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.

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.

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.

A New Year, New Medium

Tamzin with the Cowboy Hat

Pastel on Brown Paper

At the beginning of December I went on a pastel portrait course with Tom McKendrick in
 A House for an art Lover, Glasgow.
It was a beautiful venue for an art course and the teaching was inspiring.
This was the first time I've used dry pastels and the first time I've actually completed a colour portrait as my attempts in the past have ended up in the bin.
The resource was a photo I'd taken a few years ago.

My girls, with a hint or two from me, have given me money for pastels as my Christmas present and I'm so looking forward to going to Glasgow to spend it in a new art shop there.


Here's a photo of Tom McKendrick with his wonderful portraits of soldiers.

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.

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.

"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?

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.

A demonstration - so no pressure !

A view of Brodick Castle 

   

Oil on canvas  30x24"

Bridget Hunter 2013

Sometimes I get asked to do demonstrations for local Art Groups. I don't know why I say yes except for the fact the people are so nice. But I find the whole thing terrifying and get a bit frantic working in front of others. I've been known to drop a paint laden palette upside down on the floor and once forgot to take the white paint. Maybe that's why folk turn up to watch knowing things will go awry.

This one was started as a demo and finished later - but I may have now overworked it. I'm not sure. 

Sketches of the castle done on my visit there while flapping away the hordes of midgies which enjoy biting any visitor on a damp day.

From easel to Frame. Done!

The light has been good recently with high clear skies. No snow here but bitterly cold. The only place for me  is inside working from sketches and memories of a winter sky and a walk along the shore. 

Then to pop it in a frame and say - "Done!" 

January Shore

Oil on canvas   30 x 24"

Bridget hunter 2013

Sold

When a painting block strikes

My workplace has been taken over by the little people . Time to get out of the painting doldrums I'm thinking and lift the brushes once more.

A Winter Sun

A Winter Sun

Oil on canvas 20"x20"

Bridget Hunter 2012

December is halfway through with it's cold weather, short days and a winter sun. I took this photo recently at Culzean when the sun was low and like a soft white orb in a beautiful dark sky. It became the inspiration for this painting.

An indoor Landscape !

There are many things that inspire me and this little indoor landscape is something I'd love to base a painting round.

I got the table quite cheaply at an auction, loving it's Deco look. I was really after a large bookshelf to house some of my many books but came home with this instead. Excuse was it fitted in the car !

Lillies at a Window

I'm already trying to work on this painting but don't know what to do with it, where to put the next brushstroke. The usual story !!

But I love these orchids and I'm hoping I manage to keep the plant alive long enough to be part of a still life. After all, the label says it only needs a thimbleful of water a week. Surely even I can manage that!!