New Sue Binns Pottery

Today we had a delivery of new pots from Sue Binns. They were a delight to unpack, I love the seemingly never ending variations of stripes, and the matt textured cobalt blue glaze.

We rehung quite a bit of the exhibition space as some paintings have already gone to new homes. We also gave the window an 'Easter' theme.

In the window: Aliisa Hyslop's painting 'Lilies of the Field', Josephine Broekhuizen's linocut 'Maran Chickens', Allan Craig's Copper Mirror and Lisa Hooper's linocut 'Blackbird', with a Wemyss Ware crocus piglet and a Wemyss Ware cat decorated with shamrock.

Homes and Interiors Scotland Magazine

We are featured on the 'Arts News' (page 114) of the current Issue of Homes and Interiors Scotland magazine.

The painting by Winifred Hodge is sold but if you look on our web site you will see the works that we still have available.

The whole magazine is a really good read with lots of lovely interior design ideas. I think it is one of the best 'Home' magazines around at the moment.

Glasgow Art Fair

It's the Glasgow Art Fair Private View tonight. I've had to give my Private View tickets away as I'll be at my etching course but I'm looking forward to going tomorrow.

Work in progress

I had a really productive day today - finally getting time to get working on the gallery's new online shop. It's not live yet, but it won't be long!

I have been worrying about how I'll do it for a long time and when I finally came to work on it I realised it wasn't half as scary or complicated as I thought it would be. All the thinking time has helped though, and I have a much clearer picture of what I want to achieve with it.

I want to go to Paris...

Lucian Freud @ The Pompidou Centre.

There's a short video about Freud and his work here.

Chris Ofili at Tate Britain

On my recent trip to London to see the Vincent Van Gough show, I was also lucky enough to see Chris Ofili's exhibition at Tate Britain.

We took the Tate to Tate boat from Tate Modern to Tate Britain.

I was so pleased that Ofili's The Upper Room had been recreated for this exhibition as I didn't see it when it was originally installed at Tate Britain from to 2005 - 2007. I loved the incredibly powerful jewel like paintings presented in a wood panelled room. The colour of each painting was made even more intense by spot lighting (which could have been installed in the ceiling in a tidier way!). You walked down a pitch black corridor to get to the room and this made the spectacle of these incredibly vibrant paintings all the more striking.

A few years ago I did an Open University Foundation Arts course and my final essay was on Ofili's Afrodizzia painting. The copy I got for the course was tiny and really didn't convey the power of the painting at all. It was such a joy to be able to stand in front of the painting and be completely absorbed by all the tiny details.

You can watch some really interesting videos about Chris Ofili on the Tate Channel.

The exhibition runs until the 16th May.

Baby Dee - CD of the week

My friend Baby Dee's new album 'A Book of Songs for Anne Marie' was named Album of The Week in yesterday's Sunday Times.

We were lucky enough to have her play here in Castle Douglas just over three years ago, the picture above is from that night. A night never to be forgotten!

Opening Night

We had a great Opening Night on Friday for our new exhibition. People traveled from far and wide to Castle Douglas for it. The gallery looked fantastic with all the new work on display.

Here are a few photos. Photographer Mike Bolam was there to help us get lots of new images for our web site.






Thank you all for coming.

Exhibition Final Countdown

Me unpacking Amanda Simmons' Glass.

This afternoon we've been rushing around doing all the last minute jobs before the exhibition opens tonight. We left Amanda's glass until last to unpack.

Note: I'm wearing trainers which I wouldn't normally do in the gallery but they are a must when you are setting up an exhibition - no need to join a gym with all the running around and picture lifting that you do!

Daffodils in the window - I just love Spring flowers and they are welcome sight after the winter we've just had. I went to Mitchells the greengrocers in Castle Douglas this afternoon to buy lots of flowers for the gallery, the pinks, yellows and purples go so well with the work in this show.

I love the colour symmetry between Josephine Broekhuizen's painting 'Vessels on Blue' and Amanda Simmons' glass bowl 'Petal Star'.

See you all tonight 7 - 9 pm.

Zoe

Twitter

You can now follow the happening of the gallery on twitter, our user name is McGillDuncanArt.

Exciting Web Developments!

I am so pleased to announce that we have a brand new Home Page on our web site. As with all things web related, it will be in a constant state of evolution. We will be updating the pictures and content on a regular basis, to reflect the changing exhibition programme in the gallery.

What is even more exciting is you can now view our entire current exhibition online. Please take a look at the work in our exhibition, which opens tomorrow night. It is a fantastic show.

We still have one room to hang... and lots of tidying to be done!

Tea Time Treats - The Baking Totem

I just had to share this with you - a fabulous wall mounted piece by Amanda Simmons. 'Tea Time Treats - The Baking Totem' is made using Amanda's unique kiln formed and etched glass combined with found objects and mounted on local beech wood. I absolutely love it.

This piece will be in our forthcoming exhibition. We've only got two days to go until the Opening night and the gallery is slowly being transformed!

Upside Down

Jill hanging one of Josephine Broekhuizen's paintings.

The gallery is rather 'upside down' at the moment. We've had a really busy day today, starting to hang our new exhibition. Our Private View is on Friday 7 - 9 pm. It always feels as if we never have enough time to get everything done in time. The gallery spaces look very different already.

We are also about to launch a new home page on our web site, I'll let you know when it's live.

Fiat 500 - Picture Mover

Yesterday, I had a busy picture delivery and collection day. Thank goodness for Sat Nav - I had to find a house in the outskirts of Glasgow and I went through about 10 mini roundabouts after leaving the motorway. I was very pleased to get there, and then drove on into the centre of town to collect another painting.

This was the first big picture moving job for Poppy, my Fiat 500, and I'm impressed! There is no getting away from the fact that it is a small car, in fact that is part of its appeal. But, with the back seats flipped down it has an incredibly spacious boot. The largest painting was 118 cm x 85 cm and I had no bother at all getting it in, with room to spare.

I did worry about letting my heart rule my head when I bought a Fiat 500, mainly because I worried it would be too small, but I was wrong. My love of the Fiat 500 continues. More than anything else she is great fun to drive and you can't help smiling when you see her lovely face :-)

Photoshop @ Glasgow Print Studio

I just completed a two day Adobe Photoshop Digital Imaging course at Glasgow Print Studio.

I loved making my digital collage (above) using scanned bits of fabric, a scan of one of my paintings, a photo that I took at the top of Haystacks in the Lake District, a photo of Herdwick sheep, and of course, a photo of Beano the dog.

The new facilities at the Print Studio are fantastic. I can't wait to start my etching course in a couple of weeks.

We Love Schnapps!

Neil, Leo, Ian and Garry - Schnapps

I just want to give a shout out for my brother Leo's band Schnapps. They will be releasing their first single in April. You can download it digitally from 5th April and buy it on vinyl from 12th April. They are featured here and you can listen to their single 'Crossdresser' if you click on the black box on the top left of the page.

To celebrate their launch on I-Tunes they will be playing in the Apple Store, Buchanan Street Glasgow on 8th April.

Watch out for lots more press coverage and believe the hype!