Starting On A High

Happy New Year! I was glad to get through to the end of 2022, and happy to welcome in a new year with hopes for the future despite the obvious ongoing global concerns. Once again, I aim to do more regular blogging this year, so we'll see how that goes.  (My record is not great!)

I'm starting the New Year on a high because I have two pictures on show in the RSA building at the moment. The curators of the current SSA exhibition (130 years) selected a painting and a print of mine - they are modest pictures but I'm delighted to be part of the amazing show. Today I thought I'd tell you the stories behind the paintings.

“Iona Rocks” is an oil painting. It's based on a sketch I did on the north beach, Iona when Peter and I visited in September 2021. It was a magical day. We left Tobermory at 6 and drove down to get the first ferry over to Iona, and headed straight for the north beach. The sun was just burning off the morning haze when we reached the beach and I did several sketches. Inevitably I was thinking about Peploe, Caddell and the other Scottish Colourists as we walked. When I came upon this particular group of rocks, there was something that appealed to me and I sat down and did a more detailed coloured sketch in pastels.

 

This was the sketch that I returned to in the studio to create this painting.  I did feel quite transported away back to Iona  and the world of the Colourists while I was painting it.  It turned out a bit moodier than the sketch, but the colour is much richer.  I was quite pleased with it at the time.  Iona is such a magical place - I did a few paintings from those sketches.

 

“The Black Pool” is a picture based on a landscape closer to home. It is a photopolymer print, based on several sketches I've done on a number of trips to Silverbridge and the Black Water, just north of Garve (between Inverness and Ullapool). I was alerted to this unassumingly beautiful place by the artist Jonathan Shearer who extolled its virtues as a place to go and sketch and paint en plein air. I was not disappointed! I've now been there several times, attempting to capture something of the character and atmosphere of the river and riverbanks. 

I have a number of sketches and I had a go at painting this particular scene. I did an earlier blog about this which you may remember.

Then, when I was looking around for drawings to use for making new plates, I decided to draw it in ink and use this same sketch to make a photopolymer plate.  When I printed it out, here's how it looks.

It's interesting to compare the pieces and I feel very fortunate to be exhibiting with the SSA.

I want to keep the momentum going.  I'm now sorting out my thoughts for a year of hard work...a few exhibitions on the horizon. So I hope to blog again soon.

Where Does the Time Go?

February was a quiet month which meant I could be busy in the studio. March was very busy, mostly away from home. So I'm only just catching up with my blog now.

In January, I explained that I was doing drawings to prepare for print-making.  In February, I managed to turn my drawings into photo-polymer plates, and in the course of the month I printed off some of the two editions.  As always, before you start printing out the edition, you have to think about colour.  With 'Riverbank' I thought about adding a bit of brightness, but in the end I went for a subtle colour gradation - two different colours of black: blue-black by the river and brown-black for the trees.  It's so subtle that you can hardly notice it in this photograph.

 And here's the other print: I inked the plate with a touch of lemon ink to give the impression of light.  Haven't got a title yet....

Still on the Biosphere theme, I continued my preoccupation with woodland lochans and returned to my favourite spot near Achnashellach for more sketching. 

I liked the composition of this and worked on a few paintings in different media.... but not sure if any of these are finished yet.  But here's a small acrylic which I consider to be finished!

Woodland Lochan - Acrylic/mixed media

This was quite interesting because I painted this on top of an old painting and in the course revealed lots of interesting colours and effects which I decided to retain in the final version.

However, not all my work has been biosphere-related. It was so gloomy in February that I raided my sketchbooks for some brighter scenes. I came up with ideas about Iona and Staffa.  I'm now trying to paint in canvas more often, and this time I got the oils out.

North Beach, Iona - oil on canvas

This was based on an early morning sketch done when we first reached the north beach.

And here's one I did of Staffa, based on my sketch from the top of the hill.

Staffa Cliffs - oil on canvas

I did enjoy painting these scenes in February – it transported me back to some lovely bright days and happy memories of summer....

At the end of March, I had a great trip to Loch Coruisk in Skye.... but that's for another blog!