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A new drawing….but not of a mountain!

Posted by admin on March 29th, 2013
The first of the new Dom drawings

The first of the new Dom drawings

Despite much time spent working on my computer this week and much sitting in meetings, I have managed to do some painting and drawing.  I have even got two pieces close to or perhaps even completed.  The drawing I’ve done is a bit of a look back ….it’s a new Dom drawing.  You’ll no doubt remember that in Speyer in 2010 I did a number of pastel drawings of the Dom, (the huge cathedral).  One of them, as I talked about in last week’s blog, was big, and now hangs on a wall in the lobby of a new hotel and restaurant in Speyer.  I also did three other similar drawings on a smaller scale …about 1m x 80cm and two of these sold and the other I gave to a friend in Speyer.  Anyway, a few weeks ago this friend contacted me to say that a colleague had seen the drawing she had and had asked if she knew whether I had any other similar drawings left over from my stay in the city.  In short, I didn’t, but I said that I’d try working on some new pieces and see what happened.

It was quite strange going back to something I’d not actually seen for over 18 months and although I have the original small working drawings and sketches I did along with a selection of photos ….they don’t in all honesty give me that much information.  Instead, what I do have is the memories of walking around the huge building, its massive bulk and height radiating the intense light of mid summer.  I’ve decided therefore, to try and create drawings that are more about these aspects of the building…..drawings that are slightly more solid than the original ‘big sketches’ I did.  I have as I say, just completed the first of these new drawings and am quite pleased with the way it’s gone.  It’s used up a lot of pastel though and before I can really get my teeth into the next one I’m going to have to order more materials.  It’s a start though and has made a very interesting change.  I’m not sure what the chap over in Speyer will think of these new pieces once they’re done but hopefully he’ll like them…..and if not, it doesn’t matter as I’m having a great time just doing the work…….and that, when all is said and done, is what it’s all about.

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What a week!

Posted by admin on January 28th, 2012
Windfarm on Eaglesham Moor

Windfarm on Eaglesham Moor

Late …….it’s been a difficult week ending with me getting a nasty cold and feeling quite rough this last couple of days.  I had planned to get the blog etc written on Friday but everything seems to be taking me an age.  The week started off well though with a fine wander around the Eaglesham Moors, following the broad paths connecting all the wind turbines.  It was a very windy day but a mostly dry one with just a few short sharp showers.  We walked for about six and a half hours, with a couple of detours off the main tracks to take in a couple of low hills en route.   This was the first real outing for our friend Guy, who you may remember, broke his leg on the low hills above Largs last spring.  It’s taken a long time to heal fully and so this mainly level and gentle walk was an ideal starter to get his leg back into the habit of wearing boots.  I think he enjoyed himself and apparently he has had no adverse reactions from his leg.

Windfarm on Eaglesham Moor

Windfarm on Eaglesham Moor

Big problems though down at the studio …one of my colleagues has been told he’s lost his lease.  It’s all rather complicated but there has been much talking, listening and thinking being done….and not much work.  The tenant in question is a really dedicated artist and has been one of the regulars here for many years and has always been very active in promoting the studios.   It will be a great shame if he has to leave and the studios will, in my opinion, be poorer for it.  A majority of artists at the Courtyard have put a letter / petition together and will be sending this to WASPS to air our concerns about what has happened ….but as I say it’s all rather complicated so quite what the outcome will be is anyone’s guess.

Windfarm on Eaglesham Moor

Windfarm on Eaglesham Moor

I have been asked this week for work by three places in Ayrshire ….a new gallery in Ayr as part of a Courtyard Studio exhibition starting in May, a new gallery in Dalry…..and a top restaurant also near Dalry.  As I haven’t got much lined up this year it will be interesting to see how things work out.  Full details to come soon.

I am also working with a sculptor I met in Germany….Jürgen Fischer.  He works in bog oak and lived and worked in Ireland for eight years.  His stuff looks very good and very stylish …we reckon our two works would look good together and could make an interesting exhibition.  We’ve decided to see if we can organise two exhibitions …one in Germany…possibly Berlin and one in Scotland or Ireland.  I spent this morning putting together a CD of images and information for him to take when he starts seeking venues in Germany.  His work is quite big ..1.5 – 2m tall so we’ll need a good size venue.  I have a couple of places in mind for a show over here and will start making some enquiries fairly soon.  We’re thinking about trying to set these exhibitions up for 2013 or 2014.  A lot of work but it could be very interesting I think.

Finally, we had a very good and enjoyable preview for the ‘Six into 12 plus Hornel’, exhibition at the Dick Institute in Kilmarnock the other Friday.  Despite it being a cold and very wet evening, there was a great turn out and the gallery was busy for much of the two hour long preview.  I was delighted with how my work looked in such a big space …it held its own among what was a very strong selection of work by the other five artists.  Everyone seemed to be pleased with how it looked and went and so a big thank you to Kate Davies and her team at the Dick Institute and to East Ayrshire Council for supporting this group of Ayrshire based artists.  I’m planning to go for a proper look around soon (too much talking at previews) and will try and take a few more general photos of the exhibition then.

Preview of Six into 12, Dick Institute, Kilmarnock

Preview of Six into 12, Dick Institute, Kilmarnock

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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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Away!

Posted by admin on October 14th, 2011
'Approaching snow shower, above Braemar'

Work in Speyer exhibition: 'Approaching snow shower, above Braemar'

Wow, after many weeks of painting, wrapping and organising …that’s everything away.  The 13 large boxes containing the 19 paintings for the Speyer exhibition were collected last Friday afternoon and I had an anxious wait until receiving an email saying that they’d arrived safely on Tuesday, phew!   Mike Lauter of the Künstlerbund (the man driving the tandem last August) emailed to say that they were planning to open the boxes and get everything hung on the walls either Thursday or Friday evening this week. So with a bit of luck it’s all in place …or nearly so.  I’m quite looking forward to seeing it all up ….the two galleries at the Künstlerhaus are great for showing work.  The exhibition comprises 8 paintings 80 x 80 cm, 2 paintings 30 x 60 cm, 4 paintings 76 x 23 cm and 5 paintings 30 x 30 cm.  The exhibition preview is at 7pm on Friday 21st October and the Künstlerhaus is open Saturday 22nd, Sunday 23rd, and Saturday 29th and Sunday 30th October.  For more details: www.kuenstlerbund-speyer.de .

Once the work was away to Speyer it was a mad rush to get the other pieces wrapped and ready for delivery to The Strathearn Gallery in Crieff and Queens Gallery in Dundee.  I got up at about half past six in the morning to find the rain pouring down  …not a great day to be loading and unloading paintings ….but the forecast did reckon it’d improve as the morning went on.  We picked the van up at about half past eight, spent a good few minutes trying to discover quite how the fuel cap opened …but eventually filled up and had the 23 paintings packed into the Transit van by about half past ten …luckily the rain had stopped by the time we started loading.

Work in Speyer exhibition. 'Towards Blackmount, winter'

Work in Speyer exhibition: 'Towards Blackmount, winter'

First stop, The Strathearn Gallery.  We were delivering six paintings here..these are going down to London for the Battersea Affordable Art Fair.  This runs from Thursday 20th – Sunday 23rd.  Open Thursday11am – 5.30 pm, Friday, Saturday & Sunday11 am – 6pm.  The Strathearn Gallery will be showing their work at Stand 114.  If you live in London then why not go along.  As well as my own six paintings, you’ll see a great selection of work by other Scottish and Scotland based artists at The Strathearn Gallery stand 114.

Work in Speyer exhibition: 'Towards Beinn Toaig, winter'

Work in Speyer exhibition: 'Towards Beinn Toaig, winter'

After a quick bite to eat, it was on to Dundee to deliver the 17 paintings for my exhibition at the Queens Gallery.  It’s always a little worrying when arriving at galleries with a van …where to park while unloading?  This time we were remarkably lucky …we found a spare space right opposite the gallery and so it was an easy job moving the paintings.  This exhibition opens on Saturday 22nd October and runs until November 5th.  At the same time there will also be an exhibition of work by other gallery artists.  For more details:  http://www.queensgallery.co.uk/exhibitions.html .  A late change of date for this exhibition means that I’ll be away in Germany and will therefore be unable to attend the preview.  If you’re living within driving distance of the gallery then do go along and see the show, it contains a good number of new paintings including three of the new 80 x 80 cm pieces.  I’ll be posting images of some of these paintings in next week’s blog.

So then, everything is away …..…and I’ll be away too, as from Wednesday.  With any luck I should be getting ready for the preview of the Speyer exhibition in exactly one weeks time.  It’s a long way to travel so I’m not expecting too many of you to get over to see it …but with work in both London and Dundee over the next few weeks, hopefully a few of you will get to see some of my new paintings.

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Behind the paint

Posted by admin on September 24th, 2011
'From the studio, Irvine harbour side'

'From the studio, Irvine harbour side'

The last week has been a fairly typical week recently ….lots of painting.  But behind every finished and exhibited painting there’s a safe full of other tasks.

I’m now on the final run up to the Wasps Studios Open Weekend, my exhibitions in Speyer and Dundee and ….the Battersea Affordable Arts Fair.  I have I think now completed the minimum amount of work needed for these shows but am still trying to complete another two 80 x 80 cm paintings and another one 76 x 23 cm piece.  Whether I will get these three pieces completed is debatable as from now on the back room tasks start to take precedence.   Thankfully many of these have already been taken on by my partner Anita (who reckons the pay rate for artists assistant is ****!).   While I’ve been wielding the paint brushes she has spent many hours doing this less romantic side of the job for me.

I’ll not only be shipping work out to Germany for my exhibition but am also finally in the process of setting up Papal on this website so that it will make it easier for customers to purchase paintings.  Before I can do this though I’ve needed to think carefully about how I ship work ….in other words I’ve needed to find out about and order boxes.  This doesn’t seem a great deal of effort but with there being a number of different sized paintings with several different framing options, it’s been vitally important that we’ve found the very best box ‘solutions’.  Part of the problem is storage space….or the lack of it!  As anyone who has visited my studio will know …there aint a lot of space there ….and as I said last week …the house is rather chock a’ block too.  The boxes I’m getting have a minimum order of 25 …so they’ll take up quite a lot of space…. hence the need to work out the very minimum number of different size boxes.  It’s all taken a lot of time especially as we’ve needed to get samples sent out and each of the different boxes tested out …but we’re getting there and Nita has just  placed the first order for me.

Other back room jobs this week have included sending out around 50 invitations to the Open Studios Weekend, delivering the last five paintings to the Waverley Gallery in Prestwick for framing …and collecting the one large painting (122 cm x 61cm).  I also spent an entire morning putting together a press release for our local paper the Irvine Times…..this to try and get some coverage for the Open Studios event next weekend.  The local papers have always been very helpful in the past and I received an email from the Irvine Times saying they’d put something in next week’s edition …perfect..it makes the time I spent on the press release worth while.  Hopefully it’ll bring a few extra folk through the doors and perhaps a sale or two for some of the artists taking part.

I’m leaving the actual organisation of the studio right to the last minute …well I’ll start tidying and cleaning on Thursday morning after we’ve been down to pick up the work from the Waverley  in Prestwick.   The tidying is the biggest job but I should have that done and the couple of walls painted by the time I go home on Thursday evening …quite late in the evening I reckon especially as I’ll also have to transport  one of the work benches, all paints and a good number of paintings home for the weekend.  Friday will be a day of setting up …selecting and hanging the paintings, printing and fixing labels, putting out a selection of business cards and other postcards, fixing clear signs directing folk to my studios and arranging lighting.  There’s probably a load of other jobs that I’ve forgotten now but will no doubt come to me on the day …and cause PANIC!

On top of this there’s a statement I need to write and send for my Queens Gallery exhibition, a van to be hired for delivering the work there and to the Strathearn Gallery on the 10th, and after the Open Weekend on 1st and 2nd, we have to wrap and box all 19 or 20 paintings ready for shipping to Germany.  These all have to be very carefully measured and weighed before I contact the shipping company.  Oh well, it keeps me busy …and Nita too.  It’s amazing isn’t it …you think you’re just doing a nice bit of relaxing painting……!   I love it, though it might not be so good when Nita sends her bill in!.

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Into the hills

Posted by admin on June 25th, 2010

agricultural-land-around-speyer

Agricultural land around Speyer

I had an interesting day on Sunday. I was invited to join some friends for a wee tour to see some of the typical local landscape.

We spent the morning looking at some of the very local landscape…..the flat agricultural area adjacent to the Rhine. It’s nearly all crops that are grown here with just a limited amount of grazing. Apparently the humid environment is perfect for the biting insects which can be a real nuisance for both humans and animals alike during the warm summer months. My friends had said the colours of the crops were quite impressive and reminded them of some of my paintings …and they were right. We walked along one path the bordered fields that were just brightly striped with long lines of different crops – different types of lettuce, barley, wheat …and a massive patch of spring onions. It really was quite impressive and I may well try and work a painting out of this strange man made landscape. There were plenty of trees interspersed with the fields as well as villages and further off still …the wooded hills rising several hundred metres and looking very inviting through my monocular.

After this we went down to the side of the Rhine …only to be surprised to find it flooding and the path along it’s banks under water in places. This section though was protected by a large dyke about fifty metres from the rivers edge and we were able to walk along looking out across the fast moving and rather muddy waters. Apparently there had been very heavy rain in the Alps recently and we were looking at the results.

from-the-top-of-the-castle
A view from the castle

After lunch we drove south and then west, moving from the flat agricultural areas to rising ground, vines and beautiful old villages of timber framed farm houses. As we gained height the hills stretching right across the horizon to the west, grew more impressive and were clearly heavily wooded. Around us now were just vast areas of vines …it was absolutely beautiful. Within a short time we were getting close to the first of the hills. They were not particularly high, rising to perhaps a little over 400m, but rose steeply from the surrounding areas of vine and their sides and tops were thickly wooded. The road we were on climbed and entered these woods, zigzagging its way uphill to reach a large car park …a popular spot evidently. From here a broad path wandered its way uphill through the trees. It was rich deciduous woodland full of birdsong …but in the dense mass of branches and leaves it was difficult to see the singers!

in-the-hills-sw-of-speyer

In the hills, sw of Speyer

After about a kilometre the forest cleared to reveal a magnificent ruined castle. It was well preserved and sat atop the hill, built into the natural sandstone. The ramparts fell steeply away and offered magnificent views all around….west across numerous low wooded hills towards France, and in the other direction out across the plains towards the Rhine and the slightly higher hills of the Black Forest. The weather was bright but with large white clouds that created deep shadows across the fields and small villages below us …a stunning patchwork of the German landscape. Being one used to the Scottish hills, it was a little surprising to find that there was a bar /cafe here at the top of the hill …but never liking to miss out I enjoyed a very pleasant beer and caught myself wondering whether such facilities at the top of Beinn an Dothaidh or Ben Starav would be a good idea. Possibly after hauling myself up these I might think it was a good idea …but perhaps the peace, quiet and the horizontal rain and gnawing midges would be best enjoyed without a beer tent!

We watched a falcon of some type turn and swoop around the top of the castle and then we headed back towards the car by a different path. It was a great little day and a fine introduction to the regions landscape.

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Making plans

Posted by admin on March 19th, 2010
157 'On Ghlas Beinne, Rannoch Moor', Acrylic & Pastel, 2010, 76 x 23 cm

Work In Progress: 'On Ghlas Beinne, Rannoch Moor'

No walks in beautiful snow covered glens and mountains this week I’m afraid. It’s been one of paint and paperwork. We’re now half way through March and there’s much to do before leaving for Speyer in early May …not least of which is to arrange flights out and back. The place where I’ll be living and working is being used for an exhibition until May 9, so I needed to get a flight as soon as possible after that. My partner Anita took on the job of booking the flights on-line and after much time she had everything sorted …except for some reason when it actually came to booking ….the system wouldn’t work! After a few choice words we decided to go into the travel agent the next morning and have them do the work. So then, I’ll be going out on 11th May.

One of the really difficult parts of this trip for me will be finding my way around, learning where the shops I need are, where the items in them are, …in other words finding out about all the day to day things that normally you can just use your eyes for! To help with this, Nita is travelling out with me and will stay for the first two weeks. After living with me and my fuzzy eye for over twenty years, she is a great guide …not just on the hill but perhaps more importantly in everyday situations. With a bit of luck in those first couple of weeks I can get myself orientated, get my studio set up and start to explore my surroundings.

158 'Blackmount, winter', Acrylic & Pastel, 2010, 76 x 23 cm

Work In progress: 'Blackmount, winter'

Mike Lauter of the Speyer arts association said that navigation around the city would be easy for me as the cathedral is at one end and there’s a tower at the other end …..and the house / studio is somewhere in between them! Sounds great. As for getting my gear over there, I’ll be arranging to have it sent out by courier a short time before we leave. We had thought about driving over with all the gear but the expense would be pretty high especially as my local courier will send 20kg packages to Germany for just ten pounds. A few well packed boxes of gear should be enough for a few months and anything forgotten will just have to be done without!

The work for the exhibitions is coming on well. I’ve now got the seven paintings completed for the spring exhibition at the Athol Gallery in Dunkeld and just need to get a couple of pieces framed. I’m currently working on two long thin 76 x 23 cm paintings that will be for the Blairmore Gallery show in the summer. One of these is based on our day over on Arran the other month and is worked in diagonal bands of colour that mimic the bands of rock, snow and grass that we saw in Glen Rosa. This painting is almost complete and indeed I have it hanging in an old temporary frame in the studio at the moment. I like to do this with all my pictures. It allows me to see them better and gives me some time while I’m working on other paintings, to decide as to whether they’re finished or not …and if not, what needs doing to them.

159 'Winter bands, Glen Rosa', Acrylic & Pastel, 2010, 76 x 23 cm

Work In Progress: 'Winter bands, Glen Rosa'

The week ends with another trip up to the Strathearn Gallery to collect the three unsold works at the end of the show, and then to drive across country to Pittenweem to drop off the three new pieces for the Fisher Gallery. We’ve never been over to the Fife coast before so it’ll make a nice change and it’ll be great to see the gallery and to meet John Fisher. Hopefully the rain and gales forecast for the next few days will have passed through by Sunday and we’ll get a chance to see some more of this splendid Scottish landscape.

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