taken over the last week.

I've been trying to look for something nice in every day, and if I can't think of any thing then I go out and try to find something that looks good. One morning every thing was covered in frost. Another morning the light in my bedroom took my eye as I woke up. Then of course there is the sky and sea, always good for photos. I've not really done a lot of night time photography, my camera isn't good enough, but on that night it was raining so hard all the lights were reflected in the wet road. The last one is my little nest of rocks, pebbles that caught my eye on the beach and before that; a garden decoration which so far, I've not put in the garden. It was bought in a discount store, cost me very little but caught my eye. I like it indoors so much its not made it outside yet.

Seaton Cliffs October 2010

More reasons never to move away from the sea.

Kids at play

This wasn't a particularly sunny day but the kids seemed to enjoy it
Sighhhhhhh........ back to school tomorow

East Mathers and poppies

This is one of my favourite places, it looks different every time I go there. Today there are poppies in bloom

West Mathers, a tiny old fishing bay.

These were taken on two seperate ocasions in April at West Mathers on the Angus Coast, Scotland, Some of the original cottages have eroded into the sea.

East Haven

These were taken on two seperate occasions sometime in April, its a beautiful little beach, perfectly natural with few tourists even mid summer.

My none 'Art Sunday'

Today I've been doing an 'Art Sunday' all of my own, which is why I didn't have the time to post my usual 'Art Sunday' here.

My granddaughter and I spend the day creating our own modest works of art on the kitchen table.

She did a colourful abstract and I attempted a seascape inspired by one of my own photographs taken last year.

 Its just a sketch at the moment but I think I may develop it over the next week or so. If I do decide to work on this little sketch I'll be sure to share the progress.

But, if you want to see what a Scottish Seascape should look like, just check out this Art Sunday that I posted back in Aug 08. 


http://forgetmenot525.multiply.com/journal/item/96/Art_Sunday_Scottish_Seascapes


The finished version of my granddaughters painting.

Happy Easter to you all

Happy Easter to you all.

I thought I had better do this while I have the chance. My little laptop crashed last night and I still haven't got around to 'phoning the guy about the PC (which crashed sometime last month which is why I was using the laptop in the first place !!). So here I sit at the public library checking my emails and looking up a few bits and pieces before heading off home. I'm off to my sisters for a few days over the Easter holidays which means I probably wont get the chance to sort out the PC before I leave. The plan is to take the laptop with me, my sister can usually sort out the technical/ computer stuff and then phone the guy about getting the PC fixed. But for now I have resorted to public library facilities. Hope you all have a wonderful, wonderful Easter. I leave you with one of my favourite paintings;

A Summer Day, Machrihanish 1898, by William McTaggart. To see the rest of his paintings follow the link

http://forgetmenot525.multiply.com/photos/album/73/William_McTaggart_1835_-_1910_seascapes

 

 

Winter Sunset over the sea

On Friday (28/11/08) I finished my work a coupler of hours early. The weather was bitterly cold but dry and without wind. For the first time in months I managed to take one of my favourite walks along the cliff top. I didn't walk too far, just in case the weather changed the sea mists (or the haar as it is called here) came swirling in. The haar comes in very quickly and without warning and makes the cliff top walk treacherous. I was also mindful of the time, the afternoons are short here at this time of year and the sun was very low by 3.00pm. The pink light reflects on every thing, it is just as beautiful here this time of year as it is in the summer, a different kind of beauty.

Art Sunday; Scottish Seascapes

Art Sunday, Scottish Seascapes

 

If we are doing what we like best for me it has to be ‘Scottish Seascapes’. I’ve included a couple of turner paintings here, I know he is English, not Scottish but I included him because he did spend some time here painting the coast and his work greatly influenced the Scottish Seascape painters who came after him. Today there is no big write up just a collection of Scottish Seascapes through the ages, finishing with a whole album of work from a young female artist painting in the islands today.

 

John Runciman, 1767,  

King Lear in the storm

 
Alexander Nasmyth 1816,

A View of Tantallon Castle

 
The Rev John Thomson of Duddingston

Wolf's Crag, c 1820

 

Turner, 1842

Burial at Sea

 
Turner, Slaveship

And now a couple I have shown before

Mctaggart, 1890

The Storm

Joan Eardley

Early Flood Tide

Joan Eardley

The Sea

 And a new painter Ruth Brownlee,

Gales on Brecon Beach

The album of these paintings is here

http://forgetmenot525.multiply.com/photos/album/163/Scottish_Seascapes_through_the_ages

 

 RUTH BROWNLEE
Ruth Brownlee is a young Artist who lives and works in the Shetland isles. The following is taken directly from her web site, I just love her work, to me it follows directly from Mctaggart and Eardly, hope you like it too.

http://www.brownlee.shetland.co.uk/index.htm

Ruth was born in 1972 in West Lothian. From 1990 - 1994 she attended   Heriot Watt University/ Edinburgh College of Art, graduating with a BA (Hons) in Drawing and Painting. In 1993 she was awarded theAndrew Grant Bequest Exchange to L'Ecole Des Beaux Arts, Tours, France. During her career she has won a number of  awards including -The Elizabeth Ballantyne Award at the S.A.A.C 5th Annual Exhibition, Royal Scottish Academy, December 1994, 'Scotland's Year of the Artist Award' Scottish Arts Council/ National Lottery Fund 2000 for Artist-in-residence on board the SWAN and Finalist for The Gilchrist - Fisher Award 2002, for Young Landscape painters under 30 Ruth writes about her work:

"My paintings are based on my experiences of living in the Shetland environment and are concerned with capturing the atmosphere, the play of light on the sea and coastal landscape, through mixed media. The skies and seas of Shetland are now a constant inspiration.....I first came to Shetland in 1998 when I was invited to do teaching in the isles. The islands had such an effect on me - particularly the changing light and open space - I decided to move to the isles and return to painting. It took me nearly a year to be able to digest the wealth of the landscape and begin to interpret Shetland and its seas as it was a completely different environment to my home land in West Lothian. I was and still am, taken by the constant changing elements - particularly the drama of light upon the seas. The moods of weather playing upon the land and mists on the moors provide continuing inspiration.Since moving, I have also been introduced to sailing which has again created a whole new relationship with the ocean. I've been able to further develop my understanding of the seas and to capture the completely different atmosphere of being 'at sea'

Jamie Thomas wrote recently in Thee Shetland Post '...Ruth's work has a distinctive slightly abstract style. Using a limited palette of deep blues, whites, dark browns and greens, she creates a very intense impression of scale and depth and a real feeling of power of the sea. The cold northern skies are reflected with equal intensity...'

See her work here

http://forgetmenot525.multiply.com/photos/album/164/Ruth_Brownlee

 

 

 

 

 

Scottish Seascapes through the ages

A small selection of Scottish Seascapes from Runciman to present day. i have included turner (English Seascape Painter) because he did a lot of work in Scotland and because he was very influential in the work of later seascape painters.

ART SUNDAY; Seas, Rivers, Lakes, Lochs and Oceans.

ART SUNDAY; Seas, Rivers, Lakes, Lochs and Oceans

Welcome  to Art Sunday, I shall be hosting Art Sunday this week and I hope I manage to be a good host to every one. The title of this weeks theme is;

‘Seas, Rivers, Lakes, Lochs and Oceans’. The vast majority of the worlds surface is covered with water and this water has so often inspired great artists through out history to produce some of their finest works.  I hope you like this theme, it can be any work of art from any period in  any country that fits into the general theme.  I am looking forward to visiting your entries; please leave a link to your entry in the comments box.

Thank you for participating hope and I hope you enjoy this weeks Art Sunday.

 

My entry for this week is the Seascapes of William Mctaggart 1835 – 1910.

William McTaggart was one of the finest painters Scotland has produced, an original genius of impressionism before it even had a label. In his early years he taught himself drawing and painting, and at the age of twelve he was able to earn extra money and delight friends with his ability as a portrait painter. McTaggart was born of crofting parents at Aros Farm, near Machrihanish, at the present day a farm beside the East end of the airfield at Machrihanish. His parents were Gaelic speaking and his mother was a granddaughter of the religious poet, Duncan MacDougall. His parents are buried in Kilkenzie churchyard, and in her later years his mother came back from Glasgow to live in Campbeltown.

At the age of twelve William McTaggart was an apprenticed apothecary to Dr. Buchanan of Campbeltown, who quickly recognised his ability and encouraged him.  When his apprenticeship was over William McTaggart took the bold step of sailing off to Glasgow with his savings, determined to make his living from painting. He was advised to enrol at the Trustees Academy, Edinburgh. At the time McTaggart entered the school Robert Scott Lauder (1805 - 1809) was the director of Antique Life and Colour Studies. Between 1852 and 1860 painting by the Pre-Raphaelites Milais and Holman Hunt were exhibited in Edinburgh but, although excited by their naturalism, McTaggart moved to perfect a truth of atmosphere by use of broken colour. David Fincham in the introduction to the "McTaggart Centenary Exhibition 1955" in the Tate Gallery writes "As early as 1875 McTaggart had invented a system of impressionism different from but comparable to that of Sisley, Monet and Renoir".

Although William McTaggart lived most of his working life in Edinburgh and after 1889 at Lasswade, he returned nearly every year to Kintyre, and places in this peninsula were the sites and inspiration of many of his paintings completed in his studio during the winter. McTaggart and his family came to Kilkerran, Campbeltown, for a holiday in 1870 - a working holiday as he was always a very energetic painter. After 1870 nearly every summer found him and his family in Kintyre, at Machrihanish, Tarbert, Carradale or Southend. His output was tremendous. During the 1880's McTaggart painted a lot in watercolours. There are many beautiful sketches of Kintyre, Glenramskill, Machrihanish, Kildavie, Bonnie Coniglen, Pennyseorach Bay, Southend, Dunaverty, Brunerican and many pictures of Carradale were painted "on the spot." The summer visits of 1887 and 1888 were completely given over to watercolours, some to be transformed into larger compositions in oil in the studio. In 1892 McTaggart altered his holidays to visit Kintyre in June instead of August and thereafter came practically every year in this month till 1908. He found in the long light days new effects of light to study. 1894 was a particularly busy year for him and 1895 a particularly fine one for weather. 1894 was a particularly busy year for him and 1895 a particularly fine one for weather.

 

McTaggart never missed a R.S.A. Exhibition between 1855 and 1895. He showed a hundred and ninety pictures of which seventy two were portraits and nineteen water-colours all exhibited after 1875. Hugh Cameron, a well known critic, gave his opinion of McTaggart. 'It was pioneer work - he put aside convention after convention in his consistent and purposeful development towards the expression of the things in nature which fascinated him." Another opinion was "Best open air painter in Britain." In 1894 the "Art - Journal" of that year devoted an article to McTaggart's work entitled "A Scottish Impressionist." William McTaggart died peacefully in April 1910 and is buried in Newington Churchyard, Edinburgh. His paintings even in reproduction are an inspitation and delight

 

For me it is his seascapes that are so wonderful. I live next to the North East cost of Scotland. I walk these beaches almost every day.  I know the light here, that soft hazy light of a summer day. I know the long summer days where it barley get dark. I know how the Hare (Scottish word for sea mist) swirls in from no where and then swirl away again, changing the light as it goes.  I recognise the dark green/grey crashing seas and I hear the screeching gulls echoing above the howling winds and stormy seas. When I look at this mans seascapes I know they can’t be any where in the world except here. That is why he is maybe my favourite Scottish Painter of all time, because his portrayal is so accurate. I just wish I could have found better and bigger pictures of his work to show you.

 

http://forgetmenot525.multiply.com/photos/album/73/William_McTaggart_1835_-_1910_seascapes