Busy Times

What a busy weekend we're having in the gallery.

We are serving summery drinks - elderflower with strawberries and mint, which have been very popular with customers. It makes for a lovely party atmosphere and it's great to have so many art lovers about.

If you're still on holiday tomorrow do drop in and see us, we are open later until 6pm, for the Bank Holiday.

Spring Fling

It's the Spring Fling Open Studios Event this weekend and all the artists in Dumfries and Galloway are getting ready to welcome visitors from far and wide to their studios.

Having lots of art lovers in the region also means a busy time for us here in the Gallery. We are open until 6pm every day of Spring Fling including Sunday:

Saturday 29th May 10 am ~ 6 pm
Sunday 30th May 10 am ~ 6 pm
Monday 31st May 10 am ~ 6 pm

Galloway Inspires Work of Top Artists

SANDY MURPHY RSW RGI Winter, Kirkpatrick Irongray oil on board 8 x 8 inches £800

Here's a review of our current exhibition, which was published today in The Galloway News.

Galloway Inspires Work Of Top Artists

The painter of national standing, Sandy Murphy RSW RGI, is exhibiting at McGill Duncan Gallery in Castle Douglas with three highly accomplished printmakers.

Sandy Murphy lives in Ayrshire, but has family connections in Castle Douglas and a specially affinity with the landscapes of Galloway. He makes frequent trips to paint in the region, being particularly drawn to interesting Galloway churches and the Galloway hills, set against atmospheric skies. For this exhibition he has painted the distinctive and instantly recognisable church at Crossmichael as well as the church at Kirkpatrick Irongray. He is also presenting a series of lively flower studies in his distinctive palette. His flower paintings are renowned for their abstract patterned backgrounds. The gallery is also showing two impressive canvases painted on a very large scale. The Bridge at Kendoon is depicted in a semi abstract form and is hung in the front room of the gallery, making a striking impression on visitors as they enter the gallery.

The work of two of the printmakers celebrates the joys of everyday life – as seen in Frans Wesselman’s etchings ‘The Bath’ and ‘Morning Tea’, and Fife based artist Hilke MacInyre’s endearing ceramic panels and linocut prints. Hilke’s ‘Buying Bananas’ depicts a trip to a market and is executed in the style of the very best of Folk Art. All her pieces have been very popular in the gallery.

Linda Farquharson is an incredibly skilled linocut artist. For this exhibition she is showing a series of prints based on Milton’s epic poem ‘Paradise Lost’. The gallery has a piece of the lino that Linda used to make one of the prints and it shows her crisp, clean lines and concise way of working.

Surrey based potter Margaret Brampton sent a wonderful collection of her slipware pottery to Castle Douglas. She is a master of Sgraffito lettering and line drawing. For this exhibition she has decorated bowls and jugs with insects and feathers, glazing her pots with beautiful soft pastel colours.

The exhibition is on now and runs until the 10th of July. Further information can be found at www.mcgillduncangallery.com

Christine Mackenzie 1944 - 2008

This afternoon I'm helping my friend Kathryn hang a retrospective exhibition for her mother Christine Mackenzie (1944 - 2008).

If you are in Glasgow over the weekend the exhibition is at Scotland Street School: Saturday 11am - 5pm and Sunday 12 noon - 5pm. All work is for sale and all proceeds will go to the Eve Appeal.

The Scent of Stocks

The gallery is filled with the scent of Stocks as we have two huge bunches of them in our window. Sandy Murphy's painting 'Blue and White Flowers' takes pride of place between them.

Working in the sunshine

Living in Scotland you have to cherish every day of sunshine so we decided to unpack a new delivery of pottery from Jonathan Chiswell Jones in the gallery garden today.

His lustre ware is exquisite and he sent us this magnificent lustre bird charger which can also be wall hung.

A Busy Opening Day

Here are some photos from our Opening on Saturday. We had a great day, thank you all for coming.

Linda Farquharson's 'The Lino Bird' box framed book, with etchings 'The Present' and 'The Bath' to the left and right by Frans Wesselman, and a lino cut 'Landscape with Rainbow' in the centre by Hilke MacIntyre.

Me and Jill chatting to Sandy Murphy and friends in gallery 2.

Sandy Murphy's 'West Coast Landscape' with Linda Farquharson's 'Temptation'

Jem and Roger chatting in gallery 1.

Sandy Murphy's 'Blue Tablecloth' and Linda Farquharson's 'flight'.

Jools and Leo in the long room (gallery 3) looking at etchings and linocuts.

Gallery 2 with Margaret Brampton's Slipware pottery on the table.

The front room - we lit the fire, even in May - it was sunny but chilly!

The fireplace in gallery 2 with Sandy Murphy's 'Studio Tabletop'.

Margaret Brampton's wonderful pottery, just look at the colours in her glazes, beautiful!

View the exhibition online

FRANS WESSELMAN The Present etching 12 x 14 cm £65 unframed, £110 framed

I now have all our exhibitions online. You can view our next exhibition here.

Also, remember you can sign up to our E-Newsletter for email updates from the gallery here. Our latest newsletter went out yesterday. If you missed it you can view it here.

The perfect spot

SANDY MURPHY RSW RGI Crossmichael oil on board 20 x 20 inches £2,000

Only one day to go until our Opening tomorrow and we are rushing around trying to get everything done. We left Hilke MacIntyre's ceramic panels until last to hang, so we are going round the gallery finding the perfect spot for each one. It's funny but a piece of art always tells you when you've found the right place for it. I think we're getting faster at listening but it's still a lengthy process!

Sandy Murphy visits the gallery

Sandy with Jill and his painting Polka Dots and Flowers

We had a visit today from Sandy Murphy RSW RGI. He delivered the work for his exhibition which opens on Saturday. His paintings are superb and we are enjoying unwrapping them all and seeing them in the flesh at last.

Blue Mist

The bottom of the gallery garden is covered in a blue mist of forget-me-knots.

Going Bananas

Homes and Interiors Scotland issue 71 feature our 'stellar early summer bill' in their Art News pages. One of Hilke MacIntyre's ceramic panels from our forthcoming show is pictured.

A week to go!

Only a week to go until the Opening. Almost all the work is in the gallery and Sandy Murphy is bringing his paintings on Monday. It's so exciting to actually see the new work in the gallery and I am busy thinking about the best way to hang it all. It's always a challenge, but it's a rewarding challenge, as I love seeing how the gallery takes on a new personality with each new exhibition. I do feel privileged to be working with such talented artists and very proud of the work we show.

You can view the forthcoming exhibition online here.

Vestiges Park

The Gateway to Vestiges Park.

My friend Lynda and I sat chatting away for ages in the park whilst we made plasticine models to add to the growing hill of them. What a nice way to spend an afternoon!

My own sculptural contribution to the park.

I went to see Vestiges Park at Glasgow Sculpture Studios last week. It is such good fun and the ideas behind the installations are quite brilliant - definitely my favourite Glasgow International Festival event. It closes on Monday so go and see it if you can.

Helen Fay etchings

HELEN FAY Gentoo etching 17/65 £145
image size 13.5 x 9.5 cm, paper size 31 x 25.5

HELEN FAY Homeward Bound etching 32/55 £265
image size 31.5 x 33 cm, paper size 52 x 50 cm

HELEN FAY Stepping Out etching 17/55 £265
image size 32.5 x 31.5 cm, paper size 53 x 49 cm

HELEN FAY Airing The Wings etching 25/40 £145
image size 12 x 17 cm, paper size 36 x 39 cm

I collected lots of new etchings from Helen Fay this week. Here are some of the penguins. I love the little one above 'Airing the Wings'!