thin and flat.  I must not fall into this trap.

 

Work in progress

"Work in progress"

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What’s the weather like in April?

Posted by admin on April 15th, 2011

 

Across to Stob Binean, April 08

Across to Stob Binean, April 08

A few months ago I had a phone call from a friend in Speyer.   She said that the choir she sang with was visiting the UK to do a concert in Spaulding in April.  She asked if she could visit us for a few days after the concert.  I said that that would be fine, but then she asked the dreaded question ….  ‘What’s the weather like in April in Scotland? Will it be nice?’

Wow ….how do you answer that with any degree of honesty?  At the time I blustered something about, it often being beautiful in April in Scotland and that it could be quite good.  After replacing the receiver I realised that I hadn’t mentioned that it could be  ****** cold at this time of year too and that we’d had several very exciting days walking the hills in the snow in April.  Indeed, on an April day a few years ago, we had very snowy conditions on the east ridge of Ben More.  April can be a wonderful month but it really is a delicate balance between winter and summer,  especially in the Scottish mountains.  Perhaps I should have added the proviso that she brings a couple of warm jumpers just in case!

 

On Ben More, April 08

On Ben More, April 08

As far as I know, Andrea is not a hill walker, so I doubt we’ll have such problems next week when she arrives.  In fact, I’ve just checked out the Mountain Weather Information Service website to see what the forecast is looking like for the week ahead …and well, it’s looking pretty good.  For anyone who hasn’t found this amazing weather service then I would thoroughly recommend it.  They provide a free and very accurate forecast for the mountains.  The forecasts are divided into different regions of Scotland and are updated every day.  There is a main forecast for the day and then forecasts for the two following days.  At the end they have a ‘planning ahead’ report that outlines a very general prediction for the coming week.  We’ve been using the MWIS forecasts for the last almost ten years and although as with any forecast they aren’t always exact …they are, on the whole, very accurate and you can plan your day out with  confidence.

We had as I think I mentioned the other week, been hoping to head up to Ben Nevis on day soon …not to climb it all the way but instead to walk up a path the gives excellent views of its dramatic northern face.  Our friend Guy has done this several times and said he’d like to take us there on a good day.  He reckons it will be an excellent place for me to do some sketching and take some photos and from what I heard, he’s right.

 

Guy and I on Ben More, April 08

Guy and I on Ben More, April 08

As usual it’s been difficult fixing dates that all three of us can make and in the end it came down to just two available days this month …today and tomorrow.  Of course though, it’s a very long way to drive for just a day trip …three and a half hours each way and so it’s only worth doing if the weather is fine and we get the views.  Then on Monday came the news from Guy that he’d hurt his leg while out walking on the hills above Largs.  A very experienced hill walker, having tackled many of the classic routes in Scotland, he had simply slipped on some wet grass just short of the main path back into town.  He hobbled back to the station  and got home but later found he had in fact fractured a bone in his leg.   He is currently sat with his lower leg in plaster …so if you’re reading this Guy,……get well soon.   As I’m typing this now I’m obviously not on Ben Nevis ….it’s grey and quite wet outside and the forecast for further north was not good enough to warrant the long drive north.  We’re keeping an eye on the MWIS forecast and may head out on Sunday instead as it looks like it might be beautiful.  Andrea arrives in Scotland on Monday so I’m hoping for glorious weather …we’re planning to take her over to the Isle of Arran one day and if the sun is out it’ll look stunning.  Let’s hope she sees Scotland at its very best.

 

On Ben More, April 2008

On Ben More, April 2008

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Backward and forward

Posted by admin on December 31st, 2010

Mike,me and the tandem - fun days in Speyer

Mike,me and the tandem - fun days in Speyer

I’m sat here, typing this on New Years’ Eve and looking back, it has been a pretty good year. I have certainly got a lot of work done and sales of paintings, if rather slow, have been quite steady, despite all the economic woes.

I’ve had work displayed in a good number of group exhibitions this year, but I guess the biggest thing to happen, of course, was my four month long visit to Speyer. This time last year, I still didn’t know whether my application had been successful. Apparently, a young New York artist and I were both being considered for the scholarship……but at a final meeting of the Kunstlerbund, towards the end of January, I got the vote. It seems likely that my age (at 51 I’m knocking on a bit) gave me the edge! The young chap from New York is doing some great work by all accounts and will hopefully be successful either this year or in the future.

As anyone who followed my blogs through the summer will know, I had a thoroughly enjoyable time, met some wonderful people and superb artists. It certainly gave me a great opportunity to paint completely different subject matter and the response to it by the people of Speyer was hugely encouraging.

Art aside, one of the most memorable days in Speyer took place in the final week, when Michael Lauter (one of the Kunstlerbund artists) turned up with a tandem. He had also brought along an electrical bicycle for Anita. The ensuing few hours cycling along the Rhine were wonderful. I hadn’t been on a bicycle for over twenty years and it really was so funny being on a tandem…..I split my trousers on the saddle, we ended up cycling in circles, opposite a nuclear power station and cycled rather precariously through a flooded section of the path….with Michael shouting, ‘’Power, power!’’ I obviously wasn’t peddling hard enough.

Late evening, Achmelvich, Assynt

Late evening, Achmelvich, Assynt

Despite being away all summer, we have still managed to fit in a reasonable number of days on the hills this year. We’re still not very fit though and although I’m not really a New Years’ Resolution kind of person, we have decided we need to make special efforts to get fit now that January has all but arrived.

Ben More Assynt from Conival

Ben More Assynt from Conival

As I may have already said in past blogs, we are heading back to Achmelvich for two weeks in May. Maysie and Durrant Macleod, owners of Hillhead Caravans sent us through the booking form just last week and we have become all excited…the long, light days of May really don’t seem too far away. We’ve already been talking about having a third attempt at reaching Ben More Assynt. But for me, it’ll require a very long day of fine weather to do this…hence the need to get fit! I have also realised (not that I’m a bagger of hills of course) that I am only seven Corbetts short of fifty and so this should give me something to aim for in 2011.

Right, well, there’s lots to be done this year, not least getting the final few pieces finished for my exhibition at The Strathearn Gallery in February. So, it will be a few beers tonight but then back to the studio tomorrow afternoon. Best wishes for 2011.

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Well then, that just about wraps it up…

Posted by admin on September 3rd, 2010

at-the-kunstlerhaus

At the Kunstlerhaus

I’m awake and up early this morning and after two or three days of heavy rain it looks like I might have one last sunny day here in Speyer before I fly back to Scotland. It’s quite amazing really to think my stay in Germany is almost over. I guess it’s a time of mixed emotions …. I’ve had a great time, met some amazing people, great artists and thoroughly enjoyed living in this beautiful and friendly little city …..but ….on the other hand I think I’m about ready now to get back to Irvine, albeit with its litter strewn streets. I’ve missed my walk along the harbour side to my studio each day, hearing the sound of the yachts clinking at their moorings, the raucous cries of the gulls and the beautiful song of the skylarks on the other side of the river….and perhaps it’s that very special Scottish thing …the quality of light, that I’ve missed the most. I always say to people who visit my studio in Irvine, that I just love the harbour side because it doesn’t matter what the weather is doing, whether it’s pouring with rain or bright sunshine, summer or winter …the light is always wonderful. It’s a very special place.

But before getting back to it there are a few final things to be done and said here. I am currently sat amidst the remnants of my exhibition. The show ended on Sunday evening and although it’d only been open for three days, I’m pleased to report that it was a real success. There was a real ‘buzz’ about the preview last Thursday and this followed through over the next few days, resulting in over half the available pieces being sold. Interestingly, the four ‘Scottish’ scenes I painted here (that were not for sale as they are for the forthcoming Jolomo Finalists exhibition in London next month) generated a lot of interest ….indeed I could have sold a couple of them several times over! So then, a good boost to my bank balance and my studio rent is secure for another year …great stuff.

You know the big drawing I’ve been going on about for the last month or so? Well, that is probably the most interesting tale from the whole exhibition. I did this drawing …well, just because I could. What I mean is, because I had a five metre long wall to work on. At home I can just about fit a 2 metre wide painting board on the wall so this was an opportunity not to miss. When we came to hang the exhibition it seemed right to include the drawing …it did, even though I say it myself, look good, but I never really thought, (it being 4 metres long and a metre and a half high) that anyone would want to buy it. As it turned out, I actually had four people interested, including the new Lord Mayor. In the end, a local businessman bought the piece for his popular city centre restaurant. He invited Anita and me down to the restaurant to see the wall where he was planning to hang the drawing …and it’s a great space in a great location. He already has two big pieces of artwork hanging in the restaurant and so my drawing will fit in well I think. There was of course the question of just how exactly the drawing would be hung, but after a visit from a local carpenter and much discussion, a solution has been arrived at. People here who’ve seen the drawing seem to be genuinely pleased that it will stay in Speyer …and in a place where they can get to see it …the restaurant where it is to hang has a reputation for high quality food and wine …so a good excuse to go and see the picture! Of course this now gives me a good excuse to visit Speyer again …as if I needed one!

Despite my worries about how I’d cope with little sight and not speaking the language, it’s been a wonderful time. Everyone has been so friendly and helpful and I’ll leave on Thursday with some great memories and some real friends. The arts are so well supported here, both by the city and its inhabitants …but then again, why not, the city has many fine artists living and working here. The Kunstlerbund is a group the city can be proud of and I’ve been delighted to have been their guest this summer. I am the 23rd guest artist to live and work in the Kunstlerhaus and I’m sure whoever the 24th lucky artist is, he or she will have an equally enjoyable and inspiring time as I.

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Exhibition on

Posted by admin on August 27th, 2010
speyer-preview

Speyer Exhibition Preview

I think last week I said I was trying to finish a large painting before we hung the exhibition on Monday. Well …it was finished but not until well into Sunday! After that I had to remove all the painting gear that I’d accumulated over the last four months so that we had two clear clean gallery spaces for the exhibition. This took quite some time and it was 10pm by the time I had everything done. The trouble was that I still had one 80 x 80 cm board that I’d primed with gesso a few weeks earlier and that I’d planned to do a new drawing on. So, even at the very last moment I thought I could get a final drawing completed and announced to my partner Anita that instead of going to bed I’d be working late! And I did …until around 03.00! The result however was not as hoped for and the piece I did was dreadful….but I enjoyed myself even if I did feel shattered the next morning when Markus, Mike and Andrea arrived first thing to hang the exhibition!

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Speyer Exhibition Preview

The work went up fairly quickly and by lunchtime we had it almost complete and looking good ….leaving just a few things still to do. The local press arrived in the evening for a preview and at the end, Michael Lauter announced that I was now on holiday.

We had the Preview last night at 8 o’clock, but it was a worrying few hours as all day the sky had got darker and the humidity higher. It had to end with a bang and the 1st thunder storm arrived at 5 o’clock…great stuff. As it turned out though, we were lucky and by 8 o’clock, it was dry again and around 60 people gathered in the courtyard as Holger (Chairman of Kunstlerbund) and the Mayor opened the exhibition and Markus gave a wonderful speech, recounting how I came to be working in Speyer. This being the Pfalz, there was plenty of local wine flowing and by the end of the evening I had sold 2 paintings and was having discussions with a local businessman re him buying my big, 4 metre long drawing for his restaurant in Speyer.

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"Markus' Speech"

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"Meeting the Mayor"

What a night, finally got to bed at 3:30, but not before we’d been treated to an amazing piece of unaccompanied, improvised singing from one of Speyer’s best loved singers and musicians, Klaus Fresenius…quite brilliant.

Click here to see my Speyer Art Exhibition Paintings

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Show time!

Posted by admin on August 21st, 2010

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Speyer Exhibition Poster

Well then, this is almost it ….time to show what I’ve been doing during my stay in Speyer. Needless to say, I’m still working on one painting …but it’s getting there and I’m hoping to have it finished by this evening. The preview is at the Kunstlerhaus on Thursday evening at 8pm and the original plan was to hang all the work on Tuesday evening. I’m one of those people who always works right up to a deadline. However, for local journalists to write a review of the show they need to see it by Monday evening. This is no problem but has meant a bit of last minute re-scheduling on both my part and the members of the Kunstlerbund.

So then, the plan now is to hang the show on Monday morning / afternoon. Four of the artists from the Kunstlerbund are coming to the Kunstlerhaus at 9 am on Monday and between us we’ll put the exhibition together. I have 12 paintings completed and the one large piece I’m still working on ….so with a bit of luck 13 pieces as well as the one large drawing and two other medium size line drawings.

This is very much a ‘work show’ rather than a full blown exhibition. Most of the paintings (done on 6mm mdf) will be presented unframed – just two pieces framed for the main wall. Anyway, even though I say it myself, I’m starting to think it’ll look quite good.

It’ll be good to get the work up on the walls and especially good to get them reviewed in the papers. After Monday I have a couple of days off …

On Thursday we hold the main preview evening attended by the cultural mayor of Speyer. She had visited at the start of my stay and so it’ll be interesting to see what she thinks of my paintings almost four months on. The members of the Kunstlerbund were busy on my behalf last week, addressing and sending 200 invitation cards. We have more of the cards still to give out, so hopefully it’ll be a good turn out. Anyway, for anyone who is reading this and can get to Speyer on Thursday evening please accept my invitation to the preview. The exhibition is open to the public on Friday, Saturday and Sunday 27th, 28th & 29th August, 11.00 – 13.00 & 15.00 – 18.00.

Now I’d better get back to that final painting!

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