Probably the best words an artist can hear!"We are very pleased to inform you that your application for the 'Apply Within' exhibition has been successful."My three works on paper will be shown as part of the 2018 Syn Festival in the Filmhouse during the Edinburgh Greek Film Festival.The exhibition: A decade ago the global financial crisis left a pr...
I have 3 paintings in the current show 5 Years at The Velvet Easel gallery in Portobello, Edinburgh. The opening was last Saturday and it was good to see the current show and the new look that Roz has created in the space; very chic, very sophisticated but retaining the warmth and intimacy. I love the new muted Farrow & Ball palette and the new...
A few things that have recently nourished my eyes, ears and soul! It all goes into the artistic mix. Be omnivorous!WORDSTrigger Warning: Short Fictions and Disturbances — Neil GaimanCy Twombly Fifty Days At Iliam — BasualdoThe Waste Land (Facsimile & Transcript of original drafts) — T. S. EliotThe Greatest Album Covers of All Time — Barry Miles...
I have just returned from an exhausting four-day visit to London. The city thrills me; it feeds my mind for months. It's almost intoxication!My first port of call was Frida Kahlo: Making Her Self Up at The Victoria and Albert Museum. The show was dazzling, arresting and moving but for me, lacking in her compelling works of art. It left me wanting m...
I subdued the words and now declare it finished. Three of four that I will deliver to Summerhall today for the Scottish Mental Health Art Festival — Out Of Sight Out Of Mind exhibition.
Here are a few things that have caught my eyes, ears and sensitivities recently. It all goes into the artistic mix. Be omnivorous!WORDSOn the Black Hill — Bruce ChatwinBasquiat — Leonhard Emmerling (Taschen)Think Like An Artist — Will GompertzThe Leither MagazineSOUNDSHeroes — David BowieLuxa — Harold BuddNocturnes & Impromtus — Chopin (again!)...
This is one of 4 canvases that I have been working on for a group show at Summerhall in October. To be honest, I have struggled over a few weeks repeatedly painting over images that were just not working. I then hit upon the idea of having mainly words in the absence of any meaningful imagery on brightly coloured, expressionistic backgrounds. I did...
Thank you PCS and the team that hung the show for a great party and exhibition. It looks brilliant!Counter CultureA Workers' Art ExhibitionWhitespace76 East CrosscausewayEdinburghEH8 9HQ Saturday 15 & Sunday 16 September
Today, I delivered a small painting, Coal Mouth to the Whitespace Gallery, Edinburgh for the Public and Commercial Services Union, Counter Culture Workers' Art Exhibition.PCS explain:"Work is often something we do to get by, to get paid, to pay our bills, to have a bit of financial freedom. We spend our lives at work, sometimes unfulfilled, underpa...
Last Friday night I started to paint and threw my normal caution with acrylic paint to the winds of fate! I think I've always had a reluctance to use a lot of paint probably due to lean times in the past and some trepidation.Anyway, I threw paint on plywood and started a crude face, added a body and some arms and suddenly I thought, this is mildly ...
Here are a few things that have caught my eyes, ears and sensitivities this week. It all goes into the artistic mix!WORDSAuguries Of Innocence — William BlakeElle Decoration October IssueUgly: The Aesthetics of Everything — Stephen BayleySOUNDTRACKLow — David BowieNocturnes & Impromtus — ChopinThursday Afternoon — Brian EnoAngel Heart Original ...
I was listening to this brilliant song from the 1981 album Tom Tom Club last night as I was painting the last hours of Thursday away.What are words worth?What are words worth? WordsWords in papers, words in booksWords on TV, words for crooksWords of comfort, words of peaceWords to make the fighting ceaseWords to tell you what to doWords are working...
I added some blue acrylic and then wished I hadn't! Ok, time to cover up with grey acrylic and to me it is becoming a bit interesting again. Last night I wrote the words back in and added some gold marks. Not sure if it is finished but I am reasonably happy to continue and see where it goes.Gold Foot Powder (working title)Oil Paintstick, Ink, Penci...
Art inspiration sometimes dries up. It's a common dilemma that plagues every creative person. To encounter a creative block is to face yet more anguish and self-analysis on top of the self-doubt, scepticism and uncertainty that seem to accompany the state of being an artist! Look no more blood left!When these states strike I just keep going, make m...
I have created 2 new designs for the A3 poster for the Scottish Mental Health Art Festival exhibition to be shown in Summerhall, Edinburgh later this year.These two new draft versions were created with the Risograph printing process at Out of the Blueprint, Edinburgh in mind. The red one is the final version that will be used after some work on the...
Leonardo da Vinci declared, "Art is never finished, only abandoned."I'm not sure about that but I do know that I struggle and agonize over some pieces of work and return to them sometimes several years after they were once declared finished. Most of the time my sense of completion is a purely intuitive one. I just instinctively know that it is fini...
This week I have been listening to (and painting and designing to) David Bowie, Sound + Vision Box Set, Astrakan Café by Anouar Brahem, Jungle Revolution in Dub by Congo Natty and Matthew Bourne's Isotach. All sublime, all offer different rhythms and atmospheres.
I have recently been working on an A3 poster design for a Scottish Mental Health Art Festival exhibition to be shown in Summerhall, Edinburgh later this year.Here are two draft versions that are loosely based on the theme of 'new beginnings', for 'Out of Sight, Out of Mind'.Now in its sixth year, Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind is a collaborative exhibit...
I took this photograph a few months ago at Tate Britain in the All Too Human: Bacon, Freud and a Century of Painting Life exhibition. I work in a gallery and see this all the time; people glued to their mobile/cell phones. I don't mean the casual look to check the time or a new text message but prolonged scrolling and viewing. It saddens me, especi...
I watched an amazing documentary last night – Frank Auerbach - To The Studio - gave me goose bumps! It opens a rare window into his secret, obsessive but brilliant world. Fascinating and compelling, Auerbach's work is fiercely original, disquieting and yet beautiful. I saw Head of Gerda Boehm at Bowie the Collector, Sotheby's, London in November 20...
