notes from the drifting spaces
Blair’s art notes…
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Abernethy Art Trip 2012 – Part 1
‘Twas an excellent trip up north in the Cairngorms and Aviemore area again this year with the Hamilton College Art Department – very energising, artistically productive and lots of laughs too (mostly at each other, and there was some lazy gentry to paint for too, as well as a sudden escape off Cairn Gorm mountain
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Visiting the Glasgow School of Art Degree Show Fine Art
My friends (Alan, Piper and Gillian pictured here) and I enjoyed a visit to the GSA 2012 degree show in the Mackintosh building – this was our reaction afterwards! Although the drawing and painting especially was disappointing this year, there were indeed some thoughtful and meditative works to consider. The synchronised light and sound installation
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Drawing at sea on the Waverley
With all the speedy intense movements and rhythms in the ship’s engines to work from, it was good fun sketching loosely with the coloured pens in the sketchbook, using various colour combinations with lots of markers in my pockets to use, some funky and others more atmospheric, and experimenting with compositions as well. Here are
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Into the Atlantic Ocean to Oban and Colonsay on the Waverley
At the end of last week I sailed on the famous Waverley for the first time, the last ocean going paddle steamer, with my pal Bruce Peter, writer and maritime expert, who showed me the ropes and the etiquette – namely enjoy! Was a great trip, starting early and slowly with a few cuppas as
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Cycling and sketching outdoors – heading East
Taking advantage of the fabulous weather last week, I got on my bike with pannier bag loaded with drawing and camera equiptment, plus the essential flask of ice cold coffee, and headed through the parks, along the rivers and through the industrial areas of the East End of the Glasgow. I didn’t quite know what
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Humming wind through metal, Cairngorms walking and artwork
curving cloud whisps , crumbling embattlements , thin brown steel straight and low , under the horizon cutting space , hum , fresh breeze clear skies , unreal machines whizzing by crow wing , silver-grey-blue biege mud , biege puddles , shadow-lines no signs , below the sheep-line , slow ascent tubes and pipes ,
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Recent movie influences
What else have I been up to recently – well, I’ve been enjoying a few films as usual at night after a day’s work. Some turned out to be too dull to mention though and were ideal for snoozing deeply through, so I won’t bother with those… One that has been visually more appealing (I
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Starting some oil painting for galleries
I’ve been asked by a couple of galleries in Scotland to make new works around one meter square and smaller. I’m planning to use acrylic and mixed media to splash the free forms onto the wee ones. Have also been asked to do something larger along the lines of this piece below, which is based