Scottish Landscape Art – Scottish Landscape Paintings

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a year since I updated this home page and so my apologies for all those of you who have visited and found it rather out of date.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:

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!