seascapes

seascape study

It has been a very busy time with the tutoring. Seascapes in acrylics, oil and now pastel are all underway. I am actually going through the stages of painting rocks and big rolling waves from a tutorial by Roy Laing. The above painting isn't anything to do with this exercise. 


I am delivering some of my own paintings this week to Deeside but not staying over this time.  I have done a series of mountain and snow scenes over the winter period and look forward to getting those framed in the middle of Spring time.

 There hasn't been anytime for my own work with the tutoring I am doing. I do have plans on what I want to paint for my own art career but for now I have to concentrate on the tutorials for my students, the good news is that the subject matter has been seascapes which is a subject close to my heart.  I am still encouraging my students to paint studies but they do tend to prefer to paint a 'proper' scene from start to finish which can often disappoint them if they haven't  planned out things beforehand like colours mixing, composition and sketching.  Maybe it's a time thing, we all want to get on with a 'proper' painting as we all have limited time in order to complete a painting on a course. The good news is that my students are creating some very fine work. In one of my classes I made the suggestion that it would be a good idea to paint from an impressionist such as Monet.  The idea being that students can loosen up on their brushwork and be a bit bolder. The end result from the four classes is some really fine work, and the students said how they had overcome their fear of being bolder with their brushwork.  Their own homes now have an impressionist's vision!
I haven't been able to attend the library very much over this last few weeks, I did pop over and visit the blogs of my fellow artist friends in blogging land and have been inspired to see the large volume of work you have all been creating over this time.
The snowdrop bulbs are out in the garden and now we await the arrival of the first daffodils of Spring!
wishing you all very warm wishes from the Highlands of Scotland.

Gloaming

Greetings to you all from the highlands of Scotland. Another new year and another big tidy up in my art room! Everything is now in order and I can honestly say I know where everything is! It has never been easy to store the information and materials for my prints, watercolour paintings, oils, acrylics and the ever increasing art class materials. Sadly I lost all the images of my tree drawings when my computer went down but I do have the drawings in a folder at home which I can photograph hopefully in May when I hope to buy myself a wee camera again. I am painting flowers and still life studies for my class, I am requested to paint a chrysanthemum for one of my students and sat yesterday afternoon exploring this rather complex flower. I am not a still life painter but I do remember I chose a still life subject for my A level art exam all those years ago! It is a change to paint something different to landscape. The painting I have posted here today I have kept for myself and wake up each morning to look upon it. It is of the Outer Hebrides and the light is twilight or gloaming as we tend to call it here in Scotland. The colours are cool in the distant using veridian green near the horizon. It is a favourite painting of mine I would love to have time to explore some more colours and paint this location once more. Maybe I will find myself in that place again. Well I am going to head off home from the library and get started on some watercolour apple studies. The weather here is fine and dry. We had a few days of very cold weather of harsh frosts but so far the snow reports have missed this area! Happy painting to you all!

exhibition review

Just Art, Fochabers, until 18 August 2012


JUST ART, an independent gallery located on Fochabers’ High Street, has a new exhibition of contemporary landscapes and still-lifes, and a fine mix it is too.



THE GALLERY itself is an informal space; well lit and welcoming, encouraging a relaxed dialogue with the works. Caroline Simmill’s moody and sublime landscapes effortlessly capture the dramatic atmosphere of the Moray Firth. ‘Mist Coming In’, with its brooding dense clouds undercut by a bright turquoise perfectly suggests the light and spray of an incoming haar, whilst the dark grey stillness of ‘The Early Morning’, evokes the peace and isolation of this remarkable landscape. Simmill’s textured impasto only adds to her coarse and bracing subject. Simultaneously peaceful yet intimidating; inspiring yet disquieting, Simmill provides a sensitive visual paean to the Moray coast.

  Lisa  Le Quelenec from Seaside Studios was asking me if my paintings could be seen on gallery websites, the answer to that is that Larks Gallery over in Ballater has a painting of mine shown on their website but the other galleries tend not to do so. However I was delighted to come across the above mention on a website called Northings, the review is by Billy Rough and there is some information regarding what Northings do regarding their website which is interesting.  Thank you to Billy for the review, the gallery Just Art run by Stewart Harris is certainly worth a visit and Stewart does update his website on a regular basis for his artist's who are exhibiting there.   The weather here at the moment is very much like this painting of mine! lots of grey with rain! I hope it cheers up before Christmas.   I wanted to wish you all a very peaceful and happy Christmas from the highlands of Scotland. I have managed to get some painting done each day sometimes only an hour or two but it is amazing how much can be achieved in an hour! my latest favourite is painting until 2am in the morning! not something to keep up though as I feel very tired the next day! but it is such a lovely quiet time and I love painting through the night! mind you I had a look at last night's effort this morning and it still needs a lot more work done it yet! I am painting snowy mountains so a big move away from the sea and the turner colours I was using in my last post!   Keep warm and have a lovely Christmas.

News from the Highlands

The weather here in the highlands of Scotland is very mild for the time of year, a blast of wind took the last of the leaves off the cherry tree this week which means late autumn is certainly here. I found a newspaper clipping from ten years ago that showed this part of the country knee deep in snow! Two winters ago we were all amid a bleak mid winter with heaps of snow. I can't complain because the longer the fine weather lasts the shorter winter will be!  I have been out tutoring I have three afternoon classes a week and I have also been delivering paintings to galleries for the winter season. I took a couple that were full of spring like colours as I really am thinking alot about the soft blues and pinks of this time of year! I have also been painting in acrylics but use ideas from Turner paintings. I am fascinated by the many layers of paint the man used. I also find dabbing on the paint very restful and something I can do late at night when there is a quiet time to paint. I had got up early this morning to paint but getting ready for tutoring and exercise got in first and I ended up with only time to make an early snack for lunch before I headed out to Findhorn. I am not complaining as I love tutoring and find the students way of working very interesting each one has their own way of painting and I am very keen to let them develop at their own pace and in their own style of working.


On thoughts of Turner I notice he paints alot in blues and golds not always in the same paintings. I have found the limited palette nice and restful yet feel moved to add more colours! The painting you see above is an earlier watercolour I did a while ago I managed to use glazes for this one and find that using acrylics helps me to glaze at ease and to gradually build up the painting though the fast drying time is fantastic for getting on when my painting sessions tend to be short.



My artist friend Tamsin came along with me to meet the artist Keith Tilley at Elgin museum recently. We both enjoyed the time spent with Keith, meeting fellow artist bloggers is so nice and Tamsin and I are both great fans of his work. sadly neither of us had a camera or we would have recorded the meeting. Keith did well and sold some paintings!
Wishing you all a happy month ahead of painting, enjoy the season with it's beautiful skies and late autumn colours.

late autumn

It is beginning to feel like a very long time since I had my own computer. It is also becoming a bit difficult for me to follow everyone's blogs and make comments. But I want to hang in there and stay connected with you all.  Everyone is posting so much beautiful work, Lisa's seascape are very atmospheric and her latest post shows autumn leaves very lovely indeed. Bruce Sherman is off on a painting adventure so I look forward to seeing the next installment. I had a chance to see Keith Tilley's fine watercolour paintings for real at the museum here in Elgin, last I heard he had sold some so a big congratulation to Keith, they look wonderful for real.  Ulrike dropped over for a visit from Germany sharing how to knit socks and a painted a fine painting exercise for my students class! she paints trees with great confidence and boldly.  Good to see that Maggie Latham is still blogging she has the magic touch with the watercolours.

Finally summer has come to a close and with it we have had some fine autumn weather, with dramatic skies over the forest beyond my garden. I do miss having a camera but not having one has me drawing more so that is good! I haven't been painting much but have been tutoring art which has kept me busy. I do enjoy tutoring very much, everyone's work is so different and they each have their own style of painting. I do have some plans for new paintings, I think having a blog does encourage me to paint and then post on my blog more so maybe my break away from painting could have something to do with that! I also wanted a break so I could think about what I would like to paint. I have been selling paintings this year so that has been wonderful. I heard on the news that apparently the recession is over here in the UK so maybe hearing good news for once will inspire people to start spending again with more confidence.

 Well I had better head on home, it starts to get dark early these days and at the weekend the clocks go back an hour so we will really feel that winter is finally here at last. Until then enjoy the fine late autumn weather and keep cosy and warm in your studios!

greetings from Scotland

It is starting to feel like it has been a very long time since I had a computer. I am thankful for the opportunity to be able to use the computer here at my library. But I can't manage to get in as often as I would like to and as a result I have missed some of your blogs and I feel sad about that. I am able to read your blogs and do not have the time to always comment but please know that I think about you and do enjoy seeing your paintings when I do visit blog land. Lisa Quebec has painted some lovely moonlit buildings in Venice certainly worth a visit over to see. Bruce Sherman's words and paintings are rich and inspirational he has a new life by water a real change from the mountains it will be interesting to see how his work develops maybe more boats and light on water. Keith Tilley paints in watercolours with a great confidence I popped over to see his paintings for real at the Eden court theatre in Inverness it was wonderful to see the works for real, I wish you could all have been there as the exhibition of his is well worth a visit, great paintings. Check out Deborah Paris's blog her stunning trees are incredible, I often think about her painting the forest scenes for her project and it a delight to see she has been invited to show these gems in a few special shows. Rhonda Carpenter is painting wonderful watercolour pears she has a delicate hand with the medium and is well worth seeing. Mick Carney has plenty to share in his painting struggle blog, always worth a visit to read his thoughts on colour and painting.
I haven't produced anything very good in the oil painting, I haven't been too well so that might have something to do with it, but I must say that when I am painting I do feel happy, though sadly the result is very poor. The painting you see above is one I did on a Deborah Paris painting course I believe it was one of her sky painting classes. I do miss the on line classes as I learned so much we as students had to work very hard and it stretched us all to have to draw and paint a great deal.
Autumn has arrived here at last and Ulrike my fellow blogger artist and friend will be coming over to Scotland very soon, she promises she will be bringing the good weather with her, though I have suggested to her in a letter she would be better off bringing a hot water bottle as it is getting cooler each day! check out her blog she loves to paint still life with great confidence and excellent brush work. http://carpe-mundum.blogspot.co.uk/ Well I had better head off for home, I had a lovely afternoon tutoring, my students are doing some lovely paintings and they are so keen to learn and work hard. Until later, have a lovely painting week.

winning a prize

I was delighted to win best painting in the Moray Arts Club open exhibition on Saturday. The judge made a good speech about some of the works on show and it was interesting to hear what he had to say about this painting. The preview was packed with artists all who were learning about the different techniques and styles many of the artists had used. Tonal and linear works.

It really seems such a long time since I had a computer of my own, it does make following the blogs of my friends difficult at times but so far I am able to view and read everyone's blog when I come and visit the library and use the computer here. We are having some lovely sunny warm weather at last! though low pressure is moving in so I guess we will be back to rain again soon.
The winning painting above is called 'Rugged Coastline' 18 x 24 inches oil on linen. Happy painting to you all and I will catch up with you all again soon. Greetings from the highlands of Scotland.