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Eglinton Country Park | Scottish Landscape Art - Scottish Landscape Paintings

Posts Tagged ‘Eglinton Country Park’

A wander around town

Our first walk of this New Year did not, for once, involve a long drive up into the Highlands.  Instead it started at the front door of our house in the Girdle Toll housing estate on the edge of Irvine.   Nita just had one day off work between two lots of shifts, so to go for any kind of walk was pushing it a bit.   That said however, the weather yesterday here in Irvine, was really quite fine.  Sunny dry days have been few and far between this last year and so we decided we’d better get out and make the most of it. Hence, a local walk …a very local walk….. following the route of Irvine’s New Town Trail.

River Irvine: New Town Trail

View from the Irvine New Town Trail

I’ve walked this path a couple of times over the last fifteen years and it makes for a very pleasant wander.  The route passes within a couple of hundred metres of our house, following the line of an old railway track.   As it’s a circular route around Irvine we could go either way, but decided to save the best bit …through Eglinton Country Park, till last, and so headed left along the path, following it as it wanders through trees and grass, skirting one of the housing estates.   Beyond this, it continues, picking its way through a large built up area before reaching a small river, which it then follows closely for several kilometres. This stream joins the River Irvine on the edge of the town centre, close to a new, rather over the top road bridge.

The River Irvine on the New Town Trail

The River Irvine

The River Irvine looked very tranquil yesterday with various ducks paddling around…..such a contrast to the dreadful scenes of flooding over in Perthshire, Angus and Aberdeenshire …. for once, I guess it was a case of the sunny west.  The path follows the banks of the River Irvine and  as it goes underneath the main shopping mall, we took advantage and dropped off for coffee and a sandwich in one of the cafes and then headed on our way.   The full circuit of the New Town Trail is, I think, about 12 miles long and as we started again after lunch we suddenly realised we only had a couple of hours of daylight left …..we’d been dawdling too much!  Not wanting to walk through the country park in the dark, we picked up the pace and were soon making our way past the wonderful area of wetland that lies between the River Irvine and River Garnock. It looked beautiful in the low afternoon sun  and we just had to stop and take in the scene.  Further to the west Nita said she could just make out the Isle of Arran across the Firth of Clyde …but its hills were shrouded in mist.

The River Irvine

The River Irvine …perfect for ducks!

After crossing the River Garnock by a small road bridge, the path turns and follows the banks of the river, up stream to the edge of Kilwinning.  This is a particularly nice bit of the route and the late afternoon winter colours looked great again.  At the edge of Kilwinning the path once again turns and then enters the fabulous Eglinton Country Park.  As anyone who visits the park knows, there are numerous routes criss-crossing this large area of formal parkland, woodland and rough scrub / heath land and the New Town Trail takes a particularly good line through it. It emerges on the far side to rejoin the old railway line about a mile from our starting point.  We were back in the house on the dot of four o’clock …..five hours after setting out.

Wetlands on the River Garnock near Kilwinning

Wetlands near the River Garnock

Despite being a low level path around a new town, it makes for a really enjoyable short day and reminds you just how fine the countryside is around Irvine.  It’s sometimes very easy to forget what you have on your doorstep ……this really is well worth a try if you live in the area …..it would be very good on a bicycle too.

Eglinton Country Park Castle

The formal part of Eglinton Country Park

-o-o-o-o-

North Ayrshire Open Art Exhibition 2015

It’s that time of year again when the annual North Ayrshire Open Art Exhibition takes place.  , I entered one of my scribbled pastel drawings and one of my more traditional 80 x 80 cm acrylic and pastel paintings.  Both I’m pleased to say, have been selected for the exhibition.   A quick look through the catalogue this morning  revealed a good turn out from the Courtyard Studios artists this year  as well as work by several former Courtyard Studios artists.  The exhibition preview is tomorrow evening starting at 7.30 pm and it takes place at the Racquet Hall in Eglinton Country Park, Kilwinning.  The exhibition then runs for two weeks.   Being an open exhibition with over 100 works on display, there is always something for everyone and it makes for an enjoyable visit…..especially so if you add on a wander through the beautiful surrounding parkland while you’re there.

'Breaking mists on Mam na Gualainnt', on display at the North Ayrshire Open Art Exhibition

‘Breaking mists on Mam na Gualainnt’, on display at the North Ayrshire Open Art Exhibition

The last two weeks have been a strange mix for me.  I’ve spent many days working in the studio.  I have quite a lot of different things on the go at the moment which is nice.  I’ve got back to using oil colour again and have been working on three different canvases, all of which I started last year and then put to one side.    I’m also creating nine new small size (210 x 148 mm) graphite drawings for my forthcoming exhibition in Edinburgh in August.  Busy, busy, busy!

Last Thursday Nita and I drove up to Pitlochry to collect the work at the end of my exhibition at the John Muir Trust wild Space.  It was a good experience showing work there and although I only sold one painting, my gift cards sold well ….so as a way of marketing my work and introducing my paintings to a wider audience, it was very successful.  The Wild Space is right on the main street in Pitlochry and close to where all the coaches park up.  As such the centre gets a large number of visitors both UK and from abroad and so a lot of people will have seen my work for the first time.  Anyway, a big thank you to Jane Grimley (JMT Wild Space Manager) and her staff for making me so welcome and for inviting me to show my work with the John Muir Trust.   To find out more about the John Muir Trust and the important work it does, visit:  www.jmt.org

I’ve just received an email from my colleague Dan Thornton, the photographer and film maker based in Seattle.    As you know, he has been making an hour long documentary about my work and we are now in the process of raising the funds to get the editing done.  I’ve donated seven paintings and some prints which are now with Dan in Seattle and he is setting up an auction and publicity event to raise awareness of the project.  He is also setting up a kick starter campaign for the same purpose and this should be underway around the start of August.  I’ll obviously post more details nearer the time.

The next big project for me is my exhibition at “the gallery on the corner” in Edinburgh.  I’ll be showing something in region of 30 pieces of work I think and the exhibition preview is on August 7th 2015.  The exhibition then runs until 29th August.  I’m really looking forward to this show as the gallery is such a great space.  The exhibition is on during the Edinburgh Festival so if you’re in the city, you could take a well earned breather from all the festival shows and enjoy looking at some peaceful, quiet paintings of the Scottish Highlands.  Full details of this exhibition to follow shortly.

 One other plan for the not too distant future is to visit the arts centre in Dumfries.  My partner Nita is making some great pieces in porcelain and we are starting to think about holding an exhibition together.  A colleague has suggested we look at the arts centre down in Dumfries as a possible venue for the show…..so, early days but visiting the centre would start the process.  More on this project as things develop.

Sadly we haven’t been able to get out walking since our trip to Glen Douglas the other week but I’m hopeful we can make it out sometime soon.  Fingers crossed, I’m starting to get withdrawal symptoms again!

‘Snow, rock and water, Harris, May 2013’

1-snow-rock-and-water-harris-may-2013-graphite-on-paper-2013-80-x-80-cm

‘Snow, rock and water, Harris, May 2013’

 ‘Snow, rock and water, Harris, May 2013’, Graphite on paper, 2013, 80 x 80 cm

 

I’m delighted to say that this new graphite drawing has been included in this years ‘North Ayrshire Open Art Exhibition’.  The exhibition preview is tonight and the show then runs for two weeks;

North Ayrshire Open Art Exhibition 2013
Racquet Hall
Eglinton Country Park
Kilwinning
Ayrshire

Open to the public
Saturday 13 July – Saturday 27 July 2013
Open: 10 am – 4 pm
I hope you can get along to see this year’s exhibition.

 

Eglinton Country Park

Eglinton Country Park

Bugged, snowed on, frozen and no work worked for six days!….Slacking or what?

'In Eglinton Country Park, Monday afternoon'

'In Eglinton Country Park, Monday afternoon'

A late blog again I’m afraid.  Suddenly it’s Sunday evening and I’ve just realised I haven’t written anything.  It’s been one of those weeks and one best forgotten.  Not only did I not get the blog written, I also got no painting done either.

The week started out well last Sunday with a very enjoyable few hours at the Courtyard Studios Christmas Fair.  It was the first time we’d held such an event and so I think we were all a little uncertain as to quite how many people might come along.  The fair took place at the Harbour Arts Centre which is just two doors down the street from the studios.  It’s an excellent venue and has a great bar / restaurant too.  We are though out along the harbour side and as such, a 15 minute walk from the main shopping area in Irvine.  At this time of year not too many people leave their town based Christmas shopping to venture in our direction.  That said though, Gordon (our new studio rep) did a grand job at promoting the event and had managed to get the local paper to write a piece about the fair….and it worked.  We had a very good turn out and although none of us I guess will be able to retire on the proceeds, we all I think sold a few items and most importantly, we helped let people know where we are.

'Trees in Eglinton Country Park, Monday afternoon'

'Trees in Eglinton Country Park, Monday afternoon'

From that point though, the week took a decided downward trend.  By Sunday evening I was feeling decidedly rough and as things hadn’t improved the next morning I decided to stay at home and catch up with some work on the computer.  Then it started snowing …and sticking, which is quite an event for Irvine.  Being on the coast we quite often miss the snow …but not this time.  We didn’t have the falls that so badly affected most of the central belt but it was nice and by the afternoon despite feeling ill, I just had to go out for a wee walk in it.  From the house you can follow an old disused railway line up to the edge of Eglinton Country Park and from their follow any number of paths through the rough mixture of grass and woodland.  It makes a very pleasant wander and with the snow down it looked great even under the dark grey skies.

By Tuesday I felt even worse and took to my bed and slept.  Wednesday was just as bad and Thursday too, but on Friday I suddenly started to feel a good deal better and so finally made it back to the studio on Saturday.  Today I’m still sniffing and coughing but just about back to rights but with six days missed I now have to try and catch up with my work.  I don’t normally work to a deadline but with the show coming up in Strathearn Gallery in early February I have quite a tight schedule.  I also sold one painting the previous weekend and have heard that I may have sold another one at one of the galleries …so a bit more work to be done….it’s all go.