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North Ayrshire Council | Scottish Landscape Art - Scottish Landscape Paintings

Posts Tagged ‘North Ayrshire Council’

Isle of Arran Distillery exhibition – 3 weeks to go….

It is amazing quite how fast time has flown recently, as we’re already well into the second month of the exhibition at the Isle of Arran Distillery.   Nita went over for me a few weeks ago to deliver a few more prints and gift cards for the visitor centre shop and she said that they reckoned they’d been getting a very good response to the work.  I was certainly very pleased with the way the big Glen Rosa drawing looked in the space as well as the five paintings we hung with it, so if you haven’t been to see the show and you either live in the region or are visiting on holiday ….you’ve got three weeks left to catch it.  Of course, if you can’t get over to Arran but are in Irvine at any time, you can see the full size reproduction of the Glen Rosa drawing near the Town House in the centre of Irvine.  North Ayrshire Council produced this high quality print of the drawing and has sited it in this very central part of town.

Glen Rosa at the HAC

The finished Glen Rosa drawing, Harbour Arts Centre, January 2015

The reason I’ve been so busy of late has been because we were preparing for our annual Open Studios Weekend and our “21 Years” group exhibition at the Harbour Arts Centre.  The exhibition preview was last Friday 2nd October and we had a very enjoyable and busy evening.  It was the first time for many years that the artists here at the WASPS Courtyard Studios have held an exhibition together and I’m delighted to say that it’s a “good’n”.  Do pop in to see it if you have a spare half an hour or so …there is some really excellent work included…… do check out the display cabinet containing book-binding by Tom McEwen  and ceramics by Nita Groves ….very different, very exciting.   The exhibition runs until 23rd October 2015, so plenty of time left to see it.

'On display at the Isle of Arran Distillery Visitor Centre until 31st October'

‘On display at the Isle of Arran Distillery Visitor Centre until 31st October, 2015’

The Open Studios Weekend went really well.  In fact it was the busiest event we’ve ever had…. by a long way.  During the course of last weekend we saw just under 500 visitors come into the studios!  It made for a great atmosphere and has hopefully raised our profile somewhat.  A big thanks to everyone who came to the Courtyard Studios last weekend, I hope you enjoyed the experience.  We are of course, open to the public right throughout the year so don’t be afraid to call back and see the studios in their working mode.

Arran Distillery Exhibition

‘On display at the Isle of Arran Distillery Visitor Centre until 31st October, 2015’

To get such a good turn out we had to get the event publicised really well and this year we seemed to get everything right.  Much work was done by event rep Nita, studio rep Brian, Alison and Marie in the Harbour Arts Centre and the good folk at WASPS head office in Glasgow….. So well done all.  We were also helped significantly by all the local harbour side businesses that put up posters and gave out event flyers and leaflets for us.  Our local press were great too, giving us good coverage in the run-up to the event, as was our local radio station Irvine Beat, who allowed me to tell their listeners all about the event.  We were also helped by the people at Irvine’s Big Screen in the centre of town.  They very kindly screened details of the event during the week before.    So then a BIG THANK YOU to everyone who helped make last weekend at the Courtyard Studios and Harbour Arts Centre such a success.

Arran Distillery Exhibition

‘On display at the Isle of Arran Distillery Visitor Centre until 31st October’

It’s back to normal this week and I’ve already started work on several new oil paintings and the tidy studio space of the weekend is fast becoming messy again!

Full circle, Glen Rosa to Lochranza

When we set out with our friend Guy Hansford several years ago on a cold, grey January to walk up Glen Rosa on the Isle of Arran, I had no idea that this was to be the start of a lengthy and quite far reaching art project.  Indeed, we had walked through this magnificent Scottish glen on a good few occasions over the previous 10 years and the sole purpose of the days walk was to have a good time amongst the wild and wintry mountains of Arran.

Isle of Arran

Below Cir Mhor, Glen Rosa

The day really was a good one with wonderful misty views up into the snow covered mountains, watching them come and go as the cloud drifted through and around the rocky peaks and ridges.  At the head of the glen underneath Cir Mhor, the snow was right down to the base of the glen, creating marvellous patterns of light and dark on the rocky ground.   As the walk was an easy one even for a short winter day, we had plenty of time to stop and look.  A longer break among piles of snow covered boulders near the head of the glen, gave me a real chance to sit and look at this amazing array of peaks curving around us.

Glen Rosa, Arran

Walking with Dr David Feeney and Dan Thornton in Glen Rosa, March 2013

I don’t quite know when the idea came to me but at some point that day, I realised that this was the scene I’d been looking for, for some time …… a scene that I could base a very large drawing on.  A couple of years earlier while I was working in the German city of Speyer, I created a big pastel drawing of the city’s huge cathedral and on returning to Scotland had decided that I’d like to do some thing on a similar scale but based on the Scottish landscape.  Now, after two years of looking, I had my subject.

Just a couple of months later, I was back in Glen Rosa with the sole purpose of starting to work out how I might go about creating a very big drawing based on walking up the glen.  However, as you already know, in the intervening time, I’d met Dan Thornton, a Seattle based landscape photographer and independent film maker and Nita and I had invited him and his colleague Dr David Feeney, to join us on the walk.  Of course, we did a lot of talking during the day and of course I started telling them about my plans for the big drawing.  By the end of that day, my plans for the work were much more advanced and what previously had seemed like a ‘maybe’ idea had now become a definite project.  I would definitely be doing the drawing and it seemed highly likely that Dan and David would be making some kind of film linked to it.  It was suddenly very exciting.

It took me another almost two years to work out not just how to do the piece but also where to create it.  2013 saw me back in Glen Rosa with Nita in order for me to make a series of sketches and take many photos.  From these and the many hours of sitting and looking and thinking, I started creating some large graphite works.  These  eight or nine pieces were about 125 cm x 85 cm and were important exercises in using a range of graphite sticks along with soft erasers to see if I could create large scale scribbled landscapes. …. in what would have to be double quick time!

As these works progressed and it became evident that a very large work using this method would be possible, I started to work on the more practical side of the project ….exactly where to do the drawing.  I wanted to create the work in a public place so that it was not just me doing a drawing but more like a performance piece.  Luckily our local Harbour Arts Centre has a 5m long wall in their main gallery and so it was simply a case of persuading them to let me use if for 5 or 6 weeks.  The solution was for me to offer them a traditional exhibition of paintings in the gallery spaces but to cover the big wall with paper and then for me to create the drawing through the course of the exhibition.  By this time Dan was fully involved in making an hour long documentary about my work, hill walking and the role my visual impairment has played in both.  The film was to be centred on the Glen Rosa drawing project.

HAC 2015

The finished Glen Rosa drawing, Harbour Arts Centre, January 2015

The exhibition took place in December last year and for 17 days I was in the main gallery scribbling away ….finishing it with plenty of time to spare.  One of the ideas behind this was to make the creation of the drawing public …not just for those able to visit the centre, but to a much wider audience…..by using the web.  Initial plans to have a live web cam were changed and in the end we went for filming each days work with a time lapse camera …and then posting the short one minute long films on-line.  A local arts company Model X Media, took on the job of doing this part of the project and it proved very successful.  For those of you who haven’t seen these rather ‘Chaplin-esque’ clips … here’s a link: “In Sun, Snow, Mist and Rain”

With the drawing completed, I decided to offer it to North Ayrshire Council and they have been great in helping to promote it.  One off shoot of this is that they have recently had a full size (5m long x 1.5m high) print made and this has been laminated onto aluminium panels and sited in the centre of Irvine.  I have to say that I am very pleased with the result and it’s a great way of promoting my work.

Finally, the drawing is going over to the Isle of Arran Distillery Visitor Centre for two months starting in a few days on 1st September.  The distillery is in Lochranza at the north end of the island and is situated right beneath the mountains that the drawing is based on.  It’s probably only a few miles as the eagle flies, from the distillery to the head of Glen Rosa.  So then, full circle …with Dan and one of his crew flying in from Seattle tomorrow to film the final shots of the documentary ….the drawing going to Arran.

  Please spread the word and do pop in to the Isle of Arran Distillery Visitor Centre to see the drawing if you are over on the island between 1st September and 31st October.  Prints of the big drawing will be available for purchase at the distillery or can be bought direct from my studio.

10 hours of quiet after 2 weeks of running around!

It has been an exceedingly busy last couple of weeks and to be honest I’ve been struggling to get everything done that has needed to be done. … hence the lack of a blog recently.  I spent a lot of time getting all the work ready for my exhibition at “the gallery on the corner” in Edinburgh that opened on 7th August.  In the end I took 24 framed pieces along with 9 small unframed graphite sketches.  It’s amazing just how much time it takes getting everything into frames and wrapped.  Even making the labels is a very time consuming business although I was luckily able to sub contract this and other computer based jobs to my unpaid assistant and partner Nita.  Without her help with these projects, I don’t know how long it would take me to get everything done.  We got it all completed and on the morning of Saturday 1st August we packed it all into the car and headed across to Edinburgh.   It was such a relief when the work was in the gallery and I could pass on responsibility for the show to assistant gallery manager Paul Penrice and his assistants.  They did a wonderful job of hanging the work and the gallery looked great when we arrived for the preview the following Friday evening.  The exhibition continues until August 29th so you have plenty of time to get along there if you live in or are visiting the city.

Other jobs have included visiting the Isle of Arran Distillery, (I know, it’s a tough job but somebody has to do it!)….. in order to finalise arrangements for exhibiting the big Glen Rosa drawing there in September and October.  Everything appears to be on track with this project and I’m really looking forward to going over with the work on 1st September.   As this is the final part of the story about this drawing project, Dan Thornton and his assistant Cindy are returning to Scotland from Seattle at the end of the month in order to film the drawing going to Arran.  This will be the final part of the documentary Dan is making and then it all comes down to getting the hours and hours of film he has taken over the last two years, edited.  This is not just an important part of the process; it’s also quite an expensive one.  As such, Dan and his colleagues have been working on a promotional ‘Seed & Spark’ campaign to help promote awareness of the film and to raise some of the funds needed to complete it.  Details of this campaign along with a link to the short trailer Dan has made can be found on the homepage of this website.  I also had 500 flyers printed with the same information and Nita and I spent a day last week distributing them around venues in Ayrshire and Arran.  Anyway, please check it out and please spread the word!    Thank you.

Along with all this, Nita and I are spending quite a bit of time helping to organise this years Open studios Weekend at the Courtyard Studios.  It’s looking like it should be a good one this year with all 17 artists taking part.  There is a really excellent group of artists working here at present and there is a wide range of top quality work being produced here, including paintings, photography, drawings, ceramics, music, hand book-binding and jewellery.  The event takes place on Saturday 3rd and Sunday 4th October 2015 and will also include collaboration with the Harbour Arts Centre where we’ll be holding a group exhibition to celebrate 21 years of artistic practise at the Courtyard.  I’ll be posting full details of these events nearer the time ….but for now …just pencil in the dates!

There have been lots of other things happening recently, all taking up much needed painting time.  There is good news on two of the most important projects.  The Brazil commissions got bogged down somewhat since I completed the work at the end of February.  Difficulties arose with shipping the artwork to Brazil and over the last five and a half months Nita and I have spent hours it seems writing emails in order to resolve this.  It has been a bit tiring but I’m pleased to say things are starting to happen…..so then, watch this space!  The other project related to the big Glen Rosa drawing, was the planned production of a full size reproduction that was to be sited in the centre of Irvine.  Well, as you may have seen from my Facebook page….. the work is now finished and sited.  It was great going to see it the other evening and if you’re in Irvine or travelling on one of the many buses entering and exiting the town …do look out for it.  My thanks must go to Lesley Forsyth at North Ayrshire Council for first coming up with the idea and then bringing it to a successful conclusion.

As I say, it’s been a hectic time and on Thursday last week we were both feeling pretty worn out.   With a fine weather forecast we decided that we just had to get out into the wilds and have a day relaxing.  We went to Glen Coe and spent 10 hours wandering around some of these fabulous mountains.  We only saw two other walkers all day and although our legs were sore at the end, it was a very much needed rest.  No more words about it…. here are a few quiet and calming photos instead.

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On the north side of Glen Coe

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Towards Am Bodach from P.907m

Scottish mountains

Am Bodach and Glen Coe from our lunch spot

scottish mountains

Towards sron Garbh …. our final top of the day

scottish mountains

Ben Nevis from the summit of Sron Garbh

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“In Sun, snow, mist and rain”, a final view

My current exhibition at the Harbour Arts Centre here in Irvine, ends on Friday January 9th and as you probably know, it has been an exhibition of paintings along with the creation of a new large graphite drawing.

'Passing snow shower, on the slopes of Ben Loyal'

‘Passing snow shower, on the slopes of Ben Loyal’

It has been a very enjoyable time working in the gallery amidst the exhibition and it has been great hearing people’s comments and remarks as they have watched the drawing develop from a huge blank piece of paper, through apparently random scribbled marks and slowly into a recognisable landscape.

'Harris, west coast'

‘Harris, west coast’

One of the most common questions has been ….when do you know that it is finished? This also has to be one of the most difficult questions to answer! I had done many smaller drawings prior to the exhibition, to try and work out quite what the big drawing might look like, but these were only ever going to give me a very general idea. Working on this very large scale I had to develop the composition and “feel” of the work, as I did it. Knowing then, quite when it was finished was tricky, but I think I’ve got it about right. There are plenty of things that I might do differently if I were to do it again, but I’m very a happy with this result. I’ve learnt a lot from doing this project and it’s given me a lot of confidence that I could do large scale commissions like this if I can get them……..if you happen to be part of a large organisation or commercial group looking to commission large scale contemporary work …. do give me a call.

'A damp morning, Buachaille Etive Beag, Glen Coe'

‘A damp morning, Buachaille Etive Beag, Glen Coe’

As for this particular drawing, well, I’m giving this to North Ayrshire Council for their collection. We’re still discussing how and where the drawing might be displayed, but I’ll be formally handing the piece over at the “End View” on Thursday evening, 8th January. We decided to hold an “End view” so that we could invite folk back to view the finished work and it seemed the perfect time to pass the drawing on to the council. If I haven’t already sent you an invitation, please except my apologies and accept this open invitation to come along and help celebrate the successful conclusion of the exhibition and project.

'Below Mid Hill, spring'

‘Below Mid Hill, spring’

If you don’t live in the area or haven’t been able to get in to see the exhibition, the images displayed here show a few of the works.

'A January afternoon, Glen Rosa, Isle of Arran'

‘A January afternoon, Glen Rosa, Isle of Arran’

“In sun, snow, mist and rain”, Harbour Arts Centre, 114 – 116 Harbour St, Irvine, Ayrshire, KA12 8PZ.
“End view”, Thursday 8th January 2015, 7pm – 9pm, all welcome.

Plans

Yesterday I had a meeting with Alison and Graeme from the Harbour Arts Centre here in Irvine.  The meeting was to start to discuss my plans for the forthcoming exhibition and big drawing project, scheduled for the end of November through until 12th January.

Starting point, the Dom drawing, Speyer 2010

Starting point, the Dom drawing, Speyer 2010

There were a good number of things I wanted to check with them not least the practical side of doing the big drawing.  I wanted, in particular, to check just how much access I’d get to do the work…… creating a 4.5m x 1.5m drawing is going to take quite a lot of time.  Thankfully I needn’t have worried as I should be able to get to work on the drawing for up to 12 hours most days and should be able to work some of the days over the Christmas / New Year period if I’m running late!  This is quite a relief as I was thinking I’d only have about five weeks in which to complete everything…now it seems, I’ll have nearer 6 – 7 weeks.

Test drawings in my studio

Test drawings in my studio

As you know, as well as creating the drawing in the gallery, I’ll also be holding a standard exhibition of smaller works and we’ve decided that on the preview evening, I’ll speak about my work and the drawing project for five or so minutes so that everyone has an idea of what they’re looking at and what will be taking place throughout the course of the exhibition.  Slightly more unusual though is that we’ve also agreed to hold a ‘Post view’ at the end of the exhibition.  By this stage, I should with a modicum of luck and a bit of hard work, have finished the big drawing and it seems a good idea to invite everyone back to see what it looks like.  I’ve also proposed that I donate the finished drawing to the North Ayrshire Council art collection and the post view evening could be the ideal opportunity to formally hand the drawing over.

Among other topics discussed was the idea of setting up a web cam so that we can promote the project to an audience outside of Ayrshire.   Having something that would be ‘live’ however, made us all a little nervous I think and after some thought Graeme suggested that instead, we set up a time lapse camera that would record the work regularly throughout a 7 hour period.  At the end of each day, the resulting footage could be checked and uploaded to a website so that folk could follow the progress of the drawing on-line….but just not ‘live’.  It seems a very good idea and I’ll be very happy with that.  I’m leaving Graeme to sort all this technical stuff out…..needless to say I’m not very good with things like that!

More test drawings

More test drawings

Alison also asked me whether it’d be OK if she arranges for some schools to visit while I’m working on the drawing.  She’s suggested that I could perhaps do a formal talk in the Harbour Arts Centre theatre the same day.  This seems like another good idea and I’m more than happy to do this.  Over the last few years I’ve been asked to speak about my work on several occasions and although it involves quite a lot of preparatory work, it has always been worth while.  Indeed, I’ve recently had two enquiries to work as a guest speaker which is quite exciting especially as one of them is abroad.  Anyway, more of that another time; for the moment I have enough to think about with this project.  As you can see though, things are well under way and I’m really looking forward to starting the drawing in five months or so time.    I’ll keep you up to date on how things progress.