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.

Spring Fling Friendly

We're Spring Fling Friendly!

What does that mean?

Well, if you're a Friend of Spring Fling you get £20 off purchases over £100 during Spring Fling (2nd - 5th June) and all year round you will receive a very smart McGill Duncan Gallery jute shopping bag with a purchase.

Forget-Me-Nots

The bottom of the gallery garden is awash with forget-me-not: a wonderful fuzzy blue haze of flower.

I've got flowers on my mind a lot at the moment as I am making the bouquets for a friend's wedding tomorrow. It's exciting and a bit nerve wracking.

So, the wedding means Jill and I won't be in the gallery tomorrow but we're leaving it in the capable hands of my brother Leo. I'll be back in the gallery on Monday.

Have a lovely weekend whatever you're doing.

My poor neglected Blog. Life seems to be speeding along this year and I have hardly had time to draw breath. Part of the reason for infrequent Blog postings is that I have moved house. I read somewhere that moving house involves picking up every single item that you own and thinking 'What am I going to do with this?'. That is exactly the reality of moving house and I think that's why it's so stressful.

I only have one painting hanging on the wall (the shame of it!) and many more to hang, but apart from that I feel settled and very definitely at home. In fact I love my house more than words can describe.

So it's time for a catch up. These photos were taken by the lovely Garry Maclennan when he came to the gallery in February. He has since moved to London and we will miss his photography skills and expertise here in the gallery.

 This huge picture frame on the ceiling in gallery 1 is always a talking point.

Gallery 2, the largest of our 5 gallery spaces.

The lovely coal fire. Much appreciated by everyone and lit all year round, it is Scotland after all!

The Galleristas

Gorgeous Antony, the gallery dog

Antony lolling on the sofa with me - his favourite occupation.

You can see lots more photos on our Flickr page.