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Latest Blogs | Scottish Landscape Art - Scottish Landscape Paintings - Part 40

‘A winter morning, east of Drumochter’

Posted by admin on December 2nd, 2011
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'A winter morning east of Drumochter'

 

‘A winter morning, east of Drumochter’, Acrylic & Pastel, 2011, 60 x 30 cm

As you know, I’ve been working on the larger 80 x 80 cm paintings much of this year and so it’s been quite enjoyable since returning from Germany, to work on some smaller pieces again.   This is one of them, based on a very cold day I spent with my mate Guy the other year on the hills to the east of Drumochter Pass.   Once you’ve hauled yourself up the steep flanks of these hills from the road, it’s a high, bleak and very wild area of undulating moor.  Two of the higher bumps are classified as Munros and lie I guess, about four miles apart.  We walked the two ‘hills’ on a layer of snow that held your weight for an instant….and then gave way as you transferred your weight!  It was very hard work especially as we were walking for much of the day into a very strong and bitterly cold wind.  We were both exhausted by the time we got back to the car in the last light of the day and we both agreed that we might not return to these two hills ….but strangely enough we do both remember this very tiring day….it was a bit of an epic!

Starting again!

Posted by admin on December 2nd, 2011
'Harbourside, Irvine'

'Harbourside, Irvine'

It’s been a long time since I did some painting using oil paint ….probably about seven or eight years. On Wednesday afternoon though, I finally got the oil paints back out and slapped a very pale yellow onto the surfaces of two new canvases. It was quite strange. I’d forgotten quite how different the feel of the paint was from the acrylic I normally use…..and of course there was the strong smell of the oil paint in the studio too. It was good and quite exciting to be getting back to this type of paint, but it was kind of scary too. Although I still have much to learn about using acrylics, I certainly feel quite confident these days when handling them ….with the oil paint on the brush for the first time in years, it was a different thing ….if not a feeling of panic then certainly trepidation.

One of the reasons I first changed from oil to acrylic was that, (as I’ve told a few people) I’m a bit impatient and didn’t like the time it took for oil colour to dry. At the time I didn’t have the technical ability to paint confidently, wet on wet. My small paintings took a long time and although I think I ended up with some quite good little paintings, they did have the tendency to look as if they’d taken an age.

By moving to acrylic I hoped I could work faster and in doing so, create fresher, faster marks and brush strokes. I think this has worked well up to a point and as my paintings tend to be built up in many overlapping layers of paint, using a fast drying paint has been ideal. I’ve worked hard over these last few years to get vibrancy out of the acrylic colours and I’ve learnt a lot about mixing and applying colour. Without really thinking about it, I’ve developed a fairly distinctive palette.

'Harbour Blues IV'

'Harbour Blues IV'

I have over the years bought and tried many different commercial colours but these days tend to fall back on just eight main colours, plus of course, white. I do own a small tube of black paint but I’ve had this for years and it’s rare indeed for me to use it. I do use a number of different painting mediums from ones that thicken the acrylic to gloss and matt glazes and varnishes. I have many pots of paint on or under my bench that I’ve bought but find little use for …I can mix most of my colours from the main bunch, but it is nice to have these extra pots and as my paintings develop I’m sure most of them will get put to use. That is, all except one pot ….of fluorescent pink!!! Ahhhhh! I bought it by mistake last year, thinking I’d picked up a pot of permanent Geranium. I couldn’t quite believe it when I got it back to the studio and realised my mistake ….the joy of fuzzy eyes! To start with I conned myself into thinking I’d find a use for it …or could mix it into something else ….WRONG! The pot sat underneath my bench luminously glaring up at me, challenging me to find a use for it. I couldn’t even give it away. I did ask a couple of my colleagues but I think they thought I was taking the proverbial! I really don’t like throwing things away but in the end this 500ml pot of fluorescent paint, ended its days in the wheelie bin.

So then, when I ordered some new oil paints the other week I restricted myself to the normal eight colours, some turps, linseed oil and a small bottle of Liquin. Despite knowing that oil paints take longer to dry ….I was still somewhat dismayed to find the first layer of paint still wet when I got to the studio yesterday ….I have a lot to learn but it’s really exciting to be starting again. Hopefully some of the things I’ve learnt while using the acrylics will put me in a good position now I’m returning to using oils …but there’s going to be much to learn and much trial and error I think. It’s great though, that I now have a studio that is big enough to accommodate my working in both oil and acrylic. Now, when I’m waiting for oil paint to dry, I can move to my other palette and continue with the acrylics on a different painting. It’s all go!

'Harbour Blues'

'Harbour Blues'

The images that accompany this blog are of several of my earlier small oil paintings.

‘From Ben Oss, winter’

Posted by admin on November 27th, 2011
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'From Ben Oss, Winter'

‘From Ben Oss, winter’, Acrylic & Pastel, 2011, 60 x 30 cm

This is the latest small painting I’ve completed.  Developed from the larger 80 x 80 cm painting I did earlier this year, I have re-worked the composition to suit this 60 x 30 cm format.   The original painting was done after an interesting day walking Ben Oss in heavy snow and cloud.   As the snow stopped and the cloud started to break and disperse, we had some beautiful views ….a mixture of hillside, cloud and space.  This piece does I think have a good balance between being a Scottish Landscape and an abstract painting.  I’m hoping to include this with the pieces I currently have with Scotlandart.com, but have to send a photograph and wait to see if they’ll accept it.  If they do, I’ll post full details.

A mixed bag

Posted by admin on November 27th, 2011
'Below Ben Oss'

'Below Ben Oss': One of the paintings to be displayed in the Framework Gallery, Troon

I honestly can’t say that it’s been a particularly productive week so far this week but it has been quite busy all the same.

My week started with a visit to my studio from photographer Chris McNulty and a journalist friend called Julie Anne.  Chris had photographed a load of my work back last year and in return had asked if I’d spend a few hours doing an interview and get some photos.  It seemed a good deal to me and so Monday was marked down as the day for the interview.   My studio is linked by stairs to an upper space which is occupied by another artist.  This said however, since I took on the new studio I think I’ve only seen her once and so when I arranged with Chris and Julie Anne to do the interview at the studio …I hadn’t thought that anyone else would be there.  My mistake.  When we arrived at the studio she was working and also had some customers in buying a drawing.   We postponed temporarily and went for a chat and a coffee in the Harbour Arts Centre bar and when we returned forty five minutes later, everything was quiet and with no voices in the background we could get on with the interview.  Chris was taking photographs much of the time and after an hour or so they reckoned they’d got enough to carry on with.  Quite what they got though I really don’t know …I’m convinced now that I didn’t make any sense and I’m kind of dreading hearing it when it’s completed.  Oh well with a bit of luck Julie Anne can edit it and make me sound, if not intelligent, then at least not too stupid!!  It could be a tough job for her though!

Tuesday had been earmarked as the day to go up to Queens Gallery in Dundee to collect the work after my exhibition there.  Sales weren’t huge but two paintings did sell including one of the new 80 x 80 cm pieces.  It happened to be the last piece I completed …..just in time for the exhibition.   Tuesday turned out to be a beautiful day with almost clear blue skies and it made for a lovely drive to and from the gallery.  The countryside looked stunning in the bright winter light ….but very wintry suddenly with virtually all the trees bare now.  It was quite a quick trip really especially as we managed to get a parking space opposite the gallery which meant a quick turn around.  We were back in Irvine by about quarter past two and I managed to fit in almost five hours of painting …so not bad.

Wednesday was a nice relaxing day of painting.  For the first time for a while I could just paint.  I didn’t have to get the piece completed, or anything …..I could just experiment.

Back at the start of October at the Open Studios Weekend I’d met Peter from Framework Gallery in Troon.  I’d shown a few of my small paintings with him when I first moved to Irvine and he has always been enthusiastic about the work.  Anyway, we discussed my taking a few pieces along to the gallery on my return from Germany and yesterday I did just that.  I took four of the small paintings and one of the new 80 x 80 cm pieces and he has agreed to try them all.  It’ll be nice to have some work on show in Ayrshire again and once it’s on display (early December I think) I’ll post details and set up a link to the Framework Gallery website.  Full details to come shortly.

I was also contacted the other evening by Ali Abubakar …the chap who runs the Scottish Art Circle website.  He is planning to advertise members work on the site in the run up to Christmas and he has asked me to let him have details of four pieces that are currently available for sale.  He’ll then post this along with the artists contact details so that any visitors to the site who are interested in one of the paintings can simply contact the artist directly.  It’s an excellent way to increase the number of people seeing the work and so I’ll be getting back to him with the information and images shortly.

As for today?  Well, it’s been a bit of a strange one.  I had an appointment at the dentists this morning and arrived on time and waited.  After half an hour they very apologetically announced that due to a slight emergency, they’d have to cancel my appointment ..and that of another lady.  Couldn’t be helped, these things happen, but I then had to decide quite what to do with the rest of the day …as by this time it was almost lunch time.  I decided to catch a bus home and get on with the many things I have to do on the computer ….writing the weeks blog being just one of them!  One good thing though, while I was writing this earlier, I had a knock on the front door and two large parcels arrived ….the order from Great Art, containing a range of oil paints and mediums and a bunch of 80 x 80 cm canvases.  As I said in the past, I’m quite looking forward to working with oil again ….probably take a long time to find out exactly what I’m doing but now I have a larger studio I can work on both oil and acrylic and pastel pieces at the same time.   With a bit of luck I’ll have most of the ‘paperwork’ done by this evening and I can have an enjoyable few days down the studio now.

‘Moor land mist’

Posted by admin on November 18th, 2011
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'Moor land mist'

‘Moor land mist’, Pastel, 2006. 38 x 53 cm

To be honest I can’t remember where this drawing was based on …..but it must have been one of those dark gloomy days where you plod along through the mists with little around you to give a clue to distance or scale.  Even in these kind of conditions though, there is a strange beauty to the landscape and I’ve been looking at this early drawing and thinking that it could be the starting point for some new larger paintings.

Variations on a theme

Posted by admin on November 18th, 2011
'Approaching snow shower, Scottish Highlands'

'Approaching snow shower, Scottish Highlands'

Over the last few years I’ve done several versions of some of my paintings. Most of these started out as small 30 x 30 cm paintings but I’ve started to develop them at the bigger 80 x 80 cm size.

Revisiting a painting is not simply a case of reproducing the original but rather it’s a chance to create something that is new but on the same theme. One can try slightly different compositions, colours and marks, perhaps in a way, forgetting the original place and simply developing the paint and pastel.

The move from 30 x 30cm to 80 x 80cm has been particularly interesting. The increased surface area of the painting allows so much more scope, particularly with the consistency of the paint and the means by which it is applied.

The paintings included here are all based on a particular event one afternoon several years ago when I was walking with a group from our local club Air na Creagan. It was sometime in February I seem to remember and we’d travelled up to Braemar on a Friday evening with the aim of climbing Lochnagar the following day. We’d booked into the youth hostel for the weekend and were all looking forward to some good winter walking. Quite how wintry it was to be only became apparent as the weekend approached and we watched the forecasts. We arrived in Braemar in the early evening, crossing the high road through Glen Shee in the dark but with the first few flakes of snow falling lightly out of the gloom and being caught in the light of the headlights. As was customary on such weekends, first stop after arriving was the local hotel for food and a beer and by the time we started walking back up the street to the youth hostel it was snowing if not hard, then certainly steadily. Talk before we went to bed was of planning something less taxing than Lochnagar. If it carried on snowing over night we’d not even get the cars to the start point let alone want to tackle what might be thick fresh snow. In the end, the alternative was to do a circular walk out of Braemar and up and over Morone ….a gentle hill of I seem to remember around 800 m.

'Below Morone_ approaching snow shower'

'Below Morone_ approaching snow shower'

In the morning we arose to a good few centimetres of snow and although not too bad it wasn’t really the weather to be driving too far on small roads …and the wind had really picked up, so it would be uncomfortable higher up. Everywhere did look pretty wonderful though as we walked through the little town and picked up the path zig zagging its way up the slopes of Morone. But what a difference as we got out onto the high open and unprotected slopes near the summit. The snow was coming in heavy and quite lengthy showers and as they blew in the winds increased dramatically. There is a radio mast at the top with an access land drover track leading to it from the other side of the hill and at that point we stopped in the slight shelter offered by the wall of the hut. The wind chill up there was severe and despite this being a very modest little hill, this certainly wasn’t the place to hang around. Our planned route led across the summit plateau and then descended into a glen …before an easy walk back out and into the town. The walk across the top of the hill was difficult though…. the snow being blasted along horizontally in a real blizzard. It was hard to see for a while until eventually we started to descend into the glen ..and once again got some shelter from the surrounding hills. After a bit of a battle through in places quite deep snow we picked up another estate track and decided to sit for a while and catch up on a late lunch. As we sat there, we watched the sky darken and then very rapidly this huge snow shower poured over the hilltop at the end of the glen and raced towards us. It was a very impressive sight and one that has stuck with me….it is also the subject of these five paintings.

'Snow shower, Central Highlands'

'Snow shower, Central Highlands'

The snow didn’t go away over night and on Sunday morning we arose to quite thick snow …15 + cm and it was still falling.,. The Glen Shee road was closed and after waiting for several hours for it to ease, we set out for home…..along the only road out …..a tricky drive east to Aberdeen and then back via Dundee! As the whole of Scotland had been hit by the snow none of the roads were very good and our journey back to Ayrshire took many hours. It was quite a weekend!

'Approaching snow shower, above Braemar'

'Approaching snow shower, above Braemar'

 

'Approaching snow shower, above Braemar'

'Approaching snow shower, above Braemar'

 

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

 

‘LochTay from Beinn Ghlas’

Posted by admin on November 11th, 2011
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'Loch Tay from Beinn Ghlas'

 

‘Loch Tay from Beinn Ghlas’, Acrylic & Pastel, 2009, 76 x 23 cm

The walk to the summit of Ben Lawers via Beinn Ghlas is a very popular one and as such, the paths on the hill are large and well used.   That said however, the views from these hills are extensive owing to their height ….Ben Lawers being just a few feet short of the 4000 foot contour.  We often do this walk in the autumn when for one thing it’s a little less busy and also because of the fact that its National Trust land and so not restricted at this time of year by stalking.  On the day this painting was based on, we’d walked to the summit of Ben Lawers in rain and cloud, but as we returned back along the ridge towards Beinn Ghlas, drier, brighter weather moved in and we had some wonderful views down to Loch Tay far below.

Catching up

Posted by admin on November 11th, 2011
Inside my new studio (Studio J)

Inside my new studio (Studio J)

I’ve been back from Speyer for a week now…..and it was only yesterday that I started to feel like I was getting back into the swing of painting again!  Anyway, before anything else …the good news.  The paintings which were left in Speyer last week ….are now back in Irvine.  The company had insisted that the best they could offer (after failing to collect the packages on the day they were booked to) was a four hour collection slot one day this week.  I was trying to contact one of the chaps in the Künstlerbund to seek his help with this …when on Tuesday morning I had a phone call to say that the packages had been collected on the Monday and were due in Irvine on Wednesday!  I didn’t quite know what had happened until I got through to Mike Lauter a little later.  It appears that Mike having heard from Andrea about the problems we were having ….rang the companies local depot ….and had words.  What those words were I don’t know, but they gave him an exact collection time and arrived promptly’ …..a much better service and Mike didn’t have to wait around half or all the day waiting for them.  So, an even bigger thanks to Mike for fixing this.

It has as I say, been a week of catching up…..emails, letters, phone calls etc….but I seem to be getting through all that now.  The biggest thing really though has been trying to get back into the painting.  Since the end of September when the ‘rat’ forced me out of my old studio and into the new one, it’s been pretty hectic and so with the Open Weekend at the start of October, then all the preparations for the Speyer and Dundee exhibitions ……and then the two weeks in Germany ….well, I hadn’t really got much painting done.  I’ve always found in the past when we go away for our two weeks holiday in May that on returning it takes me quite a time to get back into work again.  Not doing any serious painting for the best part of five weeks has meant that it’s been a bit of a shock to the system the last few days.

My new studio building (Studio J)

My new studio building (Studio J)

I really like this new studio and once I’ve found places for everything and got into some kind of routine it should be very good.  It’ll take a bit of time though because with my sight so bad, I rely on memory as to where everything is.  When you move to a new place suddenly you have to once again rely on your sight to find things!  Suffice to say, I spend a lot of time at present wandering around peering vaguely and patting surfaces in the hope I’ll find whatever item it is I’m looking for …oh, and after five minutes of this there’s usually some choice language too!  It’s incredible how a magnifier or a certain paint brush or palette knife can simply disappear ….only to reappear in my back pocket or on the table in front of me fifteen minutes later!  Eventually though, as I get used to the space and layout of the new studio, everything will have its own place in the general mayhem that constitutes my work place …..and time wasting searches like this will become fewer.

The Courtyard Studios, Irvine

The Courtyard Studios, Irvine

The new studio is certainly in a good position, being right in the middle of the main studio building, facing into the courtyard and the main entrance way between The Ship Inn and the old courtyard studios building.  I will I’m sure miss the lovely view I had and the sounds of the birds I had in the summer …but I feel much more part of the small community of artists at the Courtyard now.  Indeed, with Gillian, David and Sheila working at the studios, the whole place has a much more lively appearance than a few years ago.  Yesterday for instance, only a couple of the doors were closed …most were open and busy …..it’s looking good for the future.  You’ll see from the photo of the building, that we still have no sign, but the last we heard was that  we’re waiting on planning permission which should be granted by end of November ….so keep your fingers crossed for us and if you live in Ayrshire don’t be afraid of calling in to see what we’re doing.

‘South of Speyer’

Posted by admin on November 5th, 2011
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'South of Speyer'

‘South of Speyer’, Acrylic & Pastel, 2010, 80 x 80 cm

 This was one of the paintings I completed while in Speyer last summer, 2010.  It was one of just two that were based on the rural landscape of the region as I spent most of my time in the city.  However on the few occasions I did go out into the countryside and hills, I was particularly impressed by the colours and lines created by the vine yards.  During my recent stay in Speyer, we once again visited the wine growing areas and walked through the vine yards and up into the wooded hills behind.  We were particularly lucky with the weather and the late autumn colours of the vine and surrounding trees were quite beautiful …shame I didn’t have a bit more time ….and my paints of course!

A look back at Speyer

Posted by admin on November 5th, 2011
Autumn colours south of Speyer

Autumn colours south of Speyer

Well then, I’ve just returned from two weeks in Speyer, Germany.  As most of you will know, I was invited back there this year to hold a short exhibition of my Scottish landscape paintings at the Künstlerhaus.  The exhibition opened on the evening of Friday 21st October and my partner Anita and I travelled out on Wednesday 19th.  I had sent the work out a week or so earlier and several members of the Küstlerbund had kindly agreed to unwrap and hang the work prior to our arrival.

Suffice to say, the trip out went well without a hitch and we arrived at the Künstlerhaus in Speyer to find Holger Grimm (president of the Künstlerbund Speyer e.V) and several other members waiting to welcome us …and a table laid with wine and food!  It was a great reception and a wonderful way to start the trip.  They had done a fantastic job of hanging the work and it all looked good.

Speyer exhition preview - Photo by Ulrich Harer

Speyer exhibition preview - Photo by Ulrich Harer

We did have a little work still to do on Thursday and Friday before the preview though……on the way across, around a half of the packages containing the paintings, had been damaged …..and although the paintings had survived intact …a number of the frames had knocks and scrapes.  Thankfully these were wooden painted frames and Anita had bought with her, some filler and paint for just such an event.  After a day and a half of careful, filling, sanding and painting, always fixed and looking good again ….but what can you say about a company who manage to damage half of the packages they handle?!  All part of being an artist I guess …though I may have to look for another courier company …one who handles your gear with care.

Speyer exhibition preview - Photo by Ulrich Harer

Speyer exhibition preview - Photo by Ulrich Harer

It seemed quite strange being back at the Künstlerhaus where I’d lived and worked for four months last summer …and it really didn’t seem like a whole year had gone by since I was last there …amazing.    The preview went very well, Mike Lauter and Andrea Niessen had arrived early to set up the bar …as the evenings were getting cold, they’d decided to serve hot spiced wine and by the time people were starting to arrive, all was ready.   It was a good turn out and the first lady through the door bought one of my paintings …so a great start.  Indeed, some friends had actually turned up on Thursday evening …for a ‘pre preview’ …as they wanted to buy a painting …so there was already one red dot before we even opened the doors on Friday evening!

In the exhibition

In the exhibition

After a few words from Holger, Michael Lauter then made a speech …but with my lack of German, I’m not sure what he said …but it seemed to go down well …and so, if you’re reading this Mike, a big thanks for all your work and help.

It was a very good evening that ended with about a dozen people sat talking, drinking wine and eating pizza until around midnight!  Mike and Fred helped Nita and I clear up and so it must have been about half past one in the morning before I eventually turned the lights out in the gallery and headed upstairs to bed.

This trip though wasn’t all about work ….we’d hoped that it would be a bit of a holiday too ….and that is exactly how it turned out.  During the middle week we had many kind offers to visit people for meals or to go out and visit places with them …as a few people said, we had a busy programme!

View from the castle, Heidelberg

View from the castle, Heidelberg

We had a wonderful day with Stewart, Evelyn and Markus, walking one of the trails through the vineyards and hills to the south of Speyer.  The autumn colours were beautiful and just got brighter as days went by.  On Wednesday, under clear blue skies, we drove with Mike Lauter to Heidelberg, the beautiful university city nestling under the hills on either side of the Neckar.  We wandered along the side of the river to the old bridge and then across it to the old town for lunch.  High on the side of the hill overlooking the city is the wonderful old castle and like all tourists (and there were a lot of us) we just had to visit it and enjoy the stunning views from its battlements.

Visits to the studios of Künstlerbund members, Andrea Niessen and Martin Eckrich made for a fascinating day on Friday.  To get a flavour of what they each do …visit: www.andrea-niessen.de  and www.martin-eckrich.de .

The exhibition ended on Sunday 30th at 6pm and we  had a good turn out each weekend.  I seemed to get a good response to the work which was very pleasing and hopefully did a little to aid the Scottish tourist industry ….a lot of folk said they’d have to visit Scotland after seeing the paintings!  In the end, six of the paintings sold which was very pleasing and certainly made the whole trip more than viable.

The plan had been to repack the unsold work and arrange for its collection on Wednesday.  This would mean my being at the gallery to oversee the collection.  But, as they say ….the best made plans….’…..the courier company failed to collect despite my sitting waiting from8 am until11 pm!  Ahhhhhh!  We had to leave Speyer at 8.30 am the next morning and so it wasn’t until we reached Frankfurt airport that I had a chance to call and find out what was happening.  They’re now claiming I wasn’t there when their driver called ….but this is just *****!  The problem is that the work is now still in Germany and I have to ask someone in the Künstlerbund to wait for a newly arranged collection.  The courier company say that they can’t give a definite time and don’t seem to get the point that it’s their mess and they need to make an exception.  All is on hold now until next week …so hopefully I’ll have good news re this in my blog next week.  Anyway, this little hitch apart,  it proved a very enjoyable and successful trip and my thanks go out to everyone in the Künstlerbund Speyer e.V and everyone else who made us so welcome throughout our stay in Speyer.

Right then, that’s about it for this week.  I can’t wait to get down my studio again …it’s been a few weeks now since I did any serious painting and I’m getting withdrawal symptoms!

Photographs by Anita Groves and Ulrick Harer.  Many thanks both.

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