Evening drinks in the gallery

We are holding a drinks party tomorrow night (Thursday 29th November) in the gallery. We will be serving mulled wine or non alcoholic spiced fruit punch from 7 pm - 9 pm. It will be a great chance to view our brand new Winter Exhibition and catch up with friends.

I'm looking forward to a relaxed evening after all the work we put in last week when we were installing the new exhibition at the same time as having a new floor laid and the gallery kitchen was being renovated!

Hope to see you there.

Leo @ The RSA

 Leo with his screenprint 'Adam and Eve part I'

Well, November has been a crazy busy month. So much going on. So much to write about. I thought I'd start with the news that my brother Leo has one of his screen prints in the Royal Scottish Academy Annual Open Exhibition. We were too busy setting up our Winter Exhibition to go to the Opening on Friday but Leo and Inga were there. The cocktails were great apparently!

I'm looking forward to seeing the show in Edinburgh next week.

I'll be back soon with more news.

Wigtown Book Festival

Jill at Gifted - The Paper Sculptures exhibition

Jill and I had a fantastic day out at the Wigtown Book Festival today. Even the drive there was wonderful with Galloway looking its best - drenched in Autumn sunshine as the trees start to turn.

Our first talk was Richard Holloway talking about the links between creativity and boredom. A truly fascinating subject. He reminded us all of the artist within us and the importance of nurturing this by allowing time for meditation, play and playfulness in our busy lives. 'We are all artists even if the only art we create is our own life' - Richard Holloway.

Next we heard Alex Danchev talk about his new biography on Cezanne. I was interested to learn that Cezanne's paintings were bought by many of his fellow artists including Picasso, Pissarro and Monet. They all collected his work and wanted to study it. I loved 'The Card Players' exhibition at the Courtauld Gallery a couple of years ago. I learnt so much more about Cezanne today - both in the way he approached his work and also his amazing intellect - had he not been a great painter he could just as easily been a great writer. I am really looking forward to reading the book, and look at the lovely inscription from the author:

Our final talk of the day was William Fiennes on his book The Snow Geese, ten years after it was published. Jill had read (and enjoyed enormously) the book in anticipation of the talk and I can't wait to read it now. The theme of having to be at home with your parents due to illness resonated with us, as did the desperate need to leave and fly the nest!

Hidden away in 'The Studio' in Wigtown was an extraordinary exhibition - I was so glad some friends drew our attention to it. It's on tour - Glasgow next, I think. This video explains all:

Autumn Exhibition

Bronze elephant by Richard W. Boardman and painting Herbal Jar with Fruit by Simon Laurie RSW RGI

Glen Scouller RSW RGI's painting Fishing Boats Ferragudo, Algarve

Ceramics by Archie McCall

It's the first of October already! As promised, here are some photos of our current show. So many wonderful vibrant paintings alongside ceramics by Archie McCall and Sue Dunne - there are quite a few pieces that I would love to hang in my own home.

Tomorrow I'm off to the Wigtown Book Festival, followed by some filming at artist Lisa Hooper's house. We are making a series of films about print making and Lisa is our first. It should be great fun!

Photos from the Private View

I'm a bit late, but here are some photos from our jam packed Opening on the 30th of August. We decided to have a Thursday evening Private View and we were lucky to get a rare sunny evening, it was really good fun. I loved hanging the show - it is such a contrast to our August Galloway Paintings exhibition and the gallery, as always, transformed as the new work filled the walls. More photos of this exhibition to follow...

CABN Connects with McGill Duncan Gallery

CABN has been holding a residency over the past month at Gracefield in Dumfries. As part of the residency artist Hazel Moore came to the gallery to make a film for artists about working with a gallery. Our ideas were formed in a very limited time frame and the film is designed to be informal - we'll see how it turns out!

We really enjoyed working with Hazel and we'll stay in touch and make sure that some of the fantastic ideas that came out of the residency continue.

Here's a mind map Hazel made after our meeting (click to enlarge):

Leo Blamire @ the RGI

I had a really nice weekend in Glasgow. On Saturday the RGI opened their Annual Exhibition. My brother Leo had two of his oil paintings accepted for this prestigious show. The opening was great fun - lots of artists who we work with were there and it was good to catch up with friends and see some stunning paintings.

Congratulations to Michael Durning and Euan MacGregor - they are both regular exhibitors in our gallery and both won awards.

We were all delighted to see a red dot already on one of Leo's paintings when we arrived. It was great to meet up with my friend Helen and her baby Serge - at 11 months old it was his first exhibition opening and I think he enjoyed himself!