John Douglas Piper Drypoint Etchings

New to the gallery, beautiful, delicate, drypoint etchings by John Douglas Piper. I have added seven of his etchings to our online shop. They are unframed and start at just £45. I think they would make a lovely gift.

Greetings From Italy

The beautiful garden at Villa La Pietra,  New York University, Florence

My holiday in Lucca is sadly coming to an end. I have had a wonderful week with some wonderful friends.

Today I was lucky enough to visit the foundry in Pietrasanta where Richard W Boardman's bronze sculpture is cast.

Richard brought a new sculpture to be cast - a duck named Quickquack. This is Ivo, the foundry owner taking down all the details.

Measuring the height from beak to table so that Quickquack can be finished at the correct angle when the feet are welded to the body.

And here we all are, Richard, Quickquack, Pietro, me and Ivo.

I got a great tour of the foundry and saw the casting process from start to finish. Ivo and Pietro are incredible artisans.

After that we took a trip to the coast and Forte dei Marmi where even the pavements are made of marble. The strange weather that's crossing Europe at the moment had made the sea unusually choppy, with huge waves crashing up the beach. This is Patrice and me standing on the pier.

What else did I get up to? Lots of things including...

Shopping in Florence (this is at the famous Farmacia Santa Maria Novella).

And falling in love with Italian cars!

COUCH

This evening I went to see Alice Francis's brilliant 'Couch' - a Galloway cottage covered in Plums stretchy fabric.

The cottage is right next to Doach woods; I've been going for walks there since I was little, so the cottage is really familiar to me. How the whole place has changed for the four days of Spring Fling. There was quite a crowd of people and a lovely buzz about the place, with children excitedly running round and round the cottage and lots of people sitting on the grass chatting. The building looks smaller now it has been cosily wrapped in flowery fabric.

You've only got tomorrow to see it and I would highly recommend a visit.

Spring Fling Studio 32 @ McGill Duncan Gallery

Leo's studio is up two flights of spiral stairs at the top of the gallery, he looks over the gardens and rooftops of Castle Douglas as he paints.

The last couple of days have seen all the work emerge ready to be hung in a room on the ground floor of the gallery.

Here are some pictures of the work as it went on the walls, there's still some tidying up to do and labels to be written but it looks fantastic.

Preparing for Spring Fling is tiring work...

The artist takes a break.

Hope to see you over the weekend - we are Open 10am to 6pm Saturday 2nd to Tuesday 5th June, including Sunday.