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Jolomo award | Scottish Landscape Art - Scottish Landscape Paintings

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A bit of an artistic wander!

Posted by admin on September 14th, 2012
'December afternoon, above Glen Shee'

‘December afternoon, above Glen Shee’

Last week I talked about my using this year to try and develop my work.  This short blog is about the painting I’ve been working on for many weeks and finally finished yesterday.  The painting has gone through many stages and has changed dramatically since I first started working on it.  The only thing that stayed the same throughout its making was the fact that I wanted to do a painting that was about an afternoon a few years ago when Nita and I got a little lost in the hills above Glen Shee.  We’d started walking in reasonable weather, blue skies and broken cloud and a forecast of a reasonable day before a weather front would move in from the west in the evening.  As this was early December, we were confident that we’d be long off the hill before the bad weather arrived.  Instead, low cloud enveloped us quite early on but we continued our walk.  With the ground covered in snow and the cloud getting thicker, it made for careful navigation.  We found our summit but then on our return we got careless and a little lost in the deteriorating visibility.    With my sight as it is, I become almost totally blind once the light fades and with the prospect of rain or snow arriving soon this was not a good position to be in.  Of course, we dug out the GPS, found out where we’d wandered and plotted a course back ….but for a short while it was a little scary.

I took no photos that afternoon as we headed back but have very strong impressions of the gloomy conditions as the light faded.  Almost ever since that day, I’ve wanted to do a painting that had a little bit of that in it.  This painting has I think finally made it after many detours and (a bit like the walk itself) after getting a little lost for a while.  As I said last week, I wanted the painting to be as much abstract as landscape and I wanted it to be done in thick paint.  What happened was that I kept letting it drift too much into the landscape …and kept having to rework it.  I also found that using the paint thickly had its own problems too….it kept looking too contrived.

Anyway, here is the final painting after much hard work and head scratching and feeling many times that I was close to chucking it in the bin!  I think that this works now and I’m pleased with it finally.  I’ve learnt a lot from doing it and certainly wouldn’t have been able to spare the time last year.  A big thanks to the Jolomo Award once again, for allowing me the financial and artistic freedom to do this kind of thing.

'December afternoon, above Glen Shee'

‘December afternoon, above Glen Shee’ (Bigger Photo)

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Posted in abstract scottish landscape paintings, Gallery: Northern Highlands, Information Updates, New Artworks, Painting Themes, Personal, Scottish Mountains, Studio Tags: , , , , 1 Comment »

A year to myself

Posted by admin on September 8th, 2012
In the studio

In the studio

Around this time last year I took the decision not to go looking for exhibitions in 2012 but instead use my time trying to move my work on.  It was a great couple of years after winning the Jolomo Award back in 2009 and as a result I had a good number of solo exhibitions, but this did mean that I had very little time to develop my work.  I paint very slowly, especially so when I’m trying to tackle something very new and between 2009 and the end of 2011 I just didn’t have time to risk work going seriously wrong.

For me, developing work means taking a few risks…..risks that what I’m doing might not work and might after a month of hard graft simply end up stacked behind the bench.  This year, as I don’t have any shows to work towards, the pressure is off and I’ve been able to try out some new things.  As you’ve seen, I’ve gone back to working with oil paint for the first time in a little over eight years.  It’s amazing just how different it is from using acrylic and I’ve been battling hard to get it to do what I want!  I have then spent much time over these new paintings, cursing many times and no doubt rubbing some of what is left of my hair away!  That said and despite many false starts and many pieces ending up behind the bench, I am starting I think to get somewhere with these pieces.  I’ve been trying to create paintings that are both Scottish landscape and almost abstract at the same time.  It is a very difficult balance to achieve without the paintings looking contrived.  Anyway, this is a brief look back at the oil paintings I’ve been working on this year.

'In the Flow Country, Sutherland'

‘In the Flow Country, Sutherland’

'Evening, from Beinn a' Chrulaiste, late March'

‘Evening, from Beinn a’ Chrulaiste, late March’

'West from Beinn Griam Mor, Sutherland'

‘West from Beinn Griam Mor, Sutherland’

'A walk in the wild. above Drumochter, winter'

‘A walk in the wild. above Drumochter, winter’

'Rannoch Moor - variations'

‘Rannoch Moor – variations’

'Memories of rain, mist and melting snow, Beinn Chonzie, January 2007'

‘Memories of rain, mist and melting snow, Beinn Chonzie, January 2007’

 

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Posted in abstract scottish landscape paintings, Information Updates, Studio Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , No Comments »

On the go

Posted by admin on March 3rd, 2012
Pentland Hills

Pentland Hills

This time last week, almost to the hour, we were being blown off the Pentland Hills just to the SW of Edinburgh! We weren’t actually knocked off our feet, although a couple just ahead of us on the broad grassy ridge, were ….but the wind was so strong that it was almost impossible to make headway and so we reluctantly turned back and headed down. The most frustrating bit though was that once out of the wind, it was a beautiful spring like day …almost clear blue skies. Oh well, it made for a pleasant if short day and for the hour we were doing battle with the gale, it was quite an experience. We had asked our friend Guy if he’d like to join us but he was busy ….which as it turned out, was a good thing. He, as you may remember, broke his leg last year and is gradually getting out walking again. We’d thought that the easy slopes of the Pentlands would be a good ‘next step’ on his recovery to full hill fitness. As I staggered along on Friday however and it was taking all my strength to stay up right, (I could certainly feel the strain on my lower legs) I was very thankful that Guy had had a meeting to go to! Hopefully the next time we can all get out together it will be a calmer day and we can enjoy a relaxed wander over several of these beautiful little hills.

In the studio

In the studio

Since then, my week has simply been one of work. However, with our holiday in mid May, just around the corner, I’ve wanted to try and get a little fitter generally. I spent too much time sat on my backside last year and accepted too many offers of a lift in the car down to the studio from my partner. Even when she was working I was catching the bus from the top of our road into the town centre …and then just walking the mile to the studio from there. Irvine is as I’ve said many a time before …almost completely flat but I’ve decided to start walking the three and a bit miles from house to studio on a regular basis …it’s not serious exercise but it should help get me ready for the holiday. It takes me just on an hour …so in all honesty, only about 20 minutes longer than if I caught the bus, and it’s quite a pleasant little wander most of the way. One of the good things about Irvine for me is that much of it was developed into a ‘new town’ back in the late 70’s and early 80’s and as such they incorporated numerous footpaths that make getting about when you can’t see too well, fairly easy. The one big road crossing is missed by an underpass…..leaving only a couple of other awkward side junctions to cross.

In the studio

In the studio

When, in 1996, I went to the RNIB college in Torquay one of the things that we did was, mobility training. One of the things they emphasised was that it was important to work out ‘routes’ that you could use. In doing so, you get to learn the obstacles and can therefore move much quicker and with more confidence and safety. It doesn’t mean I can walk to my studio without concentrating but it does mean I can relax more during the hour long walk. My time at RNIB in Torquay all those years ago was well spent. It took me a long time to get used to using my white cane …I felt dreadful using it for the first couple of years, but now it goes with me everywhere and it allows me to be much more independent ….so a big thanks to Denis and Uwe, my two mobility training officers …they did a great job during the nine weeks I was at Torquay.

As for my work, well it is going along OK. I still haven’t quite finished my second 80 x 80 cm oil painting …but it’s getting very close now. I have three other oil paintings on the go now also and have been enjoying developing these over the last few days. This is where the Jolomo Award is really paying off for me. Almost three years on and it is allowing me to use this quiet period to just get on and try and improve and develop my work …I don’t have to panic ….people may not be buying as many paintings because of the economic situation but I can use this time to create a new and hopefully better body of work …ready for when things start picking up again. I realised at the time that the Jolomo Award was not a quick fix …that it would assist me in my career for many years …and so it is proving.

In the studio

In the studio

One good bit of news to end this week’s blog with. Yesterday, a couple (who have bought paintings from me in the past) came into the studio. They explained that they were moving house soon and had come in to give me warning that they’d be looking to commission a painting from me for their new house later this year. The interesting bit for me is that they said they’d like something done in just white, greys and black. That could be quite a challenge ….but very interesting and exciting too. Anyway, I’ll look forward to doing that as and when they make their move …I’ve got plenty of time now to think about it…..in fact I can use a little bit of time thinking about this as I walk to the studio each day.

Posted in Inspiring Mountain Walks, Mountain Photos, New Artworks, Personal, Studio, Visual Disability Tags: , , , , No Comments »

Wide open spaces

Posted by admin on February 25th, 2011
In the studio

In the studio

For the first time since I moved into my present studio space …the walls are almost completely empty.  Usually I have paintings hanging on the biggest wall and there are always others propped against it too.  For a month now though I have the extra wall space as nearly all my work is out on exhibition.

I’ve wanted to get down to doing some slightly larger pieces for a long time and as soon as all the work was away, I bought myself four biggish boards and started working on them ….well, three of them to date.  These boards are all 122 x 61 cm and so make for quite a good sized painting …certainly larger than I normally work on.

For a long time now I’ve been rather tentatively using thicker paint.  I bought a selection of colours from the Liquitex range of super heavy bodied acrylic paint. It’s wonderful thick sticky stuff but for a long time I didn’t know what to do with it!  As I say, I was very tentative with my use of it at first but as time has gone by I’ve become somewhat bolder.  So then, these new larger paintings are my attempt to take this process further, to try and work with more and thicker paint, bigger bolder marks and in a slightly more abstract fashion.  As such I decided that seeing as I’m working on a different scale and in a slightly different way, I may as well paint a different subject too.

New painting - "Harbour side"

New painting - "Harbour side"

My studio as you know by now is situated on the harbour side at Irvine.  My front door and window look out across the road and quay to the River Irvine.  On the opposite side of the river is a huge area of saltings that lie between the Irvine and Garnock rivers.  The view from my studio window is constantly changing.  On the high tides the saltings can disappear completely beneath the water, wee outcrops and an odd bush being the only land above water.  Then gradually the land begins to appear, first in long strips and then quite rapidly to leave just pools of water before on really low tides, there being no water to see at all from my studio.  Add to this the constantly changing weather conditions and light …and great change in the colours due to the season and well, it’s quite an amazing place to work next to.

New painting - "Irvine Harbour side"

New painting - "Irvine Harbour side"

The new paintings then are based on this very simple but at the same time complex (does that make sense?) view.  I got thinking about this a few weeks ago when after a morning of heavy rain and dark brooding clouds, the conditions suddenly started to improve and small breaks appeared in the cloud allowing bursts of intensely bright light to fall through and onto areas of the saltings.  The colours were amazing.  The sky was a heavy dark purple grey blue and the far horizon a thin dark line.  The saltings though were an intense bright mass of yellows and then back to ochre’s, olive greens and umbers in the shadow in the foreground.  It was beautiful.  I thought about photographing it but realised that it probably wouldn’t capture much of this and so instead just grabbed my small digital voice recorder (used to record meetings, lists of things to do and what to buy on my next visit to Asda) and simply tried to describe what I could see …a sort of audio sketch.  The conditions, light and colours changed rapidly over the next hour and so I made four or five short recordings and decided to use these as the basis for my first couple of paintings.

I’d never really thought about using the voice recorder as a kind of sketch book before and it has been pleasing how well it’s working for me.  The first two paintings have developed quite well and I’m now starting on two others that are going to be about the view at or around high tide …and in different light….I’ve been making further recordings during the last few days while the high tides have coincided with the best daylight.   I’ve tried to use just my bigger brushes …a one and a half inch flat brush being the smallest and then working right up to my large old six inch bristle house painting brushes.  I have still drawn into these with pastel but this is quite limited and this just helps to create a nice balance of marks rather than being a main feature as in a lot of my previous paintings.  It really has been an interesting couple of weeks and at long last this is much more what I’ve wanted to do.

Work in progress - Studio E

Work in progress - Studio E

Of course having the funds to be able to purchase the materials (these paints are quite expensive …and a six inch house brush swallows a lot of paint) and being able to afford to spend time experimenting …is all down to the Jolomo Award.  Without it I’d be forced to keep producing smaller more sellable paintings rather than trying to develop new and better and perhaps more challenging work.  I was a lucky chap back in June 2009 when I won that award and its funding has supported me to this point and will probably do so for at least a couple of years more.  The 2011 Jolomo Awards are in progress now and so it’ll be great to see who eventually wins through when the awards are announced in June.  Who ever it is, they’ll certainly find it makes a huge difference to their career …it’s certainly made a huge change to my work as an artist.

Anyway, I’ve got until the 12th March before the show ends at the Strathearn Gallery and my studio gets some what more cluttered again.  That said, the gallery have sold a number of pieces to date so that has been very encouraging …and of course it means I’ll have to keep painting …I have a busy year ahead.   There should be a list on my website shortly, giving details of forthcoming exhibitions throughout 2011.

Posted in Exhibitions, Information Updates, New Artworks, Personal Tags: , , , , , No Comments »

A week in the life of …

Posted by admin on January 29th, 2010

'From Beinn Inverveigh, October', Acrylic & Pastel, 2010, 60 x 60 cm

'From Beinn Inverveigh, October'

Saturday 23rd January

The main aim of the day was to try and get a painting finished.  I’ve been working on two pieces that I plan to exhibit at the Strathearn Gallery in Creiff as part of the Jolomo Awards 2009 Finalists exhibition.  This opens on Saturday 13th February and the work has to be delivered a week before.  So not long!  I’d completed the first piece the week before but this second piece was causing me a few problems.  However, before I could start painting there was the small matter of meeting the Pest control man who we’d contacted the day before after hearing some ominous scratching and movement in the studio walls and loft spaces.  It appears that while we were away from the building due to the frozen pipes, some furry friends have moved in.  Great!  By the end of the day the painting still wasn’t completed.

Sunday 24th January

So back to it again.  The painting in question is based on the view I had over to the hills of the Blackmount from the relative warmth of Rannoch Moor.  I’d been watching the bad weather through the monocular and it seemed an excellent subject for a painting.  Easier said than done sometimes but by the end of the evening I had the piece finally finished.  In the end, although it had caused me problems, I’m quite pleased with it and am looking forward to seeing it in a frame and on the wall.  Mind you, I was working on this picture for almost ten days!

'Winter, Blackmount', Acrylic & Pastel, 2010, 76 x 23 cm

'Winter, Blackmount', Acrylic & Pastel, 2010, 76 x 23 cm

Monday 25th January

Of course as I’ve said before, being a painter isn’t just about doing paintings …oh if that were only  the case.  We’ve been in the process of up-grading this website … as hopefully you’ve noticed.  Well, that of course means someone else doing the actual work on the site, but I’ve had to do quite a bit of work on the computer for this too.  The new works on the website are now shown much better with larger clearer images and more information about each painting.  So then, Monday morning started with a session on the computer, sorting images and writing details etc.  As anyone who’s visually impaired will know, using a PC can be quite time consuming and frustrating.  I use a screen magnifier mostly but of course I have to have the magnification so high I can only see a very small portion of the screen at any one time.  Suffice to say, I started work at 07.30 and by 11.00 I’d got some things done …but not much.  Added to this, my computer crashed in the middle of everything and I can honestly say it wasn’t the best starts to the day!

It did improve once down the studio and  as well as getting some interesting small drawings done I also got the painting I’d finished the day before, into it’s frame….and it looks great …he said modestly!

Tuesday 26th January

A slightly different day ….I’ve been asked by the Edinburgh based charity Autism Initiatives Scotland to become one of their patrons for a new project they’re starting in the city.   I had arranged to meet three of the people responsible for setting up and running the project, and to learn more of it and about my role as a patron.  More in detail in another blog but suffice to say that the project involves creating a working gallery through which people affected by autism can undertake apprenticeships in both the creative business sides of the gallery.  The meeting went very well and later we were taken to see the building that is to be the gallery.  It’s a wonderful building in a superb location in the heart of the gallery district on the edge of the city centre.  I’m very excited and delighted to have been asked to be involved in it.  Back in Irvine by 17.30 …and back on the computer for several more hours.

Wednesday 27th January

After another lengthy session on the computer, this time working on information requested by the Scottish Arts Circle, I then received an email from Germany informing me that I’d been selected for the 2010 Speyer Artists Scholarship.  Wow!  I’d applied back in January last year and didn’t really hold out much hope …but there you go ..if you don’t apply …etc etc.  More details in another blog …but basically it means I’ll be living and working in a purpose built house and studio in the centre of the historic and beautiful city of Speyer for the four months May – August.  What a great opportunity and chance to export a little bit of contemporary Scottish landscape painting into Europe.   Despite the elation at hearing this news, it was back to the studio and work through to 20.00.

Thursday 28th January

A whole day on the computer …getting images ready and sent to the Strathearn Gallery for their website.  Also a CV and statement. Emails to read, emails to answer.  We’ve just set up a link with Facebook and already have 20 plus fans (are you one?).  I finished my marathon session on the computer (about 10 hours and boggled eyes) by trying to learn my way around the Facebook website … I’m feeling a bit old!

Friday 29th ..today

Well, it’s 09.30 and I’ve been working at this keyboard for the last two hours.  Almost finished here so I plan to get a full days painting in.  Nita will pick me up when she finishes work at 20.00 …and then I think we’ll both deserve a pint!  Signing off … a rather frazzled artist!

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