Sketching Days
How to Hit Reset: sketching and summer exhibitions
Behind the Scenes
The preparation of a collection of paintings leads to a lot of admin before you can enjoy them in a gallery: photography, renaming photos, pricing, uploading to website and social media and ensuring I don’t advertise on my online shop paintings that hang in a gallery!
Time spent sketching feels like a reset, re-establishes focus and serenity in the moment, even for only a postcard-size sketch.
Earlier this year I applied to – and was accepted – Perthshire Artisans. It’s a collective of over 35 artists and artisans based in Perthshire. Talents include ceramicists, jewellers, glass artists, painters, photographers, textile artists, illustrators and willow weavers.
Scroll down to see our first project….
Drawing on Location
But since the end of April, I’ve been fortunate to take a few short trips away with my bike and sketching kit. It’s been really good to be outside, moving, sketching and filling my creative well with new vistas and ideas.
One of these trips was on the isle of Eigg. I love May with the longer daylight, gradually warmer days but nae midges.
Eigg was magical in that it’s relatively close and easy to get to, but fills you up with a sense of adventure and that edge-of-the-world feeling of escapism and freedom – yeah, despite 4G!
Maybe it’s having to leave the car behind and travel light?
Silence and Soft Light
I fall quiet when standing in buildings abandoned during the clearances. For me there’s this odd feeling as I stand where I imagine they did, looking at a landscape that’s hardly changed and wondering about their lives and thoughts. A kind of time-travelling. And a feeling that we are only custodians of such beauty, not owners. We leave it behind and the sun will rise regardless.
Feeling lucky for running hot water and that there are places left untouched by our human “progress” and speed. Yet some of these beautiful places are so overgrazed it’s hard to imagine what they looked like before sheep became more important than people.
You’d love the light, the subtlety of colours and how light shimmers in the water. A deep sense of serenity fills you up as your everyday falls away.
Current Exhibitions
You can see my paintings in the following locations over the next couple of months:
Artisan& in Aberfeldy until the 15th July
Whitekirk Hill, by North Berwick, East Lothian, from the 24th of May to 26th July
Group exhibition in the lobby of this prestigious luxury spa resort. Friendly, open to the public and dogs welcome, they serve delicious meals and tempting sweets in a gorgeous setting.
Summer Exhibitions
I’m thrilled to exhibit 5 paintings with Perthshire Artisans from Saturday 13th to Saturday 19th July in a show called Assemble.
This is Perthshire Artisans’ inaugural exhibition at St Matthews Church, and iconic landmark towering over the river Tay in Perth, Scotland.
You can also see different paintings from my latest collection at Fortingall Art Exhibition in the beautiful Molteno Hall, Fortingall village, Perthshire. This is the 20th anniversary of this prestigious summer exhibition. I will have prints available to buy for the first time.
But if you’re only visiting Perthshire later in the summer, mark your diary for Perthshire Open Studios Friday 6th, Saturday 7th and Sunday 8th September from 10am to 4pm.
Quick Links
Buy this painting “Dawn Passage”