Faulty work

To the South, January, Oil on Board, 24" x 33" 2012

This painting is part of my new Highland Boundary Fault series. Here we are looking across Strathearn towards the Ochil hills from the Little Glenshee area. This viewpoint is on the fault zone.

Here, above and below, are details of another painting I'm working on. It is nearly finished and shows a scene around Monzie, above Crieff, approaching dusk on a January afternoon. Again, it a work which stands upon the HBF line. In the whole painting you see a transition between the high and low lands, with the snowline emphasizing the contrast.

 I have been using a lot of damar varnish in my recent work which has been encouraging me to play about some more with these multiple layers of thin paint glazes. Some of the other pieces I'm working on are nightfall paintings, with darkness built up from successive layers. They work quite well but are practically impossible to photograph, being both very dark and rather glossy.

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New work: Highland Boundary Fault

 Five new paintings, oil on gesso on paper. Each one is looking at an aspect of the Highland Boundary Fault. The deliniation between highland and lowland is an element that has been edging into my landscapes for some time now as much of my work is centred on an area which sits more or less right upon the fault line. The new work looks either north towards the Highland region or south away from it, across Strathearn. At the moment the Highland side is emphasised by the snowline, as seen above.

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£1.49 well spent

I wrote a post last year about my enthusiasm for a Fisher Price digital camera and its success in matching that Instamatic, Polaroid or Holga kind of look. Well, now I have come across something that reproduces that look on purpose. I know I'm a bit slow to catch on with this, but I've just worked out what an app is and how they can be used to make my iPod more than just a touchy feely Walkman.

 These pictures were taken on my iPod Touch using the Hipstamatic app, which is basically a filter editor. There are a several lenses and film types to choose from, each offering quite a different effect. This is so much fun! Here's a shot demonstrating that moss grows only on one side, the North I think.

 The iPod or iPhone format is ideal way of looking at the results. Even transferred to a laptop they lose some of their appeal. Small is good here as the iPod camera is basically rubbish. Perhaps a tiny print would work. The monochrome options are good too, with lots of rich contrast:

 Get the right film/lens combo and it's possible purposefully to work a bleached, desaturated look. I like this overexposed, flat and flaring shot of seed heads and grasses:

More contrast on a shot worthy of an Edinburgh crime thriller cover: 

 ...and a fancy bit of ironwork on a very blue door:

The app, including a selection of lenses and film, costs £1.49! This is, in effect, a new camera for one fifty. I still can't believe it. Additional bundles of film and lens filters cost 69p. I didn't know anything still cost 69p, pretty sure you can't even get a can of juice for that nowadays. I'm amazed. If you follow my Twitter feed you will probably have to endure lots of Hipstamatic shots from now on. My apologies in advance.

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Timber