Sunday 13 October 2013

'Summer on Skye'



It's getting chilly and the days are growing shorter, so here is a little piece of late summer to warm your day.
I made several large mixed media canvas during the summer. Most for the Skyeworks Gallery on the Isle of Skye. This one however went to a dear friend who loves Skye.
For those who have been following me you will notice the thistles  again ( My favourite summer theme)

Inspiration Avenues theme this week is 'faces' and I thought it would be nice to throw two woolly faces into the mix!

The Highlands of Scotland are filled with them...White dots scattered over the heather coloured landscape.The soft bleating often the only sound to break the silence.
Every turn in the road ...they are there....
Sheep....

This one was just waiting by the roadside waiting to be photographed!

You can go for quite a few days without seeing a human face in these parts, but few days go past without crossing paths with a 'Scottish blackface' or a 'Cheviot'.

They don't have a lot of road sense!

This collaged canvas started life as something rather different... a pair of stags, I loved the idea of the deer but it just didn't seem to work, and decided drastic action was needed!


They morphed into sheep! At this stage black faced sheep, but I didn't like the black, so...


 A bit of a white gesso and a quick change of breed!


I like them better as 'Cheviot ' white faced sheep. You can also see here one of the little collaged Dragonflies. The day after I finished the canvas I saw a beautiful dragonfly on the path down to the sea, he was gorgeous.

Dragonfly


I wished I could take better closeups...but you can just about make him out!


The thistles are collaged with handmade paper.

I have a couple more Summer Skyescapes left to show you, which I will do over the next few weeks.

Linking up to Inspiration Avenue and Paint party Friday this week.

26 comments:

  1. so touching and lovely :)
    thank you for sharing

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  2. Your artwork is exquisite, free with a little whimsy....beautiful all I really like them.

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  3. Gorgeous, makes me want to reach out and touch them =)
    xx Monique

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  4. I hope you will create a stag canvas, I can imagine it will be stunning - needs to be on a much bigger canvas I think. I have the sheep canvas hanging above my desk so I get to appreciate it every day and I am reminded of the beauty and the magic of Skye (infact I was onlhy dreaming about Skye this morning!)

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  5. You've done some gorgeous artwork again! I also loved to read about the sheep, wishing we had more of them in Finland as well! But maybe the thistle piece is my favourite of all. I love thistles, too, and your colours are so great.

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  6. this is soooo beautiful, morag. truly, everything about it... just makes my eyes smile like crazy.

    xoxo

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  7. Beautiful paintings, I especially like the thistles.

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  8. Hello Morag! Thank You very much for visiting my blog and now these wonderful paintings. So lovely and colorful paintings. I needed to see just these. I have been so busy that I have missed colors and painting so much. To see these helps me a little but I must have my own bruch to my hand. When is my turn? Yes, it is coming, soon. Just couple of days and then...
    Best wishes...Uuna

    Painting to handmade paper is very beautiful, too. Very fine rythm and desing and colors, too.

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  9. I just love this one, the colors and their sweet faces - good choice on the final breed!

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  10. I love your combination of colors and textures! So very interesting! Patsy

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  11. Beautiful work and photos! Valerie

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  12. Absolutely fantastic and beautiful! Love the fairy tale atmosphere and colors, pretty flowers and adorable creatures!

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  13. How lucky Swirly Girl is to have your beautiful Skye painting above her desk! It is gorgeous with the rich colours and the sheep are just right. I liked following your logic for the changes you made. As always, each image looks lovely on the post but even better when I clicked the image and could appreciate the larger version for more detail.
    Sorry to have been absent from commenting - but I'm hoping the pace of life will slow down now and I can get back to visiting and commenting.

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  14. Love this post! Such beautiful paintings!

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  15. what a really beautiful collage/painting! I love the red background. One day I'll get to see so many sheep and pastures in Ireland and Scotland in person...

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  16. Morag your art is always such a treat!! I love the colors and magic that is always present in your work!

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  17. Stunning piece I LOVE the red...and all this yummy texture... I clicked it to enlarge and got many more gorgeous details....maybe a reminder on the bottom so people get the joy I did!! I love seeing your process too..and the gesso added even more great texture!! Thanks for sharing!

    Hugs Giggles

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  18. I love the thistles. I have a necklace with a thistle on it, and I've always cherished it. The sheep are lovely, too. :) There's something quite special about your work.

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  19. Oh I loved seeing all the sheep, both paintings and in real life. Wonderful post.

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  20. Morag this is beautiful. I laughed at your comment on going days without seeing a human but not a sheep-that's so true! Last weekend my husband was in Glasgow and my conversations the whole weekend were with animals! The colours in this are divine and I do love sheep and their nervous but curios ways!

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  21. Beautiful Morag, lovely colours and compositions. So delicate and sweet. Thank you for sharing. Have a creative and nice week XX

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  22. Oh how beautiful and sweet these collage paintings are! Love the texture and subject matter. Happy PPF!

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  23. Absolutely gorgeous artwork and so lovely photos!

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  24. The joy came as soon as I saw the sheep :-)
    Your collaged paintings are so beautiful and the details really are fascinating!
    Happy PPF
    Ilona

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  25. I've missed your blog (am now a follower) along the way through PPF. I love the sheep and the thistles. Your paintings are awesome. I want to visit Scotland one day to see my ancestral castle. Blessings, Janet PPF

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  26. I am falling in love with your sheep art..magnificently beautiful..the color vibrancy is exciting to the eye and sparks with such life! I love thistles too...they are quite magical and powerful symbols..I love watching the bumblebees get so sleepy ontop of them!
    Thanks for sharing another stunning work!
    Victoria

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