IN THE LAND OF NOD, pastel on paper, 43x30cm.This painting was created after seeing a brief scene in the film 'Heaven' starring Cate Blanchett. I held the picture in my mind till next day when I went out to the studio to draw and paint it.
CROY BAY, pastel on paper, 43x30cm. This was painted from a sketch made at the location and is one I am particularly pleased with.
Both these pastels were entered into this years Open Art Exhibition. Yesterday was the Private Preview which I attended mainly to see where my two pictures ended up. I am happy to say that both were displayed in the main gallery and not somewhere down the back corridor! My only moment of note at the preview was a short chat with Alan Dick, the Council Arts Convener. In retrospect there was a number of issues I could and should have raised with him (like why does the Council seem to favour drama and music more at present than the visual arts) but perhaps it wasn't the right time so I let it slide. Later on (after I had gone to my sons house to watch Scotland beating Lithuania 3-1) I returned to see if either of my paintings had won the Arts Council Judges Choice Award, or had even been sold! Alas, no on both counts. I really don't see the Arts Centre as a selling venue - I don't think the exhibition is advertised well enough, and in any case I don't think the EK public is all that interested in buying original artwork. The single picture from the whole preview afternoon that did have a red dot was in fact a photograph! Now it is a terrific photo (a fish-eye view of the fantastic Victorian iron structure of Wemyss Bay Railway Station) but no paintings were sold. Either that says something about the non buying publics taste in artwork, or just how poor the artwork, including mine, is.
The winner of the award whose name I regretfully didn't take is a small watercolour fairly well done but of a banal subject (a broken fence) and is done in washes of dark brown. Personally I think it dreadful!
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