 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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 Out and about I hope this finds you safe and well. The weather at this time of year can be a little challenging. It can rain for days on end. When the wind gets up it batters everything and can make shutting car doors a challenge. At last the days are getting a little lighter, stretching at either end. When a fine day comes along, it's a jewel to be treasured. Everyone is out in the sunshine, smiling and commenting on the fineness of the day. Even a dry day is a small triumph. On some of these rare fine days, I've been out sketching. Some new places and some familiar ones. At some point, I hope to transform these into 'proper' paintings. I'll keep you posted. 
Market season starting soon It will soon be time for the local markets to start up again. I've been missing them a lot, so I'm really looking forward to being back! This year I'm planning to be at three regular markets. Delighted to say that a new one is starting in Gairloch Community Hall. It will be on every Thursday throughout the season The ones I plan to be at are :
 Stockists Just a reminder that a number of lovely places stock selected items of my work. These include Gairloch Museum, the Carron Pottery, Loch Torridon Community Centre Gallery and Gairloch Gifts. A full list of them is on my website, along with opening times. Some of them are closed at the moment and will be reopening soon for the visitor season. In the meantime, a wide range of items is always available from my website shop. Including greetings cards, sketchbooks, coasters, mugs and keyrings, as well as original artwork. I've just added some more small original works, which I've done over the winter. See below - Winter Morning #1 and Winter Morning #2
Photography If you're more interested in my photography, then please do have a look at my portfolios on the Redbubble and Photo4me websites. The former has a huge range of items available, from hardback journals to aprons, backpacks and pet bandanas. The latter specialises in canvases, framed prints, picture boards and other forms of photographic prints for hanging on your walls. Enjoy!
As always, thank you for your continued interest in my work.
If you have any queries at all, please don't hesitate to get in touch. I look forward to seeing some of you again during the 2023 season! all the best Jennifer  I hope this finds you safe and well. At long last, it feels as though spring is in the air - there are wild violas in the garden, the larch is covered in bright green paintbrushes of fresh needles and there are primroses in the woods. Visitors have started arriving, places are opening up and it's time to move forward again. New Stockist - The Carron Pottery I'm delighted to say that I now have some of my work in stock at the lovely Carron Pottery, at Cam-allt by Strathcarron. I'm especially happy about this, given my long-standing links with Lochcarron. I spent most of my childhood holidays there, staying in my granny's house in Slumbay - the area is full of happy memories. The Pottery now has a selection of my greetings cards, linoprinted sketchbooks and notebooks and also some small original, mounted watercolours.  Torridon Thursday Market - fortnightly This week saw the first Torridon Thursday Craft and Food Market in Loch Torridon Community Centre Hall. I'm delighted to be taking part this year - I'll be there every two weeks with a selection of my original artwork and gifts. The next market will be on Thursday 28th April, 10am - 3pm. There is a lovely mixture of stallholders, all with a warm welcome. Poolewe Tuesday Market I'm happy to say that this market is up and running again (the first one was on 29th March). I'll be there every week until the end of the season, at the end of October. This year sees some lovely new stallholders joining in, as there is space for a few more folk again. It's always lovely to meet new people and catch up with folk. I look forward to seeing you there! It's on every Tuesday from 10am - 2.30pm.  The linoprinted sketchbooks and notebooks are proving to be very popular. I now have a wider range of sizes - from A6 size, plain cartridge paper, to 11 x 11 inch large square sketchbooks. Selected sizes are currently available from Gairloch Museum, Poolewe Tuesday Market, Torridon Thursday Market, Loch Torridon Community Centre Gallery, Carron Pottery, and The Button Bothy in Poolewe.  Exhibition at Inverewe Garden, Poolewe
I'm happy to be part of a mixed exhibition at Inverewe Garden: Opened on Friday 15th April In Osgood's Cafe - at the top of the main car park. On show until further notice. Many thanks for your continued interest in my work. all the best Jennifer  And now for something slightly different. I don't always manage to find instant inspiration for my blog, so sometimes I go for a trawl through things I have written earlier. There is plenty of it around, I can assure you. This is not strictly-speaking a poem, it's more a "real-time" stream of observations from a train. That's how it was written. It's almost a series or collection of haiku, which could stand on their own. As you can see from the date, it was written seven years ago.
(Aberdeen to Inverness, by train, 14/3/08) three sheep, side by side bask in spring sunshine on a sloping field tops of trees cluttered with crows and their half-made nests tiny calves already wearing ear-tags lie beside their mothers bare trees poised to burst into life train track runs beside the burn we go up as it goes down river bluer than the sky smoothness hides its urgent flow ramshackle byre with a bucket by the open door ancient crumbled walls of ruined house two old trees – who lived there once? boggy ponds alongside the track frog spawn possibilities old bracken last year’s heather the colours of tweed horses with their coats on heads down grazing sheep tracks etched on the hillside centuries old narrow field ridged with sheep tracks along its length mole hills in the perfect lawn around the whisky store fluffy white sheep black faces curly horns the larches still wearing their brown winter coats birches covered in lichen beards no pollution here seven pigeons take off in unison startled by the train the gorse blooming by the track – does it ever not? piglets scamper in the mud round their little nissen huts wind farm scars the landscape - distracts me from the kestrel we can see where the mole has been - does he have any idea? the edges of the town spreading into a building site new houses with smart fences - sore thumbs |
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