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Posts Tagged ‘Speyer’

An invitation to exhibit my work in Germany

Posted by admin on April 24th, 2013
Jürgen's work

Jürgen’s work

When I was last over in Speyer in November 2011, (exhibiting a collection of my Scottish paintings in the Künstlerhaus) I got talking to a chap called Jürgen Fischer.  He had come along to see the exhibition with a friend and he told me that several years previously he’d lived and worked on the west coast of Ireland.  He is a sculptor and he’d spent his time creating work from the bog oak he found there.  As we talked we realised we both had a very similar outlook to these wild and rugged landscapes and shortly afterwards he wrote and suggested that we try and hold an exhibition together sometime.

As you know, I didn’t hold any exhibitions last year. I wanted instead, to use the time to try and develop my work.  This year though, I have organised two exhibitions …the first you know about ….the exhibition at ‘the gallery on the corner’ in Edinburgh back in March.  The second one will take place at Blairmore Gallery near Dunoon from 19th August – 5th October 2013.  I’ll be posting more details about this as the time approaches.  The gallery owners there have kindly invited me to hold exhibitions on a number of occasions over the past 5 or so years and I’ve always enjoyed showing work there …it’s a great little gallery and one that’s well worth a visit if you’re in the area.

Jürgen's work

Jürgen’s work

Jürgen's work

Jürgen’s work

Jürgen's work

Jürgen’s work

Jürgen's work

Jürgen’s work

Anyway, a couple of weeks ago I received an email from Jürgen asking me whether I’d like to hold an exhibition with him in Germany in the autumn.  Wow ….great stuff ….and of course I’ve said ‘yes’.  The details are to be confirmed, but with a bit of luck we’ll be holding an exhibition together for a few weeks in late September – early October.   It is going to be quite a congested time but well worth it if it all goes to plan.  Anyway, I’ll give full details once I have them, but in the meantime, here are a few photos of Jürgen’s work.  I’m already thinking that I may well do more large graphite drawings for this exhibition …I think they will work well with his sculpture. It’s certainly going to be an exciting few months with much drawing and painting needing to be done!

Latest Glen Rosa drawing, 'Towards Cir Mhor, a winter afternoon'

Latest Glen Rosa drawing, ‘Towards Cir Mhor, a winter afternoon’

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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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Back to Glen Rosa…

Posted by admin on March 22nd, 2013
Heading into Glen Rosa

Heading into Glen Rosa

You may remember that back in the summer of 2010 when I was working over in Speyer in southern Germany, I made a very large drawing.  On that occasion it was based on the idea of walking around the outside of the huge cathedral that dominates the historic city of Speyer.  It was like a very large, (4 m x 1.5 m) sketch, made using different shades of grey oil pastel.  At the time I thought it might be my only opportunity to create such a large drawing and it was hugely enjoyable working on such a scale.

In Glen Rosa

In Glen Rosa

More recently, I started working on some new small graphite drawings based on the hills and mountains.  I’ve been quite excited by these new drawings but even as I was doing them I felt that they would work much better on a larger scale.  To start with I was really only thinking about moving up from A2 size to perhaps double A1 size, but then when we visited the Isle of Arran and did a walk up Glen Rosa a couple of months ago, I started to get an idea for another really big drawing!  As we walked up the glen that day with the mountains all around and covered with snow, it started me thinking that this was almost the opposite to the Speyer cathedral ….where as the drawing I did of that was about walking around the huge building, here in Glen Rosa it was like walking inside a huge natural structure.  Perhaps, I thought, I could create a big graphite drawing that conveyed something of the experience of being in this spectacular place.

A wild place, Glen Rosa

A wild place, Glen Rosa

The walls in my studio aren’t really suited to doing a large drawing as they are made from concrete blocks and have many pipes and electrical conduits running down them.   It would however be possible to build a ‘false wall’ in front of this to create a large, smooth drawing surface and so this might be the way to go.  The other option though might be to see this not just as a chance to do a big drawing but instead to try and make this more of an event, a way to promote both myself as an artist and the work itself.  To do this I’d have to find a suitable public place to do the drawing and to promote the event as an opportunity for people to see the work in progress.  As I anticipate such a drawing taking at least 4 weeks, it might be good for folk to be able to watch the thing develop, see the changes and mistakes; in short, to see the process.  Taking this idea further, it might also be possible to set up a video cam linked to my website so that a much larger audience could watch the drawing develop.

Looking towards the Saddle

Looking towards the Saddle

It’s all ideas at the moment but on Wednesday we went back over to the Isle of Arran and headed once again for Glen Rosa. A few months ago I was invited to take part in some research work that was being done into the way visually impaired people perceive paintings.  The research was being done by a chap called David Feeney from Edinburgh, and he recently got back to me to ask whether he could visit my studio and bring along a friend of his who is a film maker / photographer.  It was an interesting few hours and to cut a long story short, they then asked if they could accompany Nita and me on one of our walks.  David was interested in seeing the way Nita and I work together as ‘walker and guide’.

In Glen Rosa

In Glen Rosa

Our original plan was to meet at the Pentland Hills just outside Edinburgh but with heavy snow falling in the east, we decided instead to go over to the Isle of Arran and walk Glen Rosa.  The path up the glen is for me much more difficult than the paths on the Pentland Hills so even though we would not be going up high, David and his colleague Dan would get a much better idea of how the guiding process worked.  Of course it also gave me the opportunity to see the glen again ….and further develop my plans for the big drawing.  Conditions were once again perfect, with snow on the mountains and their tops disappearing into heavy and dramatic clouds.

The walk proved useful for all of us.  Dan got lots of film and photos taken, David asked many questions and I got lots of interesting information from both of them about how I might go about organising my big Glen Rosa drawing.  Nita had an enjoyable walk and took plenty of photos too and we were delighted to find that David and Dan had left us a bottle of wine and some chocolate eggs …..everyone happy!

Posted in Inspiring Mountain Walks, Mountain Photos, Speyer, Studio, Visual Disability Tags: , , , , , , , No Comments »

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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‘Winter afternoon, Rannoch Moor’

Posted by admin on October 14th, 2011

'Winter afternoon, Rannoch Moor', Acrylic & Pastel, 2011, 76 x 23 cm

‘Winter afternoon, Rannoch Moor’, Acrylic & Pastel, 2011, 76 x 23 cm

Here is another of my recent Rannoch Moor paintings.  This painting is now hanging in the Künstlerhaus in Speyer as part of my exhibition of Scottish Landscape paintings.  I shipped all 19 paintings last Friday and they arrived safely in Speyer on Tuesday.  I understand that members of the Künstlerbund Speyer e.V were planning to hang the work yesterday evening in readiness for a press evening and preview next week.  The preview is at 7 pm on Friday 21st October.  My partner Anita and I will be travelling to Speyer on Wednesday and so if you live in the region, it would be great to meet you at the preview.  For further details:  www.kuenstlerbund-speyer.de .  I’ll be showing images of several other paintings in the exhibition with my blog this week.

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100 not out …but no telegram from the Queen!

Posted by admin on October 7th, 2011
A little bit of Europe at the summit of Beinn Dubh

A little bit of Europe at the summit of Beinn Dubh

Well, according to my records …this is my 100th blog ….give or take one or two that is.  I’ve quite enjoyed writing these blogs, admittedly, some more than others.  Some weeks it’s easy …..there has been something definite to write about …a walk, an exhibition or something to have a moan about …like the council dismantling the crane on the harbour side.  Occasionally though, nothing obvious has taken place during the preceding week and then it’s more difficult.  On these occasions any resemblance of writing disappears and as you’ve no doubt noticed …all you get is a bit of a ramble.

Now then, by pure chance, ‘a bit of a ramble’ is just what we had on Tuesday!

But before I go on to tell of this I need to set the scene …and go back to an evening in September 2008.

Loch Lomond from Beinn Dubh

Loch Lomond from Beinn Dubh

I had been working in my studio and to my surprise at about seven o’clock in the evening, there was a knock on the door and four people came in to have a look at the work.  Stewart, a Scotsman now living and working in Germany, was visiting family in Irvine along with his wife Evelyn and two friends from the same region in Germany.  They had just been into The Ship Inn (where Stewart and Evelyn first met …I wont say how many years before) ….and on coming out onto the street they’d noticed the Courtyard Studios sign and decided to take a look.  The main reason for coming in was that their friend Markus is a sculptor and was interested in seeing what was being done in Irvine. At the time I had been working on a large 200 x 100 cm painting and Markus was really interested in this.  After quite a time he told me abut the artists group he was a member of over in Speyer…and went on to say about the annual scholarship offered each year to an artist from around the world.  He asked me if it was something I might consider applying for …and very casually I said yes.  Well, I didn’t really expect anything to come of this, but Markus good to his word, went back to Germany at the end of his holiday and passed details of my work and website onto the members of the committee of the Kuenstlerbund Speyer eV.

In January 2009 I received a phone call from them formerly asking me to apply for the 2010 scholarship.  The rest, as they say, is history.  For anyone reading these blogs, you’ll no doubt have followed the preparations for my trip to Speyer last summer …and the weekly reports from said city.  And of course, it didn’t stop on my return to Scotland in September last year for as you know, I’m just about to go back to Speyer with an exhibition of my latest Scottish landscape paintings.

Take-off point for Paisley!

Take-off point for Paisley!

So then, it was rather nice timing to learn a few weeks ago that Stewart, Evelyn and Markus were to be visiting Irvine again in early October.  They all turned up at the Open Weekend last Sunday and it was great seeing them all again.  Needless to say we ended up going for a pint of Guinness in The Ship later and arranged to meet up again on Tuesday morning in Luss on the side of Loch Lomond.  Markus had particularly wanted to see the loch, and what better way to see it than from one of the many hills rising around it.  It was a perfect excuse to go and walk my favourite little circuit in the Luss hills.  The only problem though was the weather.  There had already been much rain and severe gales and it seemed to be getting worse through the week..and getting colder too.  There was even forecasts of snow on the higher hills come Thursday.  So, Tuesday seemed the best of a bad bunch …showers and very strong winds forecast (gust to 75 mph) …but relatively high cloud …certainly above the Luss Hills if not the Munros.

We had a great little walk and Markus certainly experienced the Scottish hills in ‘real’ Scottish weather ….bursts of bright sunshine, heavy dark clouds sweeping across the skies and temporarily shrouding everything in sheets of rain …and all blown along by an increasingly wild wind.  Once above 500 m it was quite a battle just to make progress at times.  The gusts were so strong that we were almost blown off our feet and it was very slow progress over the last few hundred metres to the small cairn marking the summit of Beinn Dubh at a little over 600m  Wow….wild or what, but we made it.  Our plan had been to walk the usual horse shoe circuit around and over Mid Hill before descending to the single track road in Glen Luss, but it would have taken us a long time battling against these severe gales …so we decided to go back the same way with the wind behind us.  How we all didn’t end up being blown all the way to Paisley I really don’t know.

As I say to my colleagues sometimes …if you invite people into your studio, you never quite know what will come of it.  Little did I think back in September 2008 that three years later I’d have completed a four month long scholarship in Germany, held an exhibition of my Scottish paintings there …and been for a crazy walk in the Scottish hills with a Scottish / German translator, a German sculptor and a German teacher (retired!) …it could almost be the opening line for a joke!

Anyway, thanks again to Stewart, Evelyn and Markus for visiting my studio back in 2008 …it’s been a great adventure since then. I hope they enjoy the exhibition in Speyer in a couple of weeks time when we all meet up again at the preview on Friday 21st October.

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‘On Rannoch Moor’

Posted by admin on October 7th, 2011

on-rannoch-moor-acrylic-pastel-2011-76-x-23-cm

‘On Rannoch Moor’, Acrylic & Pastel, 2011, 76 x 23 cm

This is one of the paintings I had on display at the Courtyard Studios Open Weekend last weekend.  It is now wrapped and boxed along with 18 other paintings, awaiting collection by the courier, for the journey to Speyer.   I had a very good response to these new paintings and it was particularly good seeing them up on the wall together for the first time.  A number of people commented that I was using brighter colours and I think they may be right …although it has not been a conscious decision, more just a case of my getting more confident with using colours.  This is certainly one of the brightest paintings that I’ve done of Rannoch Moor and although it can be a dark and brooding place in poor weather, when the sun comes out it can be full of colour.

My exhibition in Speyer opens on Friday 21st October and after seeing some of these paintings together for the first time last weekend, I think it should be quite a good show.  I hope you can get to see it.  I’ll be having the exhibition photographed so you’ll be able to see it on-line in a few weeks time.

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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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Backward and forward

Posted by admin on December 31st, 2010

Mike,me and the tandem - fun days in Speyer

Mike,me and the tandem - fun days in Speyer

I’m sat here, typing this on New Years’ Eve and looking back, it has been a pretty good year. I have certainly got a lot of work done and sales of paintings, if rather slow, have been quite steady, despite all the economic woes.

I’ve had work displayed in a good number of group exhibitions this year, but I guess the biggest thing to happen, of course, was my four month long visit to Speyer. This time last year, I still didn’t know whether my application had been successful. Apparently, a young New York artist and I were both being considered for the scholarship……but at a final meeting of the Kunstlerbund, towards the end of January, I got the vote. It seems likely that my age (at 51 I’m knocking on a bit) gave me the edge! The young chap from New York is doing some great work by all accounts and will hopefully be successful either this year or in the future.

As anyone who followed my blogs through the summer will know, I had a thoroughly enjoyable time, met some wonderful people and superb artists. It certainly gave me a great opportunity to paint completely different subject matter and the response to it by the people of Speyer was hugely encouraging.

Art aside, one of the most memorable days in Speyer took place in the final week, when Michael Lauter (one of the Kunstlerbund artists) turned up with a tandem. He had also brought along an electrical bicycle for Anita. The ensuing few hours cycling along the Rhine were wonderful. I hadn’t been on a bicycle for over twenty years and it really was so funny being on a tandem…..I split my trousers on the saddle, we ended up cycling in circles, opposite a nuclear power station and cycled rather precariously through a flooded section of the path….with Michael shouting, ‘’Power, power!’’ I obviously wasn’t peddling hard enough.

Late evening, Achmelvich, Assynt

Late evening, Achmelvich, Assynt

Despite being away all summer, we have still managed to fit in a reasonable number of days on the hills this year. We’re still not very fit though and although I’m not really a New Years’ Resolution kind of person, we have decided we need to make special efforts to get fit now that January has all but arrived.

Ben More Assynt from Conival

Ben More Assynt from Conival

As I may have already said in past blogs, we are heading back to Achmelvich for two weeks in May. Maysie and Durrant Macleod, owners of Hillhead Caravans sent us through the booking form just last week and we have become all excited…the long, light days of May really don’t seem too far away. We’ve already been talking about having a third attempt at reaching Ben More Assynt. But for me, it’ll require a very long day of fine weather to do this…hence the need to get fit! I have also realised (not that I’m a bagger of hills of course) that I am only seven Corbetts short of fifty and so this should give me something to aim for in 2011.

Right, well, there’s lots to be done this year, not least getting the final few pieces finished for my exhibition at The Strathearn Gallery in February. So, it will be a few beers tonight but then back to the studio tomorrow afternoon. Best wishes for 2011.

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