Michael J Ashcroft M.A.F.A.

We have three new paintings by Michael J Ashcroft in the gallery this week. Michael also contacted me with some exciting news. He has just been elected to the Manchester Academy of Fine Arts. He is following in the footsteps of great artists such as L.S. Lowry, who was also a member of the Academy.

Michael lives in the North of England but he is passionate about painting in Galloway. He especially loves the coastline at Sandyhills, Rockcliffe and Kippford. You can view all the paintings on our web site.

Michael J Ashcroft Still Morning Kippford oil on board

Happy Easter!

Detail from our Gallery window - willow decorated with Easter decorations

We are open as normal tomorrow, Easter Monday, 10am to 5pm.

Ayshire Artists Exhibition Catalogue

We have produced an eight-page catalogue to send out to all our customers for our next exhibition - Ayrshire Artists. The Opening is on Saturday 14 May from 11am to 1pm.

I'm really proud of the catalogue - it's the first time I've designed a multi-page booklet. It gives a wonderful taste of the work we'll be exhibiting from some of the best artists in Scotland.

The exhibitors are:

paintings by:
James Cosgrove
Michael Durning
Claire Harrigan RSW
Euan McGregor
Sandy Murphy RSW RGI
James Orr
Glen Scouller RSW RGI

etchings by:
David Palmer

Beano - enjoying the sunshine and getting the first look at our new Ayrshire Artists Catalogue

'Out and About' feature

(If you click on the photo above you will be able to read the article)

Our Opening of 'Flights of Fancy' is featured in the 'Out and About' pages of Dumfries and Galloway Life Magazine this month, on page 135.

The 'Out and About' pages of the magazine are like a Who's Who of the social scene in Dumfries and Galloway - Galloway's version of Hello! magazine :-)

Pick up Your Spring Fling Brochure Here!

We've had three deliveries of Spring Fling brochures already. They are proving very popular indeed with our customers.

The weekend takes place over the May Bank Holiday weekend 28 - 30 May. It's a great way to see the region and be able to visit lots of studios that are hidden away and normally closed to the public.

Bird Sounds and Jungle Plants

I have just posted some new photos of our Flights of Fancy exhibition on our Facebook page.

I thought I'd share some with you here too. Specifically the ones of gallery 4, the room which leads out to our amazing garden. We decided to make this space quite different for this exhibition. I had been chatting to artist Fiona Watson about installing the exhibition and she told me about a bird themed exhibition which she took part in where they used plants and birdsong. I thought this sounded like a great idea and knew gallery 4 at the back of our gallery would lend itself to an installation with plants and bird sounds.

So, if you come and visit the gallery you will hear noises coming from Gallery 4 - the tracks start with British birds and move on to more exotic jungle birds. We also have a 4 foot high Weeping Fig plant, fairy lights, a flying ceramic kingfisher by Sue Dunne and a collage bird box by Fiona Watson.

Installing an exhibition is one of my favourite aspects of my job, and I'm always looking for the best way to present different artwork in the gallery. In fact, we enjoy it so much we have been known to have many change-arounds during the run of an exhibition.

Galloway News 'Fancy Artwork' Review

Here's the review of our current 'Flights of Fancy' exhibition from The Galloway News. It was published on the 31st March 2011.