Part of an African ceremonial belt thing. It's all amazing beadwork.

Love the creature.

Tawaka Store

From the Imizamo Yethu township in South Africa.

Refuelling Stop

A wee painting from the Maine coast.

Loved the hut at the end of the jetty.

Mike Marlin

What a week last week. Didn't get a chance to blog. Took down The River Runs Through It exhibition at Kelvingrove (which took forever) then flew to London to photograph the launch of Mike Marlin's Nearly Man album at the Gibson Guitar Studios. Today I deliver the photos after a weekend downloading and editing. Hopefully I can get into the studio later and work on the big painting which is perched on the easel.

Daffodils

It's nearly spring and I do like painting daffodils. This is one I did a couple of years ago which an artist friend of mine has in his collection.

Nice scarves from Syria and beyond. A friend put me onto this

web site when he came to stay wearing a fabulous scarf.

www.souriana.co.uk

Sue Biazotti

This a bad iphone photo taken at the opening of Sue Biazotti's

new exhibition at The Mussel Inn in Glasgow's Hope Street.

The exhibition runs for four weeks and is well worth going to

see......and the food at The Mussel Inn is lovely. Over the last

few months The Mussel Inn has been making a bit of a reputation

for itself as a venue for artists.

Dog Rescue

This poor wee dog had fallen about twenty feet and was stuck on a ledge. It took a while but the rescue was successful and safely carried out. The dog was bouncing around with happiness when he finally made it to safe ground.

the River Runs Through It

With the Kelvingrove exhibition extended until Feb 11th

you can get in to see the exhibition if you haven't already.

This is Sue Biazotti's Riverside Interior.

This painting of a pick up is heading home after a spell in a gallery in

the Cotswolds. Maybe I should send it to the States......or find

somewhere in London....who knows...I'll find

it a home sometime.

Very frosty this morning and it reminded me of all that lovely snow
before Christmas.

Tobago

Found images from my Tobago sketchbook. Had forgotten these...rather like them.

Spent the day ay my Mum's house. The bathroom has wet rot and woodworm....great. Room stripped back. New bathroom suite ordered. Back to painting tomorrow.

South Africa

This painting is heading down to Thompsons Gallery in Marylebone, London. It is of the Constantia Vineyards near cape Town.

The Aspect Prize

Aspect Prize winner Adam Kennedy with myself and Bill Paterson who gave an amusing and eloquent speech before making the announcement.

winter

A wee reminder of all the lovely snow we had in December
which drove us all mad but we now miss it.

the River Runs Through It

Opening night at Kelvingrove....and it's on for another three and a half weeks.

Returning to some normality after the new year (Happy 2011 everyone), I'm bound to remind you that 'The River Runs Through It' exhibition is still running in Kelvingrove Art Galleries.

I went in the other day and it's looking good. The above piece is by Stonehaven based artist Colin Brown. Colin is featured in a wonderful book called 'Collage' published by Black Dog Publishing which features the great Collage artists. He was so thrilled to be in a book alongside

Braque and Picasso.

The Aspect Prize

This is Green Girl by Steven Lindsay who is our fourth finalist.
It's a strong foursome.
Goodness knows how the judges will decide.

The Aspect Prize

This is 'Clyde Shipyard Study' by Adam Kennedy. If you read The Jackdaw there is an article on Adam and his work.

The Aspect Prize

This is 'Inception' by Frances Law. Big painting. Will look good in The Fleming Collection Gallery.

The Aspect Prize

This is 'Leeward' by Rowena Comrie who is one of the four finalists in this years Aspect Prize.
The finalists exhibition runs at The Fleming Collection gallery in Berkeley Street in London from January 10th until the 14th. It's not long but it's worth catching.

Like this shot of the birds feeding on the bird table

A little reminder of how fabulous the snow was last week.

Mike Marlin at Barrowland

Last night Mike Marlin played at Barrowland in Glasgow. Backing 'From the Jam', Mike faced a largely male audience who only wanted to see the main act. It was a hard one but they did well.
Mike said it was the toughest gig of the tour so far....but that's Glasgow for you.

Clerkland Farm Tearoom and Shop

Exhibiting for the next few weeks at Clerkland Farm Tearoom is Janet
Anderson. The tearoom is between Dunlop and Stewarton. Good
lunches. Good cakes. Always some paintings or prints on the walls.
Janet's show will run until the end of January. The Tearoom will be
closed over Christmas and the New year.

Life at the bird table.

Nice and snowy and cold. Lovely for walking.

Wiltshire Art fair

If you need a little heat in this cold weather then head to the Wiltshire
Art fair (if you can get there through the snow) and visit this painting
and others in the Quiddity Fine Art stand.
Painting is called 'On the Malecon, Havana.'

Snow

Went for a great walk yesterday.

Christmas books

Today it's the turn of Santa. He has his very own book telling you all
you need to know about life in Santa's household and the history of
his work. Lots of pictures and letters and even a giant snowflake.
Compiled by John and Juliette Atkinson, this is a terrific book and
one for every home.
Called 'All About Me' you will find it on Amazon and I'm sure it will
be available in all major book stores.

Christmas books

A couple of pals have books published in time for Christmas.
Today we'll look at 'Life of Pee' by Sally Magnusson. This is a
smallish book....about 7 inches by 5 and costing £10.99. Knowing
Sally's writing and her fastidious approach to her work I knew this
would be good and it certainly lives up to my expectations and more.
The research she has done is exemplary. This is not only a fun book
but a deeply interesting insight into the world of urine. I had no idea
there were so many uses or that gallons of the stuff were shipped to
and fro to factories various.
Highly recommend this both as a stocking filler and a present in its
own right. I'm about to purchase a few for lucky friends.

studio sale today

It's early in the morning and today is the studio sale. Overnight we had

two inches of snow. Will anyone venture out into the country in the

snow? Very few I would think. We'll wait and see. Some will think it

an adventure. Some will not. If no-one comes I'll delay the sale until

May. I reckon that with snow this early in the winter we could be in for

a long cold one.

The house is ready...there are paintings everywhere. I've sold six in the

last five days so I've made a little money. No complaints from me then.

There are two young artists coming today to help with the sale and if

no-one turns up we have plenty of wine and lots of food so we'll have

a good time. I suspect a few villagers will appear, hang up their coats,

head for the wine and settle in.

Studio Sale

Things are quickening here. Four sold already and three people coming today. The sale isn't until tomorrow but this is a great start.

Studio Sale

All sorts of paintings available in the Studio Sale. A few people have
come by already and four paintings have been sold. Saturday is the
big day...mind you there are warnings of snow which would scupper
the whole thing.
Watch this space.

Fish market

Taken at the Fish Market in Kalky near the Cape of Good Hope.

For all of you that know me and even those that don't....I'm
having a studio sale this coming Saturday. 10-4 at the house.

The Aspect Prize

With something like seven weeks to go before the Finalists exhibition
at The Fleming Collection in London, work is really coming together
for the finalists. This is Force 9 by Rowena Comrie.
Really admire the free flow of the paint and the energy that comes
out of this painting. Lovely colour.

James Watt

This is 'Ardbeg' by Jimmie Watt. It's a huge painting. If only I
had a wall big enough and a bank balance to go with it.
Jimmie is nearly eighty years old now but still painting
regularly and coming up with some fabulous canvasses.
He too is exhibiting at Kelvingrove until the end of January.

Rachael Rebus

This is a small painting by Rachael Rebus called 'Central'. Part of a series on railway tracks including a couple from Altenburg near Berlin.