The location was in essentially familiar territory. Having driven up from Ayrshire on the A77 to first check out the Scotland Street School (festooned with scaffolding), a neat trick was then to cross the river over the George V bridge. Then up eventually along the time honoured Byres Road in the West End with now… Continue reading Tango with Mackintosh
Royal Troon Open: The Practice Green
A transferred ticket for the Open Golf at Royal Troon on a practice day (Tuesday) had become available and I snapped it up at 6.35 am and navigated the necessary transfer of personal information. It was one of the few times that I could describe my country of origin as Scotland. Parking in Troon later… Continue reading Royal Troon Open: The Practice Green
Hill House Recoloured
Once upon a time I took a photograph of the Hill House in Helensburgh in Scotland, long before it gained its giant canopy to protect it from the elements. It was an overcast day and the image was remarkably devoid of colour. A considerable time later the image would be the focus of a colour… Continue reading Hill House Recoloured
Joining Neolithic Dots
I had visited the National Museum of Rural Life in East Kilbride, Scotland with Anne over 20 years previously and had noted one striking and enigmatic object. This had been a large stone slab from a neolithic burial site in Perthshire engraved with so called ‘cup’ marks. My intuition at the time was that these… Continue reading Joining Neolithic Dots
The Rock Carvings at Ballochmyle
The topic of the rock carvings at Ballochmile in Ayrshire had cropped up soon after joining the Probus Club in Irvine, though I had then declined a kind offer to take me to their location. Some months later in what passes for mid-summer, it was resolved to explore the site. I had chosen a painting… Continue reading The Rock Carvings at Ballochmyle
The Highland Mary Monument in Ayrshire
It was travelling en route to Mauchline on the Ayr road that I first saw the sign to the Highland Mary Monument. This was in the hamlet of Failford. On retracing my steps a few days later, I duly parked up with no difficulty just beyond the Failford Inn and walked down to the path… Continue reading The Highland Mary Monument in Ayrshire
Cassis by J.D. Ferguson
I have competed this write up some days after visiting the McLean Museum and Art Gallery in Greenock, Scotland. JD Ferguson is one of the four famous Scottish Colourists. I would have imagined the painting was completed at a single session. Perhaps the artist is ‘time stamping’ his creation into a specific day. This is… Continue reading Cassis by J.D. Ferguson
The Bonny Barques
I had come to realise that the membership of the Probus Club in Irvine (Scotland) and also its invited speakers could describe a rich vein of life experience and knowledge. And all was undertaken in a manner of jovial banter and a certain forthright honesty. When one of the members described a ‘folk memory’ of… Continue reading The Bonny Barques
Crème de Menthe by Francis Cadell
(Written while studying the painting in Greenock, Scotland in the McLean Museum and Art Gallery.) It is a large painting with a focus of interest all around. There is a little glass of green liquid in the foreground, almost within reach of the hand of the subject. So you are being told, yes, very soon… Continue reading Crème de Menthe by Francis Cadell
Samuel Peploe in Greenock
(Written while studying ‘Stlll Life’ by Samuel Peploe in Greenock in the McLean Museum and Art Gallery.) The colour palette is subdued. The jug and fruit stand are essentially white – likewise the fabrics and napkins. Apples with their full colour are prominent but the highest accolade is with the oranges on the raised platter.… Continue reading Samuel Peploe in Greenock