From above the Devils Staircase
This time last week, (Saturday 14 at 13.17), Nita and I were sat with some friends Stewart and Evelyn on a rocky little top overlooking Glencoe. We’d not walked far, just followed the West Highland Way up to the high point of the Devil’s Staircase and headed north up the grass and heather slopes to the first little summit at around 800m. It was however a wonderful view point and we’d been very lucky with the weather. It was I guess the perfect Glencoe weather …a mix of bright sun and dark heavy shower clouds that rolled in filling the glen with mist and rain before passing on over Rannoch Moor. Stewart, an Irvine man, has been living in Germany with his wife Evelyn for many years and so I think he particularly enjoyed seeing this very special bit of Scotland in very special Scottish conditions.
City of Adelaide ….heading south
The rest of my week was spent either at my studio or standing on the harbour side waiting to see if the grand old clipper, City of Adelaide would finally start her journey by barge down to London. Getting this vast wooden ship on a barge out of the River Irvine needed a lot of skill, two tugs and some reasonably fine weather. The latter was the problem for the first part of the week, with constant gales or at least high winds. All looked good on Thursday morning and a big crowd once again gathered at the mouth of the River Irvine to witness this historical event but at the last minute with the wind picking up, the wise decision was made to once again call it off. Finally, on Friday lunchtime, with the crowds once again lining the harbour side, the City of Adelaide was towed out to sea to start its trip down to London. As I write, it’s now well into the Irish Sea apparently ….so good luck to all on board. I’m not sure of the exact time table but it will be heading to Greenwich for a short while before being lifted onto a really big container ship for the long voyage down to Adelaide. If you are interested and haven’t already found it, www.cityofadelaide.org.au is a great website and has masses of information and photos.
Art wise, it’s been a good week too. I’ve had a week of working on an 80 x 80 cm oil painting. It is as you can see, a more abstract piece created using a large house painting brush and lots of thick oil paint. I’ve been enjoying working like this after several weeks of doing finer, tighter acrylic and pastel pieces. Not sure what to make of it though ….so will have to wait and see.
Work in progress, oil on canvas 80 x 80 cm
Finally, yesterday I also had a visit from a couple from Edinburgh. They’ve been following my work on-line for a good while now and decided to call into the studio on their way back from a short holiday on the Isle of Arran. They left my studio an hour later with two of my paintings …..including one of the new Harris pieces. So then …a very big thanks to them and I hope they get much pleasure from the paintings once they are up on their wall.
I’m spending today trying to get the press release and photos together to send to the local papers and radio stations in order to promote our Open Studios Weekend on Saturday 5th / Sunday 6th October. The event posters and flyers have been printed and are starting to get displayed …if you live in the region you may see one soon. I’ll be sending out flyers and email invitations to all who have left their names in my visitors book, but remember, the event is open to all and is free ….so mark it in your diary and come along and enjoy seeing a great selection of work produced by some of Ayrshire’s leading artists, including; painting, drawing, prints, ceramics, stained glass, hand book-binding, photography and jewellery….one of the artists, Alison Thomas, will even be running some drop-in workshops for children too. Hope to see you at the studios on Saturday 5th October (11am – 5pm), or Sunday 6th October (12 noon – 5pm).
Invitation 2013
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