Through the Trees

This painting lay unfinished till this week. A layer of sand created a lovely textural quality and I was very happy with the final piece. An artist friend liked it too and snapped it up unmounted. Result!
Must try a bigger version.

Hidden Landscapes

I started this box canvas as an abstract, working in acrylic on a base of texture created with bits of map, gesso and PVA. Like many of my paintings, the piece went through several stages but gradually morphed into a landscape of sorts. In fact the viewer can interpret the painting from a variety of perspectives.

The painting will be in Leakey's Bookshop and Gallery as from Monday 22nd February 2010. Leakey's is a quirky and atmospheric second hand bookstore in Inverness. Inhabiting an old church, Leakey's has a huge woodburning stove downstairs and a cafe and gallery upstairs where members of the Art Society of Inverness exhibit and sell their work.

Entering the Black Box

 

"How It Is" by Miroslaw Balka in the old turbine hall at Tate Modern is hugely impressive. I was lucky enough to arrive before anyone else and experience it alone. Walking along dwarfed by the massive metal container there is a sense of foreboding. It has the feel of a giant cattle truck.
At the far end, one walks up the ramp and enters the structure into a space of total darkness. It's weird to walk forward, eyes wide open but no spatial dimensions visible. Heart rate goes up. Eventually and unexpectedly my foot hit the back wall.
Later I revisited and this time it was a different experience with ghostly figures in the dark interior and the black silhouettes of small children entering. Spooky.

Abstracts at Beauly Gallery

The title of this mixed media painting is Rock Solid. It's one of 4 small abstracts in the current exhibition at Beauly Gallery near Inverness in the Highlands.

 

First blog

So I finally created a blog....what now? A big step for a technologically illiterate artist, so you have to bear with me.