My summer of craft fairs starts this weekend at Eden Court Theatre, Inverness, with Exclusively Highlands. It’s always a busy one in the Highland capital and this time I will among a range of businesses demonstrating their craft.
Eden Court Theatre craft fair
I’ll be doing a spot of painting so the easel will be up and I’ll be chipping away at some new works. I’m looking forward to fielding your questions about how to paint a Highland landscape.
The craft fair is on Saturday and Sunday, from 10am-5pm both days. Free entry!
Another summer exhibition is over. Thanks to Logie Steading for having me. The Long Room was a lovely place to show my art. It was great to meet new people and to do some painting in the sunshine. Thanks to everyone who came and chatted about art and fishing.
If you missed it, there’s second chance to see some of the paintings online soon and at the High St Merchants in Grantown during August. I’ll let you know when they’re up.
Thanks to everyone who has come to the Superfly at Logie Steading so far – particularly since there’s been so many things competing for your attention, not least the sunshine! I really appreciate your visit.
I’m delighted with how the show looks and what’s been extra special is having my wee boy there too. This time last year, during my show in Kingussie, we were waiting for him to arrive. It’s lovely to be able to show him the paintings and watch him crawl around and pull himself up on chairs. He got one of the best views of the work as you can tell from the above photo.
I’m here all week, so there’s plenty of time to make it along. You can find The Long Room easily from the car park at Logie. It’s beside the Garden Shop. See you soon.
I’m excited to reveal details of my new summer exhibition, Superfly, which is on at Logie Steading from June 30 – July 8.
As you know, I’ve been working on loads of new paintings, trying to capture the magic of fishing that you don’t see because it’s underwater. These new works feature fishing flies that have just been cast across the loch. I’ve been striving to portray the way the light goes through the water. It’s all about showing how the bubbles and ripples distort the reflective film of the water.
I’ve also been inspired by the big fancy camera they used on the BBC’s Blue Planet 2 and I’ve tried to show what’s above and below the surface. Painting in this way allows me to add greater context to the underwater pictures.
The exhibition will be in the Long Room at Logie Steading, near Forres. The Long Room is between the whisky shop and farm shop, right next to the car park so you can’t miss it!
And you’re invited to the launch night on June 30, from 6-8pm, when you can enjoy your art with a wee glass of something and I’ll be around to chat about the paintings (or fishing!)
Not been painting much this week. But I did manage to get out on the waters of Loch Morlich for some fishing.
I also had a go at taking pictures of my fly just beneath the surface. It’s one of my favourites – the olive green nymph – and it was the one that netted me a delicious trout earlier.
But on reviewing the photos, all I was getting was my feet. Very frustrating and confusing: I thought there must be something wrong with the camera.
First attempt: that round thing on the left is the lens cap
After a few attempts, I thought to turn off the two second timer, and hey presto – I started getting the pictures that I wanted.
However, I think the photos with the timer on were still pretty good. As Bob Ross would say: “We don’t make mistakes, just happy little accidents.”
I’m still working away on my fishy pictures. Now that I’ve laid down the main colours, I’m starting on the details – the trees, mountains, water, rocks and fish (of course). This is the hard work of the painting and I’ll take my time to get it just right.
…Which leads me to a wee tip to help you. If after a while you decide to repaint the sky, turn your canvas upside down to prevent pesky blue drips ruining the lower part of your work.
As you can see in the picture below, I repainted the sky on this view of Loch Morlich after I painted in lots of detail in the foreground. Skies are easy to redo (more on those another time) but imagine how annoying it would be to see my lovely mountains and salmon ruined.
I’ve made good progress with my underwater paintings this week. Starting to build up the rays of light beneath the surface and some of the ripples. Still some way to go. Looking forward to adding some bubbles, flies and maybe a wee fish or two.
Progress might be slower in the next few weeks – it’s the start of trout season!
Having a wee change from the colourful landscape and going back to some underwater pictures. I’ve been laying down some soft backgrounds today. This is my favourite part of painting: you feel super-productive as you can start 20 pictures at once. Check back in a week to see my progress.
