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Adapting once again. A blog by an artist with a visual impairment ….not a “blind artist”

Autumn 2019

Well then, it’s been almost a year since I updated this home page and so my apologies for all those of you who have visited and found it rather out of date. 

Quite a lot has changed over the last year or so with my already very limited bit of sight getting worse.  In practical terms this has meant that everything is taking even longer and is more difficult to do.  For many years the bit of sight I had was stable and so over time I was able to adapt and get used to it and do things relatively efficiently. Unfortunately, my sight has been getting worse again. and I’m having to learn to re-adapt.   In practical terms this means that I’m getting less paintings done and I’m really struggling to promote my work and keep this website updated on a regular basis.

That said, I’m still working, still at my studio at the Courtyard in Irvine and still walking the hills on a regular basis ….in short I’m still as mad as I used to be but perhaps a little more so!

So then, I guess a quick update is required and first things first, I’m pleased to say that the large audio painting project that I’ve been working on for the last couple of years with sound engineers Graham Byron and Drew Kirkland, is now complete.  I finished the final two paintings about five or six weeks ago.  Earlier in the year we had decided to remix the 30 minutes long soundtrack so that it was in stereo rather than the original 5.1 surround sound. Now that we are in a position to start promoting the new work, this will make it easier for people to play and hear.   The finished piece, which we’ve titled The Kylesku Project, was displayed publicly for the first time a few days ago in my studio as part of the Courtyard Studios Open Weekend and I’m pleased to say that we had a great response to it.  My next main job is to start trying to find places to exhibit it, both locally in Ayrshire and further afield.  Watch this space.  Of course, if you are a curator and are interested in showing a large scale audio visual landscape work ….please don’t hesitate to contact me.

The Kylesku Project aside, I’ve continued to create my smaller paintings, although as I say, these are taking longer and so I’m getting less of them done.  Anyway, here are a few of the pieces I’ve completed this year:

'A winter walk, east of the Drumochter Pass', Acrylic & Pastel, 2019, 76 x 23cm
416 ‘A winter walk, east of the Drumochter Pass’, Acrylic & Pastel, 2019, 76 x 23cm
417 'Early evening, Loch Glendhu, Sutherland', Acrylic & Pastel, 2019, 30 x 30cm
417 ‘Early evening, Loch Glendhu, Sutherland’, Acrylic & Pastel, 2019, 30 x 30cm
A Highland scene, from Cul Mor, Assynt', Acrylic & Pastel, 2019, 30 x 30cm
406 ‘A Highland scene, from Cul Mor, Assynt’, Acrylic & Pastel, 2019, 30 x 30cm

I’ve continued to exhibit my landscapes and this year have had them on display at The Biscuit Factory in Newcastle upon Tyne, The Strathearn Gallery in Crieff, the Seagull Gallery in Gourock and The Room at the An Talla Solais Gallery in Ullapool.  Three of my paintings are also currently on display as part of the Courtyard Studios annual Group Exhibition at the Harbour Arts Centre here in Irvine.   Looking ahead, I’ve recently been asked to show five pieces in The Birch Tree Gallery on Dundas Street in Edinburgh as part of their winter exhibition.   

Of course my work is all about the Scottish landscape and I have to get out there in order to experience it and later, in my studio, create paintings.  The hill walking too, has been getting more and more difficult, but we’ve made a real effort to get out more again this year and to date, not including a good number of low level walks, we reached the summits of six Grahams, six Corbetts and two Munros …..so not too bad . Here is a photo to finish off this blog …..probably the highlight of my walking year so far ….I took it at the summit of Ben Mor Coigach back in May.  Fantastic!

From the summit of Ben Mor Coigach
From the summit of Ben Mor Coigach

The Oregon Project in Edinburgh !

“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

 

 

 

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

 

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.

A long overdue update!

It’s almost 3 weeks since my last blog so I thought I’d better get down to it and write some kind of piece updating everyone with what I’ve been doing during this time.  Unfortunately there aren’t vast amounts to write about as in short, all I’ve been doing is working!  In all honesty though, I did have one day off a little over a week ago and spent it pottering around the garden at home.

We’ve done no walking of any note sadly and I just know that when we do eventually get time to head out into the hills again, my legs will be COMPLAINING!

climbing a mountain

Mountain Climbing

The reason for this lull in blogs and walking is simply because I am completely tied up with working on this big drawing / audio project.  There is so much to do in what is a relatively short space of time.  I have to complete the three big Oregon drawings, (each almost 8’ x 4’) and we have to sort out all the recordings we made, make new recordings and then mix 54 individual one minute long sound tracks, (18 for each drawing)……. all by the end of September so that we have time to ship everything over to Seattle ready for the team over there to install it in the exhibition space.

Now that the 3 drawings are well underway, sound engineer Graham Byron, has been working alongside me to help create and mix the kind of audio tracks I want.  I have to say that this side of things has been a bit of a worry for me as I couldn’t really see how we could manipulate and use the recordings we’d made.  When we finally came to starting to mix the sounds however, suddenly I started to see the light!  It was amazing; it was like drawing with sound….. really exciting.  I’m suddenly now a lot more confident about the outcome of this project and what is even more important; I am a lot more confident about my future as a professional artist.  The whole reason for my starting to explore the use of sound with my work, is that I am concerned about the gradual deterioration of the little bit of sight I have.

Abstract Landscape Art

Abstract Landscape

On top of all this work I have also been preparing for my talk, ‘Recording the landscape’, at the Harbour Arts Centre theatre.  This took place yesterday evening and was a 2 hour event.  I’m glad to say that it went off really well and that we had a good turn out.  It took a lot of work preparing for it as I have to get everything I’m going to say, into my head…. I can’t see a script or anything written. ….. I just have to talk.  I divided the evening into two halves, the first being mainly about my early career and how I came to join my art with the hill walking I do.  I used photographs to illustrate this.  After the break however, I just had a selection of paintings and drawings on stage and spent the second half of the evening talking about and explaining how the work is created.  I finished off by speaking briefly about this new use of sound and where I hoped this project would lead in the future.

I’m glad to say it seemed to go down extremely well and it was certainly very enjoyable.  Another important reason however for organizing this event was so that I could record the talk in order to promote myself as a guest speaker.  I see this as a very good way to promote my work as an artist and after doing a number of talks for various organisations over the past few years, it seems like this could be a good addition to my art practice.  As such, the whole talk was filmed last night and once we get it edited, we’ll have something to show folk what they will get if they book me as guest speaker

Right then, there are no obvious photos to include with this blog so I think I’ll just pluck a couple of nice hill snaps from the album and put them up so there is something interesting to look at!

Learning to climb

Learning to climb in snow

-o-o-o-o-

Impression of Irvine Church

Irvine Church

-o-o-o-o-

An art and science collaboration in Seattle

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!!!

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

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.

Selection Time

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

 To be included in "Highland Walks "exhibition

To be included in “Highland Walks “exhibition

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

 To be included in "Highland Walks "exhibition

To be included in “Highland Walks “exhibition

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

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

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

To be included in “Highland Walks “exhibition

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

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

 To be included in "Highland Walks "exhibition

To be included in “Highland Walks “exhibition

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

A question of price

I have to say; that I haven’t really been looking forward to writing this blog, but it’s something that has to be done I’m afraid.  It is, as the title says, a question of price, or should I say, a question of increasing the price of my work.

'Towards the Mamores, a showery summers day'

‘Towards the Mamores, a showery summers day’

Ever since starting to work professionally back in 2009, I’ve tried to keep my prices at a level that matched my then newly emerged status as an artist ….in other words, a little on the low side .

Of course, what you can ask for and what you can get for a painting, may not match and so at the time, it seemed best to be realistic  ……people had to find my work, and, as it is rather different from so much Scottish landscape painting ……they not only had to like it, they also had to get used to it and gain confidence in it.   I have over these last almost 7 years, worked very hard to increase the quality of the paintings I create and I’ve also put almost as much effort into promoting both myself and my work,  in as professional a manner as possible.  This all takes a huge amount of time and time, as they say, is money.

As you know, I have a severe visual impairment and this doesn’t help when it comes to running an efficient small business.  Everything I do including the actual painting, takes much longer to do than if I was fully sighted.  As such I can not only produce less paintings but I have to spend much longer promoting them and so I tend to spend money paying others to do  this side of the work for me.  In short, my business expenses are quite high and my production levels are quite low.

I was however, fortunate enough back in 2009 to have my work win the prestigious £20,000 Jolomo Award for Scottish Landscape Painting.  I’ve used the award money very carefully to cover some of the increased costs I incur. It has also allowed me to continue developing my very distinctive style of work rather than be tempted to try and produce more “sellable”, more traditional Scottish paintings.  This has been great for me as an artist and it has been great for my work.

Now, 6 years on from the award and from my first steps into self employment, my work is being recognized and its quality and individuality  appreciated and sought after, both in Scotland, the rest of the UK, and to an increasing level, internationally too.    My prices however, do not reflect this and sadly despite all the hard work and time that I put into it, I am still not able to make a living or even a wage from it at present.  I either need to produce a lot more paintings ….which I can’t do, due to my very poor sight, or I have to increase my prices considerably.    This is good of course for those of you who have already purchased paintings, but not so good for those who haven’t!  I am therefore going to give six months notice of a general price increase so that people have an opportunity to purchase work at the 2014 level.  Any work commissioned in this period will also be at the current levels regardless of when the commission is completed.  So;

I will be increasing my prices by 40% as from 1st September 2015. I tend to work in standard sizes and so below you will find both the current and post 1st September 2015 prices:

Size                                       Current price                    Price from1st Sept 2015

 210 x 148mm                     £325                                      £455

30 x 30 cm                          £485                                      £679

76 x 23 cm                          £720                                      £1008

80 x 80 cm                          £1250                                   £1750

During the six months between now and 1st September, I will be holding exhibitions and showing work at the following locations.  My work can also be obtained at the same prices directly from my studio or website.

April 24, 25, 26th 2015     Glasgow Art Fair

May / June 2015              Wild Space, John Muir Trust, Pitlochry

August 2015                      “the gallery on the corner”, Edinburgh

I am also in negotiations to show work in two further locations in Ayrshire during this period.  Watch this space for more details.

Right then, that’s it.  I hope this hasn’t been too much of a shock and that you understand my reasons for this price increase.   I do however genuinely feel that the new post 1st September 2015 prices, still offer very good value in today’s art market.

I am also looking into introducing a larger range of prints in the future and will announce news on this front later this year.

After all is said and done, do remember that my studio is always open when I’m working and it doesn’t cost anything to come in and just look at the paintings and have a chat ….everyone is welcome.

“Listening to Arran”, or “Us humans are very noisy you know”

Approaching the Isle of Arran

Approaching the Isle of Arran

Yesterday Nita and I spent five hours over on the Isle of Arran.  We weren’t up in the snow covered hills, or enjoying the wilds of Glen Rosa or Sannox however, instead we simply took our time wandering along the shore-line from the ferry to Brodick Castle gardens and back.  Now then, I know I haven’t been getting out walking much this last few months, but even I’m not that unfit that it takes me five hours to walk this relatively short distance!

If you follow my Face Book page, (Keith Salmon – Scottish Landscape Artist) you’ll have seen that I’ve been pondering over how I might develop my work if the little bit of sight I currently have, deteriorates.   Apart from the obvious solution, to return to making sculpture, I have over the last couple of years been thinking about the possibilities of using sound in some way to compliment the paintings and drawings.

You’ll remember that when I created the big Glen Rosa drawing last month, I had arranged for a time lapse camera to be fitted to record each days work.  This was done by Graham Byron and his team at Model X Media and as Graham is the sound engineer at the Harbour Arts Centre, Nita suggested to me that I ask him for advice about how I might create outdoor sound recordings.  I spent some time explaining what I was thinking of trying to do and he very kindly offered to lend me some recording equipment and show me how to use it.

So then, the purpose of yesterday’s leisurely stroll around Brodick Bay to the castle and back was for me to tryout the small recorder Graham lent me.  I’d already tried it out a couple of times along the harbour side here in Irvine and so had, I thought, a rough idea of which buttons to press.  Well, it wasn’t quite that easy. When you can’t read the screen and are basically a bit of a technology dork…. even four buttons can be a bit confusing when you’re out there in the field!!  My first attempt at recording some sound, (at the point where the path crosses a wee bridge very close to the sea shore) was a bit of an epic.  Needless to say I couldn’t get the recorder to work!  Nita came to the rescue and pointed out that the batteries were flat.  After that, with a new set of batteries, I was off and running …or stumbling.  I thought it would be nice to record the twin sounds of the waves breaking on the shore to my right and the water slopping around in the stream to my left.  Simple…..only I’d forgotten that the path over the bridge was a popular one and after just a few seconds of recording, a small school party on bicycles trundled by. Not too bad you’d have thought, only that one of the children fell off their bike, (luckily no damage done) but there was much kafuffle.  It was amazing ….the wee microphone caught it all!

We continued along the shore with me stopping regularly to record some more sounds.  After two or three attempts I was fairly confident that I was pushing the right buttons and I started to think more about the sounds around me and how I might use them with my work.  The microphone was really quite sensitive and picked up a very broad range of sounds ….giving great depth to the recordings.  Of course, I found that there was a huge amount of “noise pollution”, (not all of it made by me I hasten to add).  However, at one point in the grounds of Brodick castle I thought I’d try record the sound of a very small stream of water that was trickling over some rocks.  No sooner had I started the recording than a fishing boat out in the bay, fired up its marine diesel, a vehicle came along the road behind us and a plane flew overhead on its way to Prestwick airport …..and I started swearing! We humans are very noisy!   Of course though, it didn’t matter.  I was just out to see what the machine would do and what kind of problems I might encounter ….it was all good fun.

A fuzzy Beinn Nuis ....I think!

A fuzzy Beinn Nuis ….I think!

On our return to the ferry, I’d made about 20 short recordings and the whole process had started to make me think about my work in a slightly different way.  I still haven’t a clue how I might use sound in my work, but I’m very excited after this first day out with the recorder.  I think there are a lot of possibilities.  I now have to ask Graham to show me the next step, of downloading the recordings onto my PC and how to edit them.  This blog is therefore; very silent ….but watch out, future blogs could get very noisy!

A few days in Brazil

Twelve days ago I was bumbling along, starting to get in a bit of a panic about preparations for our Open Weekend. Then, out of the blue, I received an email from Lucila Longi, an employee of a Brazilian PR company, working in Sao Paulo. She explained that a client of theirs was involved in a large arts project in the city and they were keen to know if I could travel to Sao Paulo for a few days to take part in the project.

One of the large sculptures in the Sao Paulo exhibition

One of the large sculptures in the Sao Paulo exhibition: ‘Made by Brazilians’

As you can imagine, this was somewhat of a surprise and I passed it on to my agent, John and asked him to find out more about the project. There were a number of quite frantic days of negotiation before finally, on Tuesday we got the go ahead.

The project is based in an old, large and disused hospital building close to the centre of Sao Paulo. The building is shortly to be converted into an Arts and Cultural Centre, but before the work starts, the sponsors have organised a huge exhibition there, consisting of a hundred Brazilian and international artists.

Entrance to the old hospital at Cidade Matarazzo, Sao Paulo

Entrance to the old hospital at Cidade Matarazzo, Sao Paulo

I have been invited to spend a few days visiting and recording the building and exhibition prior to the new development. On my return to Scotland, I have been asked to create several paintings that capture the spirit of the building and this remarkable exhibition.

This all happened very rapidly and with the exhibition closing today, they needed to get me down to Brazil straight away. The sponsors very kindly agreed to pay for both myself and Anita to travel to and stay in Brazil, as they appreciated I would need a guide.

Suffice to say, it’s been a remarkable few days. The exhibition is really excellent and the old hospital building is a great venue. With the exhibition now over, the curator is meeting us tomorrow, so that we can spend a final day taking more photos, videos and for me to do some further drawings. We’re flying back on Tuesday evening and will arrive in Scotland somewhat crumpled, no doubt, around 24 hours after leaving Sao Paulo. Phew! Quite a week! More about this later.

Photographing part of the exhibition 'Made by Brazilians' at Cidade Matarazzo

Photographing part of the exhibition ‘Made by Brazilians’ at Cidade Matarazzo

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