Art at Beauly

 

Today I spent another day as artist in residence, along with Eileen Addly, at Beauly Gallery. The gallery is part of an Art around the Firth trail for Highland Open studios week. Lots of fellow artists, friends and holidaymakerscame to see the exhibition so there was plenty chat over lunches and coffees. I was billed as a mixed media artist so I had my table littered with papers, scraps and work at different stages. The "Mountain with Linen" featuring the defunct teatowel was of much interest! All in all, a convivial couple of days. The exhibition runs till the end of the month.

Wrecked

 

Came back last week from a wee holiday on Tanera Mor in the beautiful Summer Islands. The idea was to paint but walking and relaxing were also high on the agenda. This is a stunning location with views across to the iconic Coigach hills and south across a scatter of islands to more epic mountain ranges. There's lots to paint here, sea, sky, mountains, piers, boats and a cracking wreck which is submerged daily. Painting outside is a challenge, the eye does funny things with distance, scale and perspective. Stac Pollaidh was tantalising, appearing and disappearing but always spectacular, except of course when the mist came down. Now I'm home I hope to weave my sketches and images into some new paintings.
Meanwhile, I'm at Beauly Gallery for a couple of days as artist in residence. More later....

Mountain with Linen

 

I had a favourite old linen tea towel which faded and began to fall apart. So I ripped it into pieces and stuck the largest chunk onto paper to form a textured base for a painting. It was fun to paint on and Mountain with Linen is the result. This artwork is one of a number in the exhibition at Beauly Gallery. The Gallery is one of a number of locations taking part in Highland Open Studios week, from 24th till 31st July, with "Art around the Firth"