An Ochre Landscape

                                             An Ochre Landscape

                                                                    Oil 24x20"

The Orange Sun October

Oil  24x20"

Again I've let too long a time pass since last here.  I've been floundering a bit with my painting and been too concerned in producing finished works rather than being creative and enjoying the painting process as an end in itself.

Recently however I've been trying some Linoprinting at a class held in A House for an Art Lover, Glasgow and, though I need to practice it a lot more to get any half decent results, it's been a wonderful experience.

It's been strange though, how using a completely different medium has, in a way, rekindled my enthusiasm for painting and these two works, both inspired by the ochre colours in the local hilly landscape, were completed recently as a result.

Coffee and an Exhibtion

Oil on Box Canvas  10x10"

Oil on Box Canvas  8x8"

Oil on Canvas  8x10"

Print available

My friend Margaret Law and I are taking part in a joint exhibition at a venue in Mauchline, Ayrshire.  It's a new local gallery which started out life as a gift shop. It's now a Coffee Shop and Gallery and well worth a visit for the cakes alone. 

Carol, the owner, has started evening craft classes there too and, from what I've been told, I hear these are very popular.

It's great to see a new local Art Gallery becoming popular.

Above are 3 of the paintings and prints I'm exhibiting.

North Ayrshire Art Exhibition

Road to the Loch

 Oil on Canvas  24x20"

I got word today that my two paintings entered into The North Ayrshire Art Exhibition had been accepted and that's always a good feeling.

It's been a few years since I tried for this exhibition as I never seem to have enough works for 

the shows that come along in groups, like buses, in the summer months.

But this year I've involved myself in less and so have more paintings ready.

The Garden Poppies

Oil on board  10x12"

The exhibition is held in The Raquet Hall at Eglinton Park

and starts Saturday 12th July 2014

Join us for the preview

Friday 11th July
7.30pm

Visit the exhibition

Saturday 12th - Saturday 26th July
10.00am - 4.00pm

The Raquet Hall
Eglinton Country Park
Kilwinning

Join us for the preview

Friday 11th July
7.30pm

Visit the exhibition

Saturday 12th - Saturday 26th July
10.00am - 4.00pm

The Raquet Hall
Eglinton Country Park
Kilwinning

Red, Red, Red

Poppies Red

Oil on bard  12x10"

Bridget Hunter 2014

It's hard to believe it's half way through June and the summer solstice is just 4 days away. 

It doesn't get dark here until 11.30 pm and the birds are still singing, then they restart at 3.30 am.

It's the time of year I love the best and that is partly due to the splashes of garden colour.

I've a clump of the brightest red poppies, that started out in my grandma's house in southern England but bloom just as happily here on the West Coast of Scotland.

This year I've decided to try painting them, and because I love using and mixing red its become a series of poppy paintings.

Oil on Canvas paper  12x12"

Oil on Canvas paper  12x12"

I've used 2 reds - Cadmium Red Daler Rowney

and Permanent Rose Windsor and Newon.

Painting in the Algarve

A Villa Garden 

Sketch - charcoal, watercolour, oil pastel - 4x6"

I've just returned from a 5 day painting course with Emily Ball in Portugal.

I've lots of sketches and a couple of paintings and some photographs to 

try to recapture a sense of place to inspire future works.

The sketches were done using charcoal, watercolour, oil pastels and pencil and was a messy process

but babywipes came in handy for knocking back marks and cleaning up after.

Mostly my sketches were done near the villa amongst the palm trees and unfamiliar plant shapes.

I was also trying to capture the movement of the foliage due to it being rather breezy.

There were many great ideas generated during the time there but one that I 

hope I'll remember, and which affected my work was to

think of the marks I was making as adjectives and each one therefore had a distinct value.

www.emilyballatseawhite.co.uk/

And the dog came too !

My home with the Open Studios Banner and a visitor at the door.

It's been a week since our Open Studios event and I think I'm still recovering from all the painting and tidying and welcoming and talking.

It was extremely busy and I think most people had a successful time .

Here are a few photos of inside my house though they don't feature the studio which is up a few stairs and was also open for browsing thfough. 

Most works are oil paintings though there are a few gouache too.

I didn't have greeting cards ready nor prints as I ran out of time and realise this was 

something I should have organised.

Ah well, note to self for next year.

Four Days until Open Studios

The opening of our 2nd Open Studios Ayrshire weekend is only 4 days away.

The windows are washed, the garden tidied, the frames have arrived and some more paintings have been brought out and finished off. Some have been binned or painted over but a few have survived after a bit of reworking.

Lots more to do in the way of organising the wall spaces and small paper works to mount and cellophane, a price list to sort and of course labels.

I've finished the largest painting I've ever attempted "Storm over the Carrick Hills"

and also the smallest, three tiny box canvas images of Spring flowers. 

Storm over the Carrick Hills

Oil on Canvas  32x32"

Spring Yellows

Three oil on box canvas  4x4"

Just remembered there's wine to buy and tasty bits to put on plates.

And hopefully the weather will be kind unlike last year when some of our artists were snowed in!

A Tale of Before and After

                       

                                      

     Trees at Burns Cottage

          Oil 12x10"

         After

Sometimes you struggle and struggle trying to use paint to express an idea and it just doesn't work                and you either give up or accept the unsatisfactory image.

The image below never pleased me but I took a photo anyway and posted it online.

Yesterday I took it out of the frame and radically attacked it determined that it was either going to work or be relegated to the bin.

This painting above , though not a true likeness of the scene, pleases me much more.

Before

The Red Corner

Lemons on Red

Oil on Board 20x20"

This is the latest painting combining that wonderful Amaryllis with the cool yellow of lemons. 

I used this other painting below as the resource reworking the idea in a different format and enjoying the mark making and the rich warm and cool reds.

Amaryllis with Red

Oil on Board 30x24"

I've now got a red corner in the back room and it's a great place to sit with the morning coffee.

So, more work ready for Open Studios and also another exhibition in May, one red still life for each.

New Studio Furniture

The Studio with new furniture including this very handy drawer unit for storing all sorts of papers.

It's never looked so prim and tidy.

Four Postcards

I chose four paintings to be printed as postcards and I'm very pleased with the quality.

So, Studio looking posh and postcards ready,  all set here for Open Studios in a few weeks.

Just need to finish more paintings !

That Windsor Blue

                                           Oil on board. 24x20"

                   

Last night saw the launch of Open Studios Ayrshire to be held on 26/27 April and it was such a good social occasion meeting artists and matching names to faces to Artwork.

I knew most of the names as I'm on the committee though now it's our second year I'm hoping a newer member will take my place. I'm not the best committee person being a bit dipsy and needing to write everything down and even then getting it wrong anyway.

Everyone is really working hard to get lots if work ready including me with this not yet titled painting using a favourite Windsor Blue and which is  now finished.

Two for Open Studios Ayrshire

Oil on canvas   12x12"

Oil on board  12x10"

Bridget Hunter 2014

Painting to pull together some unfinished works that have lain under a bed waiting for inspiration but the truth is I've been really afraid to tackle them. 

It gets like that sometimes, I just don't know what to do next so I hide them and just hope  !

However the Open Studio event is getting closer and a few other exhibitions so I need to finish some of those .

Both show trees growing behind Burns Cottage garden which is very close to where I live.

There are some Scots Pines and its their shapes that I find fascinating.

I'd like to draw these pine trees in charcoal and look forward to having the time to go out when the weather is a bit warmer.

A bit of self promotion

 One thing we're not good at , us painting people, is self promotion.

Today I'm feeling fairly chuffed, no, very very chuffed, as I managed to design these 

Fliers and business cards online.

I know they're not colour coordinated but at least they've got images on the reverse.

And I managed to unblock the drain in the washing machine so life is good .

Amaryllis and Red

Amaryllis and Red

Oil on Canvas  30x24"

Bridget Hunter 2014

I've wanted a painting for the corner of the back room and always had in mind that something predominately red to hang near a favourite blue chair would be good.

In the end I decided to base a painting around two amazingly red Amaryllis I got at Christmas.  

 I've no confidence in arranging a still life so I thought I'd try to limit the number of elements and just enjoy playing about with lots of different tones and shades of red.

I think this has worked better for me and I'm going try this simple type of arrangement again.

Small Works in a Basket

Small oils  on canvas  4x6"

Sometimes I really enjoy making small studies in paint as opposed to the larger landscapes. 

These are usually little subjects found in and out of my house and 

this year I've been painting them on very small canvases 

and popping them into a basket for sale at the Open Studio event.

A Studio Sale

Spring Yellows  

Oil on Board  10x10" *

I recently held a 3 day Studio Sale with 2 friends, a painter and a leadglass maker.

Despite the awful weather we were delighted with the support we got from family, friends and passers-by who came to browse, drink coffee and blether and buy !

It's strange to see these photos of my house transformed into a gallery but it seems to work quite well.