Two Months on Gigha

The Way to the Sea 

Oil 24x20"

Sun and Clouds, Gigha

Oil 28x24"

Island Studies

6x8"

This June I stayed with 3 other painters on the island of Gigha for 5 days.

It wasn't the best weather for painting outside but the island was full of accessible painting places and the colours were a delight of blues and pale greens. And wild flowers everywhere.

When we were there we were offered an exhibition in the Gigha Gallery in 2016 and since then we've learned that the exhibition can be for 2 months, August and September, the holiday months when the islands busy with tourists.
http://gighagallery.com/

Its very exciting and I've been sorting out works that may be suitable, mostly from sketches done during  our stay though I'm hoping to return in May to do more studies.

Now I need to store these away in the meantime.

An Exhibition in the Lillie Gallery

   

The Heather Hills

Oil on canvas   2015

30x30"

I'm an elected member of 

The Glasgow Society of Women Artists 

and feel really privileged to be able to take part in the groups exhibitions in various venues around Scotland.

This Autumn it's being held in The Lillie Art Gallery in Milngavie, Glasgow.

The Gallery has a collection of Scottish Art from 1850 to the present and includes works by Elizabeth Blackadder , Francis Cadell, Samuel Peploe and Joan Eardley.

An Arran landscape

Sold

Oil on canvas  2014

10x12"

Five days on Gigha

Sun and Clouds on Gigha
20x24'
Oil on board

Butterbur in a Landscape
30x26"
Oil on Canvas

A Gigha Landscape
30x26"
Oil on Canvas


I've a love of the Scottish Islands and this year spent 5 days with 4 fellow painters on the island of Gigha.
It might be the ferry crossings to get there and the hope of spotting sea otters and seals and maybe, just maybe, a whale, though I've never been lucky enough to see one yet. I think you really need to book a seat on a whale watching tour to have a chance.
Many years ago we did see a huge basking shark swimming up the west coast and that was amazing.

Gigha was beautiful, with the typical white sands and the rich turquoise sea, which you'd never imagine you'd find in the Scottish landscape.

These three works are from sketches and smaller paintings made outdoors on the island.
I'll post more of the Gigha series as I finish them.

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.