 Spring news from Pebbles on the BeachHello and welcome to the latest edition of my newsletter. I hope this finds you well and enjoying some spring sunshine! We are finally seeing signs of life here - the daffodils are out, primroses have made an appearance and my pots of tulips are making steady progress towards flowering. There is much birdsong in the mornings and great excitement locally about herring spawning in The Minch - including sightings of many gannets, porpoises and a few whales (humpback and minke), following the fish. I shall always be a zoologist at heart!
I find the winter skies here very inspiring - they are often dark and grey and full of rain, above a sea which can be steely grey or dark turquoise or indigo blue, depending on the light. Observing and absorbing these led me to paint a couple of short series of watercolours recently - 'Distant Isles' 5-11. and 'Winter Skies' 1-5. I don't think I'll ever tire of painting seascapes.
I've also been working more with mixed media recently - mainly acrylic paint with graphite, charcoal and pastels. And anything else that comes to hand, if I'm honest. Building up layers, scraping them back, watching to see what emerges. I tend to work on one large sheet of heavy duty paper, which I divide into a grid using masking tape, after the initial, random layer of paint has been applied. It's a method I developed during my time on the portfolio course last winter with Bridge House Art. The end result is a series of small, abstract works which I feel reflect my surroundings here in the coastal west Highlands of Scotland. A shoreline, a rocky coast, a rockpool, perhaps, suggest themselves.  One of the lochs in Laide Wood in recent spring sunshine It was National Poetry Day recently, so here's a poem It's an 'associations' poem, a form I learnt about during an online Creative Explorers workshop in early 2021. It's best read aloud. Each word connects with the next in some way - sometimes opposites, sometimes synonyms and sometimes in a more surprising or unusual way. Enjoy! Lily, valley, polish, boots lily, valley, polish, boots march, April, spring, newts pond, ponder, think, brain head, school, teach, train track, trace, pattern, dress child, toddler, sticky, mess Eton, posh, fish, trout fin, scales, weigh, out in, pub, beer, wine grapes, raisins, chocolate, mine coal, black, mourning, suit lily, valley, polish, boots I've written quite a few of these poems - several are included in my first poetry collection, which is available from the cafe gallery or from my website shop.  Bridge Cottage Art CafeIn the meantime, we're gearing up for the tourist season at Bridge Cottage Art Cafe. We've been open all winter and are grateful for the support of local customers, many of whom are now regulars, as well as those from further afield. Key info :
 Members' Shop reopens!
Last but not least, I'm delighted to say that the Members' Shop at An Talla Solais reopened today and it's stocking some of my work. Including small original artworks, greetings cards and linoprinted skethcbooks. It's situated at the entrance to the gallery on Market Street in Ullapool. Also opening today at An Talla Solais are two exhibitions, one by Susan Lorna Brown, entitled 'Search', the other 'Glacial Narratives : The Greenlandic Chapter'. Both are on until 4th May. The gallery is open Wed - Sun 10am - 1.30pm and 2pm - 5pm. I'll be visiting at some point! Many thanks for your continued interest in my work. all the best Jennifer
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 Time to go home (nearly) This is the last week of the art portfolio course with Bridge House Art in Ullapool. All ten of us on the course are busy finishing off artworks, cropping and curating in readiness for the end of course exhibition, which opens with a Private View this Saturday, 24th February. Thereafter it is open daily 10am till 4pm, from Sunday 25th February until Sunday 3rd March. I feel very fortunate to have had this opportunity to develop my art practice. Learning how to work in a real studio setting has been a wonderful experience; it has stretched me in ways I could not have imagined. Being able to set aside the time to focus on being creative has been fantastic. Our tutors, Eleanor White and Kittie Jones, are excellent at keeping us on track, with a finely balanced mixture of firmness, good humour and huge helpings of support and encouragement. I'm very much looking forward to being home again. I'll be hanging some of my new work in the cafe gallery after I've had a wee break to recover.  I've really enjoyed experimenting with acrylic paint and printmaking during the second term of the course. Below are a few examples of some of this new work. A selection of my small acrylic/mixed media works and print assemblies will be on show at the exhibition. Bridge Cottage Art Cafe
The cafe and gallery continue to go from strength to strength, in the capable hands of Ailsa and Iain. We're getting wonderful feedback from locals and visitors alike, which is very welcome and keeps them going when things get hectic! We'll be taking a break in March, so will be closed from Thursday 14th March until Sunday 17th March inclusive. The cafe will reopen on Friday 22nd March, with our new spring opening hours : Friday - Tuesday, 10am - 4pm. Looking forward to seeing you there sometime soon! all the best Jennifer |
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