Highland Mist and a happy new year

Highland Mist

 Happy New Year!
Thought I would share my first piece of 2016, although I actually finished it over the holidays as it was a Christmas present for my daughter. She had seen my previous First snow stag collage and wanted one of her own. She is moving into a new flat in Aberdeen soon and deciding on colour schemes. She settled on greys and yellows so wanted something that would fit.
 Iv'e never produced a commission to fit with a colour  scheme so that in itself was a bit of a challenge!

She seems to like it and when renovation work finishes in the flat it will be hung in the living room.

It is made from hundreds of pieces of torn paper, mixed with a bit of acrylic paint, gesso, silver flakes and love. ;)
I spent Hogmanay  ( new years eve) In the Scottish borders, It has been ridiculously wet in the northern part of the UK for weeks now and flooding is a real problem.

Teviot river 1/1/2016

The river Teviot on New years day was still swollen.

Although this photo shows where it had reached earlier in December... right up to the track by the riverside and over the hedge into the fields!

Scott's view St Boswells 1/1/2016

The weather on New years day was cold and murky, the panorama from Scott's view was rather gloomy, you can see in the foreground yellow gorse in bloom! It is January! What is going on!?

Near the viewpoint there is a woodland walk to the William wallace statue...It is not the most accurate representation of William Wallace I have ever seen, I think it makes him look rather like a Roman centurion! Perhaps like mine your idea of William Wallace is more Mel Gibson ( Braveheart) than Roman soldier!

A large funeral type urn partners the statue inscribed with the  words


The peerless Knight of Ellerslie 
Who wav'd on Ayr's Romantic shore
The beamy torch of Liberty
And roaming round from Sea to Sea
From Glade obscure of gloomy Rock
His bold companions call'd to free
The Realm from Edward's Iron Yoke

Very rousing, although the weather was a little cold and damp to feel too roused... decided to hurry back to the fireside before frostbite took hold.

First snow

I was asked by Drift gallery in St Anne's for whom I have led previous workshop events, if I could make a winter themed canvas for an exhibition space in the town. I have a lot of work on at the moment but thought it would be lovely to be able to make a piece just for Christmas.

I  am presently working on a series of pieces for a solo exhibition next year  at Skyeworks gallery in Portree on the Isle of Skye. The volume of work  I have to complete sometimes seems daunting but I am confident it is achievable, and so far have kept all of the completed works underwraps. ( not easy for me ;) )
 As the series progresses I have noticed  my style is changing. The constant themes return again and again, but evolve. I think the very act of making a back to back series of works make this happen, but thrown into the mix are personal experiences and feelings.

The way an Artists style develops fascinates me. Picasso very famously went through his blue period 1901-1904 where his work took on a more sombre tone, his sadness during that time led to his use of predominately blue palette warmed only by a very small amount of colour. Of course the period was relatively short lived and soon the colours came flooding back.
 Mood and season can  influence in subtle ways.
My 'First Snow' piece began a few weeks back in warmer hues, paint, thrown, dribbled and sprayed in merry abandon.

As the paper layers went down, the seasons had begun to change,

A biting wind,
A hard chill.
Cold, clear, water,
Mist, damp.... Winter.

I am working more loosely, using palette knives and splatter teqniques to apply paint freely over collaged paper fragments. the physical application of paint mirroring the wind and rain.

Of course there is still metallic sparkle in my work. Silver flakes merge with ice blue paint, but it is more muted.

 The finished work was hung in the exhibition space in Aston Pavilion on Wednesday and sold, I am told, as it was being put on the wall! Yay!!!!!
I took the photo below of ' first snow' propped up on my sofa to help show scale a little better...

first Snow