An ideal world

Yarrow in Winter II, oil on board 16" x 24" 2010

I like painting. I like photography. So why do I hate photographing paintings? Probably because I'm so inept at it (see good example above). Like most photography, snapping paintings requires more skill, and probably more gear, than either you might think or I might have. 

Perhaps this snowy one is marginally better? When I am an old and wildly successful painter, I will employ a minion to take the photos and I will also get them to clean my brushes.

Fife in Winter, oil on board 36" x 48" 2010

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Printmaking @ Amber Arts

Yesterday I went to Amber Arts in Edinburgh for a silkscreen session with the Jill Hodge (print guru) and Camilla Watson (fellow student). Camilla has some specific ideas about using the screenprinting process to incorporate text in her painting. This is a theme that she has been working on for some time and it is integral to her work as she uses text from historical documents and literature to bring another layer, both visually and metaphorically, to her landscapes. 

I was there to learn the process - surprisingly complicated - and do some experimenting with ideas, exploring the opportunities. The silkscreen is a beautiful medium and I think I might be able to produce some interesting work with it. I feel some plantation prints coming on...

Here I am, working up a trial transparency:

Mixing the inks: 

A trial run of Camilla's census document print, beautiful, and holding perfectly on top of oil paint:

I ran out of time before printing my work but am to return next week when, hopefully, I will be able to produce a finished print or two.

The fully equipped print workshop at Amber Arts is available to hire and Jill also offers expert tuition for small classes.

Also, I must thank Simon Mason, who has been kind enough to feature my work on his fabulous culture blog Touching From a Distance, where you will find me just above Christopher Walken.

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Plantations

Lammermuir plantation, oil on board 24" x 16' 2010

Perthshire plantation, oil on board 2010

Horizon II, oil on board 8" x 8" 2010

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New paint thrill

Yarrow in Winter, oil on board 16" x 24" 2010

The glorious Yarrow valley in muted winterwear. This painting involved my first experiments with an excellent new (to me) Michael Harding oil colour: unbleached titanium dioxide, a lovely muddy beige, subtler and softer than naples yellow, warmer than white, handy on its own and marvelous in a mix. 

I was given this tube by friend and fellow artist Albie Sinclair, whose wonderful evocations of Strathearn can be see at The Ruthven Gallery right now. Albie is a big fan of Michael Harding oil paints, practically an ambassador in fact. Normally I use Windsor & Newton Artists Oils as they are fine and a bit less pricey but they simply lack the incredible richness and depth of the Harding ones. One day all my paints will be this good! 

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Blanks

What you might call blank canvases, except of course they're boards, freshly primed and drying. Soon to play host to a series of masterpieces, obviously. WATCH THIS SPACE, PEOPLE.

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Ruthven Opening

Last night was the private view of the new exhibition at The Ruthven Gallery and it went well. Gallery owner Suzanne Hay has done a terrific job with the hanging, bringing the five different artists' work together beautifully. It's her birthday today in fact, so you could do worse than to swing by Auchterarder and delight her with a wee purchase or even a large one. Have I mentioned that Auchterarder also boasts the longest high street in Scotland? Or that while there you could dine/play golf/spend your children's inheritance in some other way at Gleneagles Hotel? Or visit the most excellent greengrocer Alexa Dunlop? So many reasons...

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Blue Sky (Hume Castle) oil on board, 19" x 13" 2010

St Mary's Loch, February, oil on paper, 15" x 21" 2010

Some new work resulting from my recent foray through The Borders. 

Also in The Borders: My debut as an illustrator for Sandy Neil's new monthly Food & Drink section of The Southern Reporter . Last month I provided the logo for the masthead, this month The Beef:

                               

Also in this week's Southern, you can read all about the truly peculiar protest against a proposed crematorium near Melrose. This involves an effigy of Alex Salmond hung from a tree, a horse's skull, some runic lettering, pentangles and a trio of half buried dolls, all carefully arranged in a cemetery. Seriously! And there's been runic style graffiti on the cooncil HQ! Reminds me a bit of an Ian Rankin yarn called The Falls.

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The north again

Winter Light (Sutherland) oil on canvas 35.3" x 35.5" 2010

One of the pieces I've been working on for quite a long time, now at last done with. This is from around Glen Dionard up in NW Sutherland. I spent some time working up there last year and it's staying with me, an amazing landscape with wonderful light - must go back. 

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Du bois, juste du bois

Late Summer, Forgandenny, oil on paper, 14" x 19" 2009

Are things looking up? A lengthy arid time, with art fans seemingly in hibernation and paintings left neglected and unloved on gallery walls across the nation, is now, hopefully, in abeyance. I'm reluctant to tempt fate, but a few pieces have been sold in the last couple of weeks and I'm hoping this bodes well for upcoming exhibitions. Next up: The Spring Exhibition at Auchterarder's lovely Ruthven Gallery, featuring Cathy Campbell, Albie Sinclair, David Hay, Hugh Kirkwood and me which kicks off a week today.

The picture above is one that was bought this morning, to be dispatched to an empty wall in South East Asia.

Here is a tiger, made not by me but by a three year old, using the magnificent medium that is Técap .  Técap is a French game, just a box of perfectly engineered wooden blocks, but in keeping with the way they do stuff on the other side of La Manche, it's really cool. It is very versatile and unlike most kids' games, really good fun for grown ups too. And it's made in France, which I also like. The website linked above is for all the games actually made in France.  

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Primo the dog

Ricoh GRD II f/3.5 1/540

The hero hound, doing a bit of blue-sky thinking.

Busy times in the studio, I have about eight pictures on the go in various stages, should have something to show by the end of the week. (Hopefully.)

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Fire

Back in Perthshire now. Yesterday's plan (I was still in Selkirk) had been to paint up in the Lammermuirs, but as the day started before 5am with an inferno in the neighbour's workshop, plans changed. This was one big and pretty scary fuego which, incredibly, didn't spread beyond the workshop but, I think, did all the damage it possibly could there. Once the Fire Brigade had been alerted and the hydrant located, there wasn't much we could do to help so I took some photos:

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This fine old building was originally a mill and later the studio of famous Border artist Tom Scott and in recent years a business workshop. It's so sad to see it like this. 

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The Selkirk Brigade and their hoses.

Ricoh GRD II f/2.5 1/5

Dawn breaks and the flames have been quashed.

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A rare foray into Berwickshire

Ricoh GRD II f/3.5 1/270

Still in The Borders and discovering a bounty of inspiring scenes all over. Today: Berwickshire and the Lammermuirs, definitely somewhere I'll be coming back to with paints. Today I had only a camera, a geologist and a kid, the latter pictured above exploring the 13th century stronghold of Hume Castle.

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