Rum, Muck and White Sands.

Acrylic on board  20 x 16

Bridget Hunter 2010

This is the painting in the photo - finished at at home ! There were a few marks I always feel the need to add and lost my small brush somewhere whilst clambering over the rocks. But that's the way it always is with me - think I'm organised but never am! I once used Ribena as medium when sketching as I'd forgotten the water. But the watercolour sketches had a nice rosy glow even though the sugar attracted a fair amount of insects. Life plein air !

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Eigg, Rum and shore sheep.

Acrylic on board   10 x 12"

Bridget Hunter 2010

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This small oil painting was done outside working quickly as the weather was sun and showers! There was a flock of hardy sheep which grazed on the grassy patches along the shore and this will be an abiding memory of our holiday at Ardnamuchan. When the tide came in they wandered in and out of gardens or sat on the single track road claiming it as their own. This was the view from the cottage window with the islands of Rum and Eigg across the water- hence the title. I'd taken acrylics as I thought it would make cleaning up easier and the works would be dry for taking home- my Mini car has a very small boot! However, I like working with wet paint and wished I had taken a gel retarder to slow down the drying time. I was told about this useful medium there. I live and learn !!! .

Portnuairk Ardnamurchan

A few photos from idyllic holiday - good friends, nettle soup, Drambuie, shore sheep and laughter. And painting too!

Ardnamurchan

... putting down what I felt in terms of some overall image at the moment today, and perhaps being terribly disappointed with it tomorrow... trying to make it better and then despairing and destroying partially or wholly... getting back into it and just kind of frantically trying to pull something into this rectangle that made sense to me... (Richard Diebenkorn)


Have just returned from a week at Ardnamurchan on the west coast of Scotland with a small group of painter friends. Seals, sea otters, white sands, turquoise waters. An enchanting place to be. But sometimes the more I'm inspired to paint the less happy I am with the results. I thought the above quote summed it up perfectly.

The Painted Chair

Oil on canvas     12 x 12"
Bridget Hunter 2009

We bought this old Loyd Loom chair at auction for £2 many years ago. I've always loved its shape and its now in my workroom, a place to sit and stare my paintings into miraculously working!! I used anything I could find - brushends, fingers included - to try to capture the texture. The magenta velvet cushion was a great colour to work with but felt it needed something else. Added some lemons hoping that being the opposite of purple they would add a zing. Its given me ideas for further paintings of bits of furniture that live with me. There's my grandmother's piano. Now that would be a challenge!

Three Red Onions.

Oil 12 x 12"
Bridget Hunter 2009

I always want to paint if I see colours that sing. Red onions have that effect - all the purples, reds, oranges and blues, from the cool light reflecting. And garlic has so many subtle shades that make them exciting too. I wasn't sure how to arrange the shapes but as I love this old plate because of the blue I thought I'd try. Then it was all circular shapes so added a square white napkin to contrast. I think it works, at least I hope it does. But I enjoyed the process and the challenges it gave me. But photo is again a problem as I can see a bit of me in it!        
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Work Table

Sometimes something ordinary, because of light or colour, changes into something that becomes a painting subject. These tubes of paint, with the reds shining out and the random arrangement of shapes, became just that. The composition seemed to work. It was also good to be doing a Still Life subject again. I like Kurt Anderson's words about a still life painting being full of movement and light.

Oil on canvas 12 x 12"
Bridget Hunter 2009

Snow Hills

Oil on canvas 12 x 12"
Bridget Hunter 2010

And it snowed and it snowed and it froze and it froze. And put on the warm boots and went out to look. But it was too cold to sketch so went home trying to remember the colours I'd seen amongst all that white. Then painted this as soon as I could while the memory was still fresh - coffee first though!