Modern Scottish Women | Painters and Sculptors 1885-1965 Modern Two Edinburgh

This is a friend's record of a recent day we had in Edinburgh - a Gallery Day, on of the best kind of days. Up by car and down by train and it rained and rained. Loved it!

"We made our way for lunch down a splashy Princes Street - artistic inspiration for wet reflections, though!

We weren’t tempted by this neon spider-tower - Wheeeee!

Pink and Blue Umbrellas scurrying into Jamie Oliver’s Italian, sited in the refurbished ground floor of the historic Georgian Assembly Rooms  

(built in 1787)  - Rose Street entrance. (I was under the pink umbrella )

Yummy sundried tomato antipasti with olives, before our main meal 

- food/service was  excellent and well priced - will def revisit!

We admired our refined, frescoed Georgian surroundings - an unexpected backdrop to a bustling and chic modern restaurant!

Edinburgh City Council defended its controversial plan to introduce a retail and restaurant element on the ground floor as necessary to "largely finance" the refurbishments of the Assembly Rooms’ main events rooms - the Ballroom, Music Hall, Crush Hall and the East and West Drawing Rooms…….. the project has seen the ground floor of the building returned to its "original use".

"Shops were there until as recently as 1950, and the Supper Room will go back to its original dining use (the clue being in its name!), creating a new entrance on Rose Street," 

We spent the remainder of afternoon,until closing time, viewing the stunning current RSW watercolour exhibition 

- 277 works by contemporary Scottish artists

The Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour

135th OPEN ANNUAL WINTER EXHIBITION Upper Galleries, RSA Building, The Mound. Edinburgh EH2 2EL 27 November – 12 December 2015 Daily 10am – 5pm Sundays 12 – 5pm

Rain had stopped  - yey!  we headed for Waverley Station past the Princes Street Fairground & Christmas Market in Full Swing

Sleet and snow forecast for later - gritters out and a 6-dog sled team was being exercised…."

This is a friend's record of a recent day we had in Edinburgh - a Gallery Day, on of the best kind of days. Up by car and down by train and it rained and rained. Loved it!

A Month of Yellows

  

Woodland Study Culzean 2

10x12" Oil on board

Woodland Study Culzean 1

24x20"Oil

November Woods

Acrylic  8x6"

Everywhere I've walked this last few weeks it's been like walking through a land of yellow and because, until recently, the air has been relatively still the leaves have remained in all their glory.

I'm lucky to live a short drive away from Culzean Park where I regularly go, not only to walk, but also to work sometimes in the Charity Bookshop which raises funds for The National Trust. 

Its a treat to be there amongst a few thousand secondhand books and at the same time to enjoy the wonderful parklands.

Glasgow Art Fair

Landscape with Walls and a Windfarm

Ochre Hills

Autumn Trees

A Winter Sun

All the paintings are oil on board.

Getting ready for the Glasgow Contemporary Art Fair.

I'm not sure if these will be included but 

at least I've some ready and not rushing at the last minute.

Thankyou to The Ailsa Gallery who've asked me to be one of their 6 exhibiting artists at the Art Fair.

Trying a Box Canvas

A Vase of Spring

Oil on Canvas 8x8"

February has brought longer hours of daylight and that means more time to paint in natual light.

In the garden the signs of Spring are already showing - the snowdrops through and other bulbs beginning to grow.

And it's impossible to resist buying bunches of daffodils from the local gift shop.

And it's impossible not to try painting them.

This time though I've been using box canvases and trying out ways to paint the edges, trying black at first but settling on using the background colour.

I'm not sure whether this type of support is for me. I think I prefer a canvas with a frame.

An Ochre Study with Windfarm

Oil on Board 24x20"

The weather is just as you would expect in Scotland in January though the rain seems a bit wetter and the winds that bit stronger.

The worst part of this time of year, if you paint, is the shorter daytime light. By 4 o'clock it's already getting dark and I don't find daylight bulbs all that sucessful. In proper daylight the colours always seem too fierce hough I know many artists seem to like them.

Working away on the series of paintings with a predominantly ochre palette of the hills in this part of Scotland though I've started adding a bit of a windfarm or two

which can now be seen in the landscape. 

In a cream frame

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.

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 Front Cover

I can't believe my painting's on the front cover of The MacLaurin Gallery magazine . It seems unreal, that it's someone else. It's because of a new venture, a wall featuring local artists.

             This, however, does feel real - three of my four granddaughters and their doting Grandma!

Harvest Golds at Greenan

Harvest Golds at Greenan

Oil on canvas  30 x 30 cm

Bridget Hunter 2013

A favourite sketching place near the ruins of Greenan Castle, Ayr.

It's been hectic trying to get all 6 paintings finished. And there's been lots of paint scraped off which is really such a waste of materials.

So, I'm trying to change the frantic way I paint and take time to stop and think and place more considered marks.

I think I might need to pin a notice above the easel as a reminder though. 

At the edge of Alloway

"At the edge of Alloway"

Oil on board 50 x 50 cm

Bridget Hunter 2013

Working on 6 paintings for a new venture at The McLaurin Gallery, Ayr featuring artists from the South West of Scotland. 

I think it's to be called The Showcase Wall but watch this space!

Anyway, no matter the name, I've to deliver on Tuesday 30th April which means 5 more to finish for next week. No pressure at all then !!!!

www.themaclaurin.org.uk/

Through the Gate

Oil on board   51 x 51 cm 

Bridget Hunter 2013

There's been more paint scraped off this one than put on in the fight to get it finished. I'm taking it up in my little car with a second work to submit for selection to The Paisley Art Institute for their annual exhibition. 

Needless to say there's painty rags and brushes needing washed everywhere as I try to get the other painting to a finished state.

This hobby is taking over my life but would be lost without it.

Same shell, three sketches

Sometimes it's a treat to lay the bigger brushes aside and do some careful observation with a bit of watercolour and a small brush.

The Hills were Blue

"The Hills were Blue'

Oil 24x24"

I've been busy working away on 6 new paintings for The McLaurin Gallery Ayr for a new venture called a Showcase Wall featuring local artists.

It was very flattering to be asked to participate but

it's way too intense for a wee woman who just enjoys painting.

 Back to the easel!

"Lilies in Purple"

Lilies in Purple

Oil on Board  18x14"

Bridget Hunter 2013

The inspiration

Framed but tweaked with a leaf crossing flower at rght. It was only after I saw the photo that I thought it needed this.

I had some friends over for lunch and was given beautiful flowers and a stock of wine. How wonderful. These lilies just cried out to be painted. Do we painters always see still life in everything, eyeing up shapely pears and ripe colored mangoes while getting suspicious looks from shoppers?

Spring Yellows

Spring Yellows

Oil on board  6x6"

Still painting flowers from the outside pots for potential card designs to use at the soon to start Open Studios Ayrshire event . And it's been snowing again ! March - duh

Thinking Spring

'Thinking Spring"

Oil on board 6x8"

"Spring Purple"

Oil on board 6x6"

Spring emerging, longer daylight hours and shops full of daffodils. But the buds are still tightly closed in the garden. Maybe they know it might be back to snow next week. March is so unpredictable.

Ochre Fields

Ochre Fields 

Oil on Canvas  30x24"

Bridget Hunter  2013

Have you ever rashly said yes when you know you should be saying no? But the request is put so nicely and the people so appreciative and friendly that you go against your better judgement. That's how I ended up giving a painting demonstration to 40 artists at Troon Art Club. 

I'd put it to the back of my mind, out of fear really, until a few days before hand and then it was all panic wondering what on earth to paint.

I ended up using this small snow scene and turning it into harvest time, knowing the field well, walking there often, so relied on memory of how it looked in late summer.

This is how it ended up at the demo though I changed the foreground later.

Stop fouterin !

Oil on Canvas  24x24"

Bridget Hunter 2013

Is it finished ? 

I'd like to say yes, but I know me and the way I fouter because I simply enjoying markmaking.

The source material, the inspiration, is the diffused sunlight on a misty morning.

But now to think of a title!

Snowscape Number 2

Snowscape 2

Oil on board  12x10"

Bridget Hunter 2013

Another painting done after a venture across the fields where the snow lay. As I live right on the coast it often snows without lying so I have to go to find it and as much as I admire the plein air snow painters  I don't have their passionate spirit so walking, taking photos and just staring has to do me.

Snowscape 1

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