This is my nice Harry Watkins painting just back from the framer. Framed at Art Hire in Glasgow. Art Hire are based in the W.A.S.P.S. building in Hanson Street and there is a great wee cafe there.

Lovely wall of posters we found in a side street in Florence. It's like a painting.

Liz Knox DA(Edin) PAI PPAI

Today's painting is by Liz Knox. Entitled 'Not Quite Dark Yet', it was inspired by Bob Dylan's Album 'Time Out Of Mind' which is quite timely as Dylan is playing in Glasgow on Saturday evening.
A large painting (36" x 60"), it will be on display at the Paisley Art Institute Annual Exhibition which opens on Friday evening at the Paisley Museum & Art Galleries. It is open to the public from Saturday. It is worth noting that Liz is currently the President of the Paisley Art Institute.
The exhibition runs for about a month and is worth visiting. Lots of fine works on display.
At the same time, Liz has some small paintings on display at the Clerkland Farm Cheese Shop & Tea Room between Dunlop and Stewarton. Surprising though it may be, this little tea room has something of a reputation for displaying excellent Art. The current exhibition is Liz Knox, Sue Biazotti and Nina Russell.
The reason for this wee corner of excellence is that the gallery space is managed by myself. The paintings and prints on display are affordable.
It is also a great place for tea or lunch and they make their own cheeses at the farm which are really delicious.

Over the weekend I finally built my new bird table. Took a while to source the stone but it all came together this week. The birds love it. This is practical sculpture.

Painting of the week

This is one of fruit trees in Spain.
There is a mixed exhibition at The Lennox Gallery, 77 Moore Park Road, Fulham which has several of my works on show for a couple of weeks.

Glasgow Art Fair

Last night was the opening of the Glasgow Art Fair which runs until Sunday. I have paintings with two galleries...Duncan R Miller Fine Arts from London and The Mansfield Park Gallery from Glasgow. There are galleries from all sorts of wonderful places like Barcelona and Hanoi. It's a big exhibition and you can buy anything from students' work to a Picasso (couldn't afford the Picasso vase so bought a mug by a student).
If you need a break from all the Art then I recommend a drink or a bite to eat at Rogano Oyster Bar which is about two minutes walk from the art fair. See below.

Found this shop window in London. These are telephone call charge advertisements. Nice colours.

All this lovely weather....here the sun reflects off the Firth of Clyde in the early evening.

This is the sculptor Tom Allan in his studio. Tom has a new web site (see links) and is working toward an exhibition starting on July 11th at the Auld Kirk Museum in Kirkentilloch. His work can also be seen at the Paisley Art Institute's Annual Exhibition which opens on May 1st in the Paisley Museum & Art Galleries, High Street, Paisley.

At this time of year, when the sun is out, the most important thing is to appreciate the garden.

OK, so the dentist wasn't that bad and I ended up at a friend's house where there was a rehearsal for a gig. Had to take some photographs for a poster image. Nice guitar.

I like this lettering I found the other day in the High Street in Paisley. It's kind of fitting really as I'm going to the dentist today.

Time for a wee painting. I did this one near the village of Moiré in Beaujolais. It's been sitting in the house leaning against the wall for a while. About time I sent it somewhere. Maybe the forthcoming Glasgow Art Fair.

Hanging began in earnest this week for the Paisley Art Institute's annual exhibition. Judging commences on Friday so it's all hands to the deck to get the hanging done in time. There are some lovely paintings and sculptures on show as ever. The show opens on May 1st and will be open to the public from May 2nd for a month. Well worth a visit.

It's also worth remembering that this is the final week of the 101 invited artists exhibition at the Maclaurin Galleries in Rozelle Park in Ayr.

Easter Sunday and it's afternoon tea outside in a friend's garden. Lovely day.

This is the Aspect Prize winner Alistair Pender's painting Television 6 (Le Mans) hanging in its new home and taking up the entire wall. Fabulous.

I like this shot of a building in Balham. Great Guinness ad. Great shadows.

Look at this wonderful evening. Spring at last.

Links to good reviews of Glasgow book

The Evening Times

The Glaswegian

Architecture Scotland

Easter weekend definitely calls for daffodils. This was what the garden looked like before it started to rain...and rain...and rain...

Glasgow Book

These are a few spreads from my GLASGOW book just to let you know what it looks like. It's available on Amazon. Published by Frances Lincoln Publishers.

Friends Chris and Morag are doing up an extremely old farmhouse. When they stripped back to the stone walls in one of the bedrooms they revealed an above fireplace repair with this very fine brick from Kilmarnock. The repair must have been at least 150 years after the house was built. I'm fond of old bricks with lettering on them. I often think that if I have the time I might start collecting them. I did pick one up in Texas in the seventies which is a Corsicana Cherry Red. Nice brick. Still got it.

This is one of the Maine paintings I'm working on for an exhibition in September in The Richmond Hill Gallery.

I saw these red shoes in London...near Saville Row

Harry Watkins

Visited Harry Watkins studio in Balham recently. Harry is a young up and coming painter. His work can be seen in Thompson's Gallery in Marylebone High Street and in The Lime Tree Gallery in Long Melford in Suffolk. He's an interesting guy to watch. My advice is buy now whilst the prices are affordable. If he can sell as many as he does during a recession then as soon as it's over his prices will soar.
AND...he's a really good guy.

This is my friend George's motorbike jacket. He popped in for a cuppa, took off his jacket, flung it to the floor and it just kind of stood there. Looks like it's dancing. That's one tough jacket. Either that or George is an invisible friend and is sitting on the floor. You'll have to work out for yourselves which is the true version.

Blakes Seven

After all the culture this week I thought it time for a little entertainment. Time to give you all a good laugh. This is a photo of me appearing in an episode of Blake's Seven (Harvest of Kairos). Those of you who know me are already falling about in fits of laughter. It's true, I was once that young. Love the helmet. The space suit was very thin and had only one zip...all the way up the back...so going to the men's room was a tricky procedure. Ah the joys of television.

Paisley Art Institute

Spent part of the day helping the delivery and putting together of the late Sir Robin Philipson's triptych which is to be the centre piece of the forthcoming Paisley Art Institute's Annual Exhibition which opens on May 1st in Paisley Museum & Art Galleries and runs for just over a month. It's always a great show. The triptych is one helluva piece of work and the Institutes President, the artist Liz Knox who studied under Philipson in Edinburgh, says he was one helluva guy as well.

Now then..it is perhaps a little unseemly to boast on one's own blog but just this once I'm going to indulge myself. Glasgow City Council have described my book on Glasgow (which is published today) as "The best coffee table book on modern Glasgow ever."

Yesterday I was presented with a pair of cufflinks bearing Glasgow's coat of arms by the Lord Provost's office. How nice is that.

Sue Biazotti's exhibition

Managed to see Sue Biazotti's red exhibition before it closed. These three are big canvasses and very striking in the space. Pretty intense works with a beautiful finish.

A couple of Sue's small canvasses. There were a long line of these in various shades of red. Some with images, some without.