New Venue in CDA

August, the month that should be renamed ACTIVITY, is drawing to a close. Just finished is a commisson for Keith Shannon of Harrison Dock Builders, translating
an idea of floathomes along the St. Joe river into an actual full-colour painting complete with flower-pots and moored watercraft gracing the structures. Hope it communicates his idea with clarity – dealing with intangibles such as ‘ideas’………the term dicey comes to mind!

I am thrilled to announce that my work is now available in Coeur d’Alene through All Things Irish, a lovely specialty shop offering an extensive selection of Irish goods and gifts right downtown at 315 E Sherman. Ilene and Craig have expanded to include a Scottish section also, and a number of my original works are displayed, in addition to my Fine Art cards and ‘boutique’ sized limited edition reproductions.
Established nearly ten years ago, All Things Irish has received awards for ‘best gift shop’ several years running from an Inland Empire survey. The ambiance and the staff make browsing among the displays a great experience in itself, and well worth taking the time for an uplifting visit to the Celtic countries, right here in Coeur d’Alene!

Art on the Street 2009

The morning after…….is there such a thing as ‘hangover’ from an arts & crafts fair? Always feel a bit odd the 1st day after a show, maybe from the high concentration of good connections, laughs & fun all infused in a 3-day period! Art on the Street has grown incredibly & the opportunity to participate was a great gift for me. Still one of the best ways to gamble I’ve ever come across, erecting, filling and manning a booth is quite an undertaking, but rewarding just the same, in so many ways. Friends I don’t normally see stop in for quick hugs & updates, fellow artists drop by with good wishes & personal insights on the fairs & biz, customers & browsers chat & give their uplifting reactions to my work…..it’s all just FUN! The yearly piping school at North Idaho College had just concluded, & Spokane’s annual Highland Games took place on Saturday, so a sprinkling of Celtophiles, pipers and Scots enthusiasts added to the already enjoyable mix of visitors and conversations. All in all, a GREAT fair, and a lovely weekend!

Summer Art Fair

It’s art fair time in Coeur d’Alene…..and THIS year the weather’s going to be perfect – I can feel it in my bones! A double-booth at Art on the Street and a heavy summer thunderstorm several years ago made me resolve NEVER to do an outdoor show again….never is obviously too long a time! I’ll be showing originals, cards & limited editions in a booth in front of Bella Rose (between 2nd&3rd on Sherman) this coming weekend, & there will be NO sign of inclement weather!!

I do anticipate a bit of heat, but standing among paintings containing chill salt water & gray Scottish skies will help to offset that melting feeling one gets at summer art fairs! ‘Dunnottar Castle from the Sea’ will hang within easy glance to provide ‘cool’ at a moment’s notice! Dunnottar is, so far, my favourite castle. A bit over a mile south of Stonehaven on the NE coast, it is most fun to approach by the footpath from town, walking alongside fields of waving grain (absolutely gorgeous just before harvest time) and on the edge of long, rough cliffs dropping down to the beach below. It’s a goal to paint plein air here, but it’s going to have to be on a chilly day – the stench from seabird guano on hot days is frightful!

Access to the castle is by steep cliffside stairs dropping to near-beach level. Once through the ticket gate, it’s an amazing world of stonework, human history and survival.
I could spend days wandering the grounds, learning of life as it must have been, for those who had, and for those who had aught. I’ve been fortunate to view the castle from the water side, sailing & mackerel fishing – makes quite an impression as to inaccessibility even today! More on Dunnottar Castle: Dunnottar

Calling Scotland........

I painted the Pennan callbox today! A small thing, I know, but to many of us, Scots or no, it’s a callbox of some significance!

Pennan was a sleepy village and well kept Scottish secret until writer Bill Forsyth wrote and directed 1983 film Local Hero starring Burt Lancaster, Fulton Mackay, Denis Lawson, Peter Reigert, Rikki Fulton, Jenny Seagrove and Jennifer Black. Lovely theme music is by one of my fav’s, Mark Knopfler (remember Princess Bride?) Local Hero told the story of an oil tycoon with a penchant for astronomy who sends a representative to Pennan to buy up property for an oil refinery. The usual ‘big money talks’ scenario doesn’t work with ALL the locals, specifically a curmudgeonly character living on the beach, & plans, minds & hearts are altered as the spell of the village & it’s stunning surroundings does it’s work. The ’08 Glasgow Film Festival held a special screening marking Local Hero’s 25th anniversary.

Details of Pennan lent much character to the film, particularly the traditional red BT call box which Mac the rep used each night to phone oil baron Happer with his report. The Pennan Inn, one of the smallest bars in Scotland, was also a highlight! There was no workable phone box before the film was shot. Pennan’s first box was a movable prop placed to appear nearer the pier! Visitors, movie buffs and locals campaigned successfully to BT to install a genuine functional red call box. It is the most called box in Scotland. BT have traced these back to tourists phoning a relative and asking them to ring back! Now a listed building, the box sports paint specially designed for oil rigs, providing protection for metal work from the harsh North Sea and winds.

That said, maybe I can get on with the painting – a 4’ landscape of the village – a bit of a challenge for one who revels in myopic studies of rust…hmmm…..wonder what the callbox would look like if they hadn’t used that industrial strength paint…….???

Studying Rust

Rusty metalwork is to me like candy to a toddler – just can’t get enough! The COLOURS!! Especially near salt water – it seems to add a particularly kaleidoscopic quality to the array of colour found in rust & decaying metal. I’d like to do an entire series on rusted objects, which, hmm, seems to surreptitiously be materializing…..rusted boat hulls & parts, rusty locks, eroded doorknockers….! Technorati Profile

This ‘gorgeous’ padlock & hasp secures a yellow-painted door on the High Street in Montrose, a seacoast town full of history and interesting wee shops. The light is often diffused & softened in Scotland, no matter the time of day, so strong contrasts of darks & lights using shadow is not as much of an issue as in clearer atmospheres. This offers the enjoyable challenge of speaking through subtlety, creating depth with an emphasis on value & warm/cool colour contrasts. Fun!

Reunion Painter-Style

Funny how you put hours into a painting, focusing, observing, unfocusing, choosing colours, losing patience, beginning again – hoping to sell the finished product, hoping it doesn’t sell because you LIKE it, then actually MISSING it once it’s out of the studio! Was in my fav of CDA’s coffeeshops yesterday, Bella Rose between 2nd & Sherman, who kindly host a large wall of my work, and looking at the paintings was like getting reacquainted with old friends!! Think I’m losing the plot!

Celtic Music Festival Blues

It’s Folk Festival time in Stonehaven next weekend – I imagine most of the usual charismatic suspects plus a whole lot of new faces will be attending, with wee sessions going on ‘roon’ the toon’ and harbourside…. the eyes water as I think of the fun I’ve had trying to keep up with hard-driving tunes and jam-packed time schedules, so as not to miss a performance or chance to sit in on a ‘crackin’ session!’ Am very thankful for help staying focused on the positive in a wee monthly gig downtown at Art Spirit entertaining Artwalk attendees – a brilliant opportunity for exposure for my work and to share some of my favourite tunes.

Music-oriented as I am, I’ve done a small series of paintings celebrating Celtic music, my long-suffering fiddle being the subject! It’s a Sanctus Serafini copy, ca. 1823 (I know, by rights I should’ve painted a fiddle made by a Scots luthier, but had none handy here in Idaho!) By appearance it’s either been well-loved, or had rather a hard life depending on one’s viewpoint, having undergone some extensive reparations. Plays a fine tune, though, depending on the player(!), & is a treasured companion.

The images are meant to go beyond the music, to invite the viewer into a more intimate aspect of a musician’s experience, the sheer pleasure of the beauty and form of our instruments. Thus, you see the fiddle depicted in multiple perspectives and angles one wouldn’t normally see unless working with the instrument personally. I created the series in a more anal phase of my painting career, trying to get every dot of paint just in the right spot. The dark backgrounds suggest our murky past – for the most part undefined and undiscernable, yet full of everything (all colours combined makes murk!) that makes Celtic culture what it is today. Celtic knotwork, composed of several colours (cultures) and populated with many, many ‘wee blobs’ (people) is placed behind each fiddle image to represent a flexible, yet extremely strong grounding in the music and heritage of the Celtic countries.

Hieland Coos, or Just Plain Great Hairy Beasties

They’ve got to be related to wooly mammoths somewhere down the line. And the Irish strain of them at that, masses of red hair & all. I’ve rather enjoyed the company of cattle, having had the opportunity to work at length around them in my college days. Peaceful creatures for the most part – pleasant, plodding munchers turning vegetable matter into animal protein. I find Highlanders even more appealing with their thick coats, all but reminding one of teddy bears sporting horns for play. And the long shaggy fringe hiding their big, glossy dark eyes – well, aye – I know it’s got to have evolved to help fend off midgies, but it just adds to their overall fuzziness, & makes you just want to hop the fence & give a good scratch behind their ears & make friends!

This painting was inspired by a pair of great bullocks lazing on Nover Estate north of Dingwall in summer. The closer animal struck me as rather statuesque reclining in the lush grass, appearing to have taken great care to distribute his bulk evenly for balance and appearance’s sake to the benefit of passers-by (although it was on the quiet lane of a large estate). The more distant fellow reminded me of a lump. Melted butter, but red-brown. Caramelized. But a lump. Must’ve been hot out there in the sun with all that hair. I enjoyed the challenge of describing the ‘lump’ & the ‘statue,’ adjusting colours and values just enough to give the impression of a hot summer day and the Highlanders taking their ease.

Not Just Any Cat

Still drying is a wee painting of Sam, one of my favourite cat pals in Scotland, formerly of a busy, kindly family who takes in stray cats and painters (!) in the tiny community of Tore on the Black Isle, Ross-shire. I’ve heard this spring he’s no more to be seen sleuthing around the big Farm House on Redcastle Estate. Living a charmed rural life of freedom and independence, he was a charmer himself, sticking like GLUE when he decided yours was the lucky lap he was going to occupy for a good cuddle! I chose to paint him in one of his most favoured spots, a kitchen chair on the Aga side of the big pine trestle table, ostensibly snoozing in the warmth, but on closer inspection keeping a weather eye out for all activity that had to do with food!

Although I’ve limited experience painting animals, it was a joy to watch him come life as the painting took shape. The placemat, which I’ve discovered to be as necessary on a Scottish table as cutlery, posed maybe more of a challenge than Sam’s fur, but I’m quite satisfied with the overall result, and the making the painting of my wee furry friend has helped to reinforce all the enjoyment I had of his companionship

Reasoning Through.......

Curious indeed is the stuff that makes humans tick. A lovely summer’s eve a week past the solstice in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho: Most of a week has been spent reconnecting with paint & canvas after a long dry spell, & writing for the black hole of descriptive sentences called Marketing Tools. I am so fortunate in all that I consider: great friends & family, pleasant surroundings, excellent health, absorbing interests, safe & healthy food. What more could one ask? That’s EASY……to return to Scotland! Understanding of this draw of a distant land & culture has become a non-issue – it’s of no matter why, just when!

My focus on painting Scottish subject matter exclusively began during a 2-month trip to explore and collect material for paintings in 2003. My passion for the subject matter and for painting has only deepened since. It is my sincere hope to encourage others in appreciation & learning about Scottish culture through my paintings and music.