Lighting up your way

Electrician Kenny McBride fitting a sensor for the lights

This week we've been continuing the gallery improvements. Kenny McBride has been fitting new lighting in the back two exhibiting spaces. This means we can dispense of our huge 100w bulbs and go some way to reducing our carbon footprint. With this in mind we have fitted sensors to most of the lighting in the gallery. With five exhibiting spaces, even when the gallery is quite busy, customers are rarely in all the spaces at once... the sensors will mean that the lights only come on as people move into the rooms, very good for the environment, and we hope these changes will make economical sense too!

So, next time you visit the gallery the lights will come on as you make your way round the spaces.

Scraffito and Slip

'Birdie' by Hannah McAndrew

I had such an enjoyable afternoon today. Slipware potter Hannah McAndrew very generously let me have a go at decorating a couple of pots at her Barm Pottery. I wasn't sure what I wanted to put on the pots - I just wanted to have a go at decorating.

I loved the rhythm of of the mark making and the 'quiet mind' you get when you are totally absorbed in the process. I decorated one vase with slip patterns and made use of a few happy accidents when the slip nozzle 'burped' a couple of times.

On the second vase I did some scraffito red squirrels on a branch, inspired by the news that my cousin Amy has just got a job saving the diminishing Red Squirrel population in the North of England. Scraffito is a delicious process where you scrape though semi dry slip into the pot below. The design evolved from one squirrel, to three on a branch. I didn't want to stop and felt a bit sad when I realised the pot couldn't take any more decorating.

Thank you very much Hannah for letting me come round and spend such an enjoyable afternoon in your lovely pottery.

Z

What's to come...

Things are very busy in the gallery at the moment: we are in the throws of organising a big Printmakers' Exhibition which will open on March the 8th. The exhibition will be a wonderful celebration of original Printmaking in the UK. I am very excited about the work we have for the show and can't wait to see it all hung together. The graphic above is from the front page of our Private View cards and features some of the artists who will be exhibiting.

I am also working on a brand new web site which will offer online shopping and lots of information about the artists we represent.

Now you can see why the Blog has been a bit quiet over the past few days! There doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day. I have still had time to enjoy frosty walks with my dog Beano, the winter landscapes round here are spectacular.

Burns Light Burns Night

We're just back from the torch lit celebrations in Dumfries celebrating the 250th anniversary of Burns' birth. The spectacular willow sculpture of Tam O'Shanter on his horse Meg was made by artists Trevor Leat and Alex Rigg. It floated on the Nith before being lit as night fell.















Crowds gathered on the white sands with a fabulous array of lanterns. Rhonehouse village created Kevin the carthorse with artist Lizzie Farey. His mane rustled in the wind and he had such a characterful face he almost looked as if he was going to give a speech! The lanterns included a graceful boat with twinkling fairy lights, a mouse with a wiggly tail, a huge candle, a cat and a dragon.


























As the light fell the willow sculpture was silhouetted against the sky, Tam's Arms reaching skyward as his horse reared up:
Chinese lanterns floated up into the sky above the river Nith and fireworks and fire then engulfed Tam and his horse. I think Rabbie Burns would have approved of the celebratory spirit and all the creativity thriving in Dumfries and Galloway.

Salmon Nets in the Solway

SUE LLEWLLYN 'Salmon Nets in the Solway' Oil on board £300

Artist Sue Llewellyn is being featured on the BBC Cumbria web site. She will be exhibiting with us in April 2009 and we have one of her evocative oil paintings of the Solway coast in the gallery at the moment. Sue lives in Cumbria but has a great love of our region, especially the coast line, and likes nothing better than a stormy day in Auchencairn!

Witch Hazel, Snowdrops and the Beauty of Winter

In spite of the biting cold outside we have a cluster of exotic looking Witch Hazel in the gallery, courtesy of our friend Jo the super gardener. It's an extraordinary plant; I love the structure of the twigs and the contrasting fluffiness of the yellow flowers.

When the elusive winter sun appears long shadows are cast down the gallery garden and the stepping stones illuminate.

On a stroll through the garden I was delighted to see that the snowdrops are here at last.

Parcels of Pots

Five boxes of new pots arrived from Jonathan Chiswell Jones, so I spent today unpacking it all. It was like Christmas all over again - you never know quite what you're unwrapping!

Jonathan sent us a new design of his porcelain domestic ware, a delicate orange chrysanthemum. This adds to his Dragonfly and Fish and Weed designs that we already sell in the gallery. I can vouch for how functional Jonathan's porcelain is to use, it can all go in the oven and the dishwasher. It's nice to have things in everyday use that are handmade and decorative but also quite hardy.

We also took delivery of some more pieces of Jonathan's amazing Lustre ware, including some very celtic looking hare designs.