Scottish Landscape Art – Scottish Landscape Paintings

Fine Abstract Scottish Landscape Art by Keith Salmon

Summer 2021 – a brief update

Posted by admin on August 22nd, 2021

We were out walking in the hills near Crianlarich a few days ago and there was a decided chill in the air. It’s only the middle of August, but in that chill was the first hint of autumn maybe? This summer is rushing by and if I don’t get this written soon, I’ll have to call it the autumn update instead!

So then, what has been happening? Like most folk I guess, I’ve been slowly getting myself back into a slightly more normal way of life since the easing of many of the COVID restrictions. The front section of my studio is now once again OPEN to visitors – albeit, mask wearing visitors! It’s been great having people in and hopefully we are all benefiting from being able to meet other people.

Back in May last year we had booked a caravan for two weeks in Upper Badcall near Scourie in Sutherland, but of course, with the first lock-down this had to be postponed. We re-booked for the first two weeks in May this year and were lucky that the travel restrictions were lifted just a couple of weeks before we were due to go away. Fantastic, it was so good to get away up north and to see and explore the wild landscape of Assynt and Sutherland once again. In all honesty we weren’t feeling particularly fit and so we didn’t do any big hill walks during the holiday but instead enjoyed exploring some of the many lower level tracks that wander across and through this rugged landscape.

We re-visited Sandwood Bay so that I could make some more sound recordings and were very lucky in that the rain that had been falling steadily during the two hour walk out to the bay, suddenly stopped as our feet touched the sand and stayed stopped for the next five hours. The sun even came out and it was really pleasant just sat enjoying the peace and quiet of this remote place while the sound recorder did its thing. I’m hoping to make a new painting based on these recordings sometime later this year.

During most of the holiday the cloud level was very low and so we didn’t actually miss much by choosing to stay off of the tops. We actually enjoyed many dramatic views as dark clouds drifted across the higher hills and I’m hoping that some of these encounters will prove good subject matter for future paintings…….indeed, I’ve already got a couple of the smaller acrylic and pastel pieces finished.

‘South from Badcall Bay, Sutherland’, Acrylic & Pastel, 2021, 30 x 30 cm

With the sudden easing of restrictions we had the opportunity to finally exhibit the “Kylesku Project”. The exhibition which was originally planned for May 2020, was rearranged for June 2021 and so as soon as Nita and I returned from Sutherland, I was rushing around to get everything ready for the show. Sound engineers, Graham Byron and Drew Kirkland, Graham’s wife Tracy, Nita and I, all travelled up to Lochinver along with the work in Graham’s big van and it made quite a road trip. On Sunday morning we met up with Assynt Field Club members David and Avril Haines (who had organised the exhibition) and together we spent several hours hanging the five paintings and setting up the audio system and big screen. The work was exhibited in the Marine Room at An Calla Café and Bunkhouse in Lochinver in Assynt and our thanks go out to Julia and Jason for inviting us to show the work in there café: http://www.ancalacafeandbunkhouse.co.uk

The exhibition lasted for a month and it was great to exhibit this piece in the north west of Scotland. I think it went very well and I think everyone was happy with the outcome. A really big thank you to David and Avril for all their help and support. You can learn more about the Assynt Field Club by visiting their website: https://www.assyntwildlife.org.uk

Just a week after hanging the Kylesku work in Lochinver, Nita and I were back up north again, this time to deliver three paintings to the lovely An Talla Solais Gallery in Ullapool. Of course, we just had to turn the trip into a mini holiday and so managed to get a really nice walk done at the same time!

As you are probably aware, I’ve been showing a few paintings at the Seagull Gallery in Gourock for the last few years. They sold the painting they had last December but I had to wait until May before we could travel there with a couple of new paintings. In the past I’ve just shown my smaller work, but this time they have one of my 80 x 80 cm acrylic and pastel pieces as well as one of the 76 x 23cm paintings.

So then, do pop into these galleries if you have a chance, or call into my studio if you are in Irvine. Alternatively, just check out the “Paintings for sale” section above or to see and listen to several of the audio paintings, click on this link that will take you to our YouTube channel and the virtual exhibition of paintings and audio that Graham and Drew put together earlier this year: https://youtu.be/oOUvhjP_XZQ

I had a really interesting experience myself earlier this year when I was invited by disabled writer / performer Jamie Hale, to take part in a live panel discussion about the arts and disability. The panel included artists working in very different artforms, all of whom are affected by disability issues. The event was funded and hosted by the Wellcome Trust and it made for very interesting listening. It reminded me, (if ever I needed reminding) just how important it is for the arts to be, like all aspects of life, fully inclusive. A good and positive note on which to finish this blog. Follow the link to watch the hour-long discussion:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05FHt752O2E

I am still very much in business despite the current pandemic, so if you are interested in any of the work shown on the website, do please contact me and we can take it from there.

‘Hill near Glen Finnan’, Graphite on paper, 2019

A quick update from Studio J

Posted by admin on October 27th, 2020

Autumn 2020

A quick update from Studio J

When I wrote my last blog, I was, like most of the rest of the country, working from home and in lock down. As I think I said at the time, working from a poorly lit upstairs room at home wasn’t particularly easy. That said I did get three new paintings completed by the time I returned to my studio at the start of July. So not exactly prolific but time well spent. The paintings are all based on sound recordings I made back in December while we were walking a section of the Great Glen Way along the shores of Loch Lochy.

425 ‘Loch Lochy, December, 1’, Oil on canvas, 80 x 80 cm

During the summer, I went to Graham Byron’s audio studio and together we mixed a three section soundtrack to play with the paintings. Graham has created a video version of the work and we hope to have everything finished before too long. Obviously the latest restrictions here in the Central Belt of Scotland have meant that we haven’t been able to work together in the studio again recently but we meet on-line and exchange ideas and audio and video files. It’s a bit slower, but we can continue to do this work and of course it’s very important as we are still hopeful that our exhibition will go ahead in the Barony Centre in West Kilbride in March…… and these new audio visual works will be the centrepiece of the show.

426 ‘Loch Lochy, December, 2’, Oil on canvas, 80 x 80 cm

427 ‘Loch Lochy, December, 3’, Oil on canvas, 80 x 80 cm

Anyway, here’s a bit of good news:

A quick rewind to December last year

You may remember that about a year ago I was asked whether I was interested in being included in a arts documentary commissioned by BBC 4. In short, I agreed and spent a couple of days with a small team from the company making the programme. Anyway, a few days ago I was told that the programme, called “Disordered Eye”, will be transmitted on BBC 4, on November 4^th at 9pm:

Now that I know for definite that it’s going out on national TV, I’m getting a bit nervous I have to admit! Oh well, it’ll only be a very small part of the overall programme and so if the painting and audio are included, it’ll be a great way to get the work out to a much larger audience. Fingers crossed!

Summer walks

The day after the travel restrictions were lifted in early July, we headed back up into the Southern Highlands for our first hill walk for many months. We avoided all the popular tops figuring that everyone would be doing what we were now that the shackles were off and so headed back to some small hills above Glen Ogle. With legs that were well out of condition, we made our way up to the small cairn that marks the summit of Beinn Leabhain at around 700 m. We’ve visited this top several times over the last few years but the views make it well worth while, especially when looking out over Loch Tay towards the big hills of the Ben Lawers group. It was just so good to be out wandering the hills again.

We followed this trip by visits to other small less frequented hills that we know and love; Beinn Inverveigh, (that lies above Loch Tulla), Beinn Chaorach near Tyndrum and a few weeks ago, Beinn Eich in the Luss Hills.

Looking down into Glen Luss from Beinn Eich

We tried at all times to minimise the impact of us visiting these beautiful areas and so always carried disinfectant wipes to clean any gates we passed through or stiles we crossed. By avoiding the popular hills we avoided contact with others and so we left almost no trace of our visits except a few boot prints. Fantastic. With the new restrictions we’re staying within Ayrshire for the time being and are waiting to hear the latest advice from the Scottish government. But hey, we’re really lucky as Ayrshire has miles of beautiful countryside and just ten minutes walk from my studio here, we have a huge beach that stretches all the way to Troon. So then, it’ll be a few more local walks for the time being I think.

Finally, just to remind you that despite everything, I’m still in business, still working away in my little studio here on Irvine’s Harbourside. We’ve been making a few changes to my website recently and you’ll see some of my more recent paintings there. If you are looking for something special for your wall, do go and have a look. I can ship work easily so there no problem if you can’t get to the studio and you will be supporting one of Ayrshire’s long serving artists during these very difficult times.

Spring and summer 2020

Posted by admin on June 21st, 2020

Studio Changes

So of course, everything is very different right now. No longer the casual routine of going down to my studio most days and heading to the hills two or three times a month. Instead, like most folk I guess, I’ve been working from home ….or trying to at least and we haven’t walked further than a few miles from our house.

Prior to the pandemic, Nita and I had already made some big changes with regards our studios. As anyone who has visited my studio will know, for the last few years I’ve been renting an individual unit comprising a large space downstairs and a small space upstairs. This has allowed me to do all my painting work as well as the audio stuff too. It’s been important to be able to play the audio without it affecting another artist. At the same time, Nita (who makes ceramics) was renting a separate small studio in the old part of the Courtyard Studio buildings. With the studio rents increasing significantly over the last few years and my sales sadly falling over the corresponding time, we decided that we should perhaps down size a little. After much thought, we decided that the best way to go about this was for me to give up my small upstairs studio and for Nita to move into it ….giving up her own space in the process. It meant moving a lot of my older work to the house, along with Nita’s kiln, which wouldn’t have been safe alongside all my paints. We spoke to WASPS and they were happy for us to make this move as there were plenty of people on the Courtyard Studios waiting list and we started moving all the gear back before Christmas. It took a lot longer than we originally thought but we had everything done by February and we were just starting to get things sorted …..when the virus changed everything. At least we got all our gear moved before the lock-down and so when we can get back in, we can just start working.

Canisp: Scottish Landscape Art — ‘Canisp, a winter afternoon’

A Busman’s Holiday

We didn’t of course, get away for our annual two weeks of walking and relaxing in North West Scotland this May, but did manage to get away for two weeks back in December and so as things have turned out, it was a very good move. Instead of heading up to Assynt and Sutherland as we do in May, we decided to visit a couple of areas a little further south that in the past we had only ever driven through. Our first week was spent staying in Taynuilt, a few miles from Oban. The days involved dodging the rain, visiting numerous cafes and bars and grabbing short walks down to the shores of Loch Etive. I made several lengthy sound recordings close to the point where the old ferry used to cross the narrow section of the loch. It was an interesting mix of sounds, both natural and man-made. Although it was a beautiful location, we were only about a mile from the main road and railway to Oban. Add to this the day to day noises coming from the village and the small airport a few miles away to the west and it made for very different recordings. That said, the overall feel, despite these human intrusions, is still quite wild with the sounds of the huge sea loch, its accompanying wildlife and the general sense of space all around.

‘Towards the Bridge of Orchy Hills from Ghlas Bheinne’

We moved a little further north for our second week and stayed in a lodge several miles from Fort William and close to the Caledonian Canal. Whereas the first week was very much holiday, the next 7 days were more about work. Prior to coming away, I’d been contacted by a small TV production company. They had been commissioned to make an hour long documentary about how artists with different kinds of sight, perceive their surroundings and go about their work. They had heard about the new audio visual work I have been doing with Graham Byron and Drew Kirkland and asked if they could include a small piece about this work. In short, it was agreed that they would travel north and meet us on the final day of our holiday so that they could get some film of us walking in the landscape and me making recordings. They would then travel back to Irvine on the Saturday and meet me at my studio to record a short interview.

Keith Salmon TV — Filming near Loch Lochy, Scotland

Of course, as we were staying in an area we didn’t really know, we had to spend our time trying to find a suitable location for them to film. It had to be somewhere that would make sense with the work I was doing and be somewhere that was easily accessible for people carrying heavy film and recording gear. As it turned out we actually found the perfect spot on our second day out. It was a section of the Great Glen Way as it winds its way along the western shores of Loch Lochy. It was perfect with the sounds of the loch, numerous busy streams and the regular call of birds ….and very little manmade noise. I actually made five recordings and worked out plans for several paintings by the end of the walk and so it was time well spent. Everything went well on the Friday and the small team got their film without any rain. We did the interview at the studio on the Sunday morning and they were back down in London by the evening. They said they thought the programme wouldn’t be broadcast until the end of the year and so I’ll have to wait some more before finding out whether I made a complete tit of myself!

Keith Salmon interview — Recording interview in my studio.

The walk along Loch Lochy was really important as it turned out because it gave me new material to work on during the lockdown. I’ve actually been working on three 80 x 80cm canvases since I brought my painting stuff home back in early March. Each painting is based on one of the slightly different recordings I made as we walked along the side of Loch Lochy back on December 9^th. Each one was recorded at a different time of day, morning, midday and late afternoon. They aren’t finished yet but they are close I think.

Exhibitions – New Dates

As you may know, our first big audio visual piece, called the Kylesku Project, is now finished. See excerpts from the digital version:

https://youtu.be/4kBVUsDuDww

Kylesku project – Keith Salmon, Graham Byron and Drew Kirkland

We had arranged to exhibit it at a venue in Lochinver in Assynt this summer, but this has had to be postponed due to the pandemic and we are now planning to hold the exhibition in May 2021. Sadly we’ve recently also heard that the Courtyard Studios annual Group Exhibition at the Harbour Arts Centre has had to be cancelled this year too. That all said, we are still on for an exhibition at the Barony Centre in West Kilbride in March 2021. We’ll be showing the full Kylesku Project for the first time along with a new video work and a selection of my recent paintings and drawings. I am also hoping to do another ‘Big drawing’, along the lines of the big Glen Rosa drawing and so there should be plenty to see and hear. The Barony Centre, being in a big old church, is probably the perfect venue in which to hold an exhibition during times of social distancing ….lots of space!

Still Open For Business

Finally, I just wanted to say that I am still open for business even if I’m not currently at the studio. If you see and are interested in any work here on the website, just email or phone me and we can work something out. Stay safe and I look forward to inviting you back to the studio before too long ……even if it is one at a time!!!

The paintings included with this blog are all currently available and were created between 2018 and 2020.

Ben Oss by Keith Salmon — ‘From Ben Oss, winter. Breaking mists’

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

Posted by admin on October 15th, 2019

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!

Autumn Report – 2018

Posted by admin on September 7th, 2018

Autumn update – September / November 2018

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Keith Salmon exhibition poster Moray 2018

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

Keith Salmon - Moray Arts Centre

Moray Art Centre Exhibition

The Seagull Gallery, Gourock – September – October

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

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

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

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

Entry free, all welcome:

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

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

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”

‘From the Devil’s Staircase, winter’

‘A Coigach landscape, January’

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 5^th March and run until 22^nd March. Below is the exhibition poster with all the relevant details:

“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.

Autumn Report – 2017

Posted by admin on November 19th, 2017

November 18^th 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 7^th and 8^th. 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.

Summer Update – 2017

Posted by admin on June 17th, 2017

Summer 2017 – update

The main event in my diary this summer is the “Landshapes” exhibition taking place at Dean Clough in Halifax. The exhibition brings together the semi abstract landscape work by contemporary artists from Holland, Scotland and England. I delivered eight paintings of various sizes to the gallery a couple of weeks ago and the exhibition has it’s private view tomorrow afternoon (Saturday 17th June) and then runs throughout the summer until early September. Nita and I will be setting off very early tomorrow morning in order to attend the preview and I have to say, that I’m really looking forward to seeing the other work. Below is the exhibition poster.

Landshapes Exhibition – Halifax

My last update on this page was all about The Oregon Project and other works” exhibition we had at the Tent Gallery, Edinburgh College of Art back in April. I have to say, that it was very hard work for everyone involved. Dan Thornton, Ryan Scott, Cindy Apple and Lindsay Scott all travelled over from Seattle to help install and invigilate the exhibition for the full three weeks, while Neel Joshi (who originally created the project through his work at Microsoft Research) also flew over for the install to set up the Microsoft Kinects…. the heart of this audio visual installation. The Ayrshire team comprising myself, Graham Byron, Drew Kirkland, Anita Groves, Tracey Byron and Gary Byron, all travelled over to Edinburgh some or all days throughout the install and exhibition…. making for very long days. It was very worth while though as we not only had a very good turnout, (over 300 visitors to the exhibition) but we also had a lot of interest and good feedback. BBC Scotland very kindly gave the exhibition great publicity in the form of a short piece on its morning and evening TV news, as well as further coverage on their morning radio programme. Our thanks to all concerned with this. Thanks too, to everyone at RNIB Scotland who help publicise the exhibition and who helped organise a special evening event for RNIB users and staff.

The exhibition was divided into two sections. In the main Tent Gallery space we exhibited some of my Scottish landscape paintings, as well as showing the large Glen Rosa graphite drawing. In the cinema space to the rear of the gallery, we exhibited The Oregon Project along with another smaller audio visual work created by Dan and Ryan. The venue was excellent and my thanks go out to Donald Urquhart and all his colleagues and students for making us so welcome….. and putting up with the noise during the installation.

BBC Scotland video

As I said, by the end, we were all pretty exhausted. After a week back in the studio, Nita and I travelled north to Assynt for a much needed holiday, walking and relaxing in the stunning landscape. We were very lucky and had perfect weather for the whole of our two weeks away. We managed several fine walks during the course of which, I made a good number of sound recordings.

Although The Oregon Project is now officially over, Graham and I are already starting work on developing new audio visual pieces. I’ve been working on two 44” square graphite drawings which have been generated from one of the sound recordings I made in Assynt and from this I have just started work on a 48” square canvas. This painting will try and use the textures created by the large horse hair house painting brush to interpret the sounds in the recording. It’s all in its early stages yet, but with a bit of luck we hope to move on to create a large Scottish audio visual work that develops the ideas started in The Oregon Project.

Of course, after last year when I did very little Scottish painting, I am now working hard to create some new pieces. Below are a couple of recent paintings. As usual, my studio is open to visitors and so if you are in Ayrshire this summer, do call in. I always have a good stock of original paintings, drawings, prints and cards for sale.

‘Towards Ben Nevis’

‘A cold, damp winter’s morning, Glencoe’

*See the “New Artworks for Sale” page for an up to date selection of available work.

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

Oregon project – 9e2 2017 – Seattle, USA

Scottish Landscape Art – Scottish Landscape Paintings

Fine Abstract Scottish Landscape Art by Keith Salmon

Summer 2021 – a brief update

A quick update from Studio J

Spring and summer 2020

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

Autumn Report – 2018

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

Autumn Report – 2017

Summer Update – 2017

The Oregon Project in Edinburgh !

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