The Watch House, Catterline, Scotland
Mainland Art Exhibition started. I made an attempt to paint something and give it a go out here. Good news was it was accepted. So last Saturday we went along to the opening. There were some very good paintings, so I was really delighted to be in. Chris the framer was a great help and I have had some great chats with him. (including about good beer - he's from England) Even got to see some early Jeffrey Harris (for you Kiwis who know his status) which he was framing. Dunedin is pretty amazing for the art enclave it has.
My painting was one that I held as a photograph for some time. The Watch House is a significant place memory for me as I recall scottish artist Joan Eardley (follow this link via Creel Inn) who painted there and the small fishing village where several other artists gathered in time with her. I also recall a wonderful day it is bi-ennial art exhibit in which you got to wander around Catterline into church and peoples front rooms to view art and meet the artist too.
So inspired, I found some time to paint the Watch House (above). In a way, I find you need such inspiration to a thing/place to motivate and take you to the depths of concentration and enagagement with the subject. Having been inside it and seen sketch books of work and stood on the cliff there it made all the difference. A little nostalgic perhaps, yet something that is a part of who I am. I just love her almost absract landscapes. She has also done street kids in Glasgow which are also worthy of looking at.
Beehives, Sundown; 48 x 48, Oil on Board, c.1961
Joan Eardley Salmon Net Posts, 1962, Oil on board, 43" x 70"
[See both at http://www.christopherwood.co.uk/bib/eardley.html]
I need to get painting!
