Meet the Paintings - Bed of Tulips

Celebrating the coming of spring, here's the first of my 'Meet the Paintings' - the appropriately seasonal 'Bed of Tulips'.

I've been to Amsterdam many times over the years, and every time I go I bring back bags of tulip bulbs to plant in my garden.  The exotic pictures of such exuberant blooms promised on the front of those packets in the flower market are irresistible.   

These are the tulips from those bulbs, including my pride and joy , my black 'Queen of the Night'.

The queen has been a little shy for the past couple of years, and sadly abdicated completely last year, but I'm still looking.

Every spring, my beautiful tulips give me such joy, especially with the backdrop of my magnificent cherry tree in blossom (at the moment, it barely has buds though).

They are a burst of pure colour, and a constant seasonal pleasure to look forward to.

Affordable Art Fair at Hampstead

The good weather may be on hold for the moment, but I'm still heading off to the Affordable Art Fair at Hampstead Heath in London later this week, for some bright and beautiful summery art in the park.  The Fair opens on Wednesday evening and goes until Sunday 19th June.

Although I've painted pictures of the Heath, I've never been to the Affordable at Hampstead (and it's a wee while since I've been to the one at Battersea), so I'm really looking forward to it.  It's a lovely setting.

If you're going along, then I've got paintings with Duncan R Miller Fine Arts (Stand D5).  Look out for them!

 Calendula in Bloom (Oil on linen, 12 x 12)

For more information about the Fair, please click HERE.

"Colour"

I've got paintings in a new show called 'Colour' that's opening at the Lime Tree Gallery in Long Melford in Suffolk.  It opens with a preview on Saturday 9th April from 10am-5pm.

I'll be exhibiting alongside Pam Carter, Marion Thomson and Peter King, all Scottish artists well-known for their exciting and vibrant use of colour.

Yellow Flowers in Spring Sunshine, Bass Rock (Oil on linen, 32 x 32)

View the exhibition HERE. 

My contribution to the show is built around the colours of the seasons, and the way that the landscape changes with the different light, flowers and plants throughout the year.

For winter, I looked at the soft, subdued colours of Scotland during short days in cold weather. This painting is of Glen Lochy, which is on the A85 heading from Dalmally to Tyndrum.

Winter Colours, Glen Lochy (Oil on linen, 24 x 26)

In spring, the days lengthen and the colours sharpen, and for summer, I looked at the vibrant shades of seasonal flowers in bright sunlight.  I have paintings of the blue of fragile harebells on cliffs in Northern Ireland, and the pinks and purples of waxy rhododendrons in the country park near my studio and sweet peas in my studio garden.

Summer Sweet Peas (Oil on linen, 16 x 16)

Autumn is all burning reds and oranges in the landscape, and a changing kaleidoscope of colour in stormy seas under turbulent skies on the coast.  This is of the long, low, shingle shore at Aldeburgh, looking out across the North Sea under the huge sky.
 

Autumn Sea with Dark Clouds, Aldeburgh (Oil, 8 x 10)

Do come along to the preview and see the show if you're in the area!

If you'd like to receive a catalogue in the post, or emailed in PDF form, then please contact me.

Lemond Catalogues Here!

Here's the catalogue for my new show with Mary Davidson, which opens on Saturday.

You can view the catalogue by clicking the link on the page HERE.

Both myself and Mary will be at the preview at the gallery to meet everyone from 1 until 4pm on Saturday 26th September.  Do come along if you can!

Affordable Art Fair, Bristol

Just to give you all a quick heads-up about the forthcoming Affordable Art Fair at Brunel's Old Station at Bristol Temple Meads this month.

It runs from to 18-20 September, and I'll be exhibiting with the Lime Tree Gallery.

There's even a half-price ticket available HERE!

Here's a quick peek at some of my paintings that will be there...

Rain and Wind, North Berwick (Oil on linen, 12 x 12)

Calendula and Honesty Against Garden Wall (Oil on linen, 16 x 16)

Grasses in the Sand, Camusdarach (Oil on linen, 32 x 32)

Path Through Bluebell Woods (Oil on linen, 12 x 12)

If you do go, let me know what you think!

Heading for London

I've got a new selection of work heading to Duncan R Miller Fine Art in London for the autumn.

Here's are some of my paintings which will be arriving there next week.

Gorse at Flamborough Head (Oil on linen, 20 x 30)

Moonlit Shore, Whitby (Oil on linen, 20 x 30)

Bluebells (Oil on linen, 16 x 16)

Calendula in Bloom (Oil on linen, 12 x 12)

Setting Sun, Tower Bridge from Bermondsey (Oil on linen, 16 x 16)

Tower Bridge at Dusk from Bermondsey (Oil on linen, 12 x 12)

Some New Paintings from the Studio...

Thought you might like to see some new work from the studio.  I'm trying to pull a few things together before the summer break, and so the paintings reflect a few of the ideas I've been looking at and exploring over the last weeks.

There's a couple of Tower Bridge from Bermondsey (you can see the original photos and read the blog HERE) ...

Setting Sun, Tower Bridge from Bermondsey (Oil on linen, 16 x 16)

Tower Bridge at Dusk from Bermondsey (Oil on linen 12 x 12)

Then there is some work from my trip earlier in the year to Yorkshire, where I travelled up the coast from Spurn Point to Whitby.  Flamborough Head is sort of the half-way point!

Gorse at Flamborough Head (Oil on linen, 20 x 30)

Sandsend (Oil on linen, 16 x 16)

Finally, there are paintings exploring the seasonal theme of the flowers in my garden, which is always a rich source of material.

Bluebells (Oil on linen, 16 x 16)

Honesty and Yellow Poppies (Oil on linen, 12 x 12)

More Paintings on their Travels...

Not only have my paintings arrived at the Lemond Gallery ready for my two-person show which opens very soon, but my paintings have gone out today to two galleries in Suffolk for their Christmas shows.  Yes, that's right - Christmas shows!!

(That's because it takes a while for the photography for all the catalogues and publicity to be prepared....)

Anyway, here's a quick look at what's in transit.

This is a painting of rhododendrons in Pollok Park, which I thought would look really cheerful in a winter show.  Pollok Park has a particularly fine avenue of rhododendrons and azaleas of all different colours.  

It's going to be at the Lime Tree Gallery in Long Melford, Suffolk, in a show that opens on Saturday November 16th, along with 5 other new paintings.

Pink Rhododendrons, Oil on linen, 20 x 20

This one, meanwhile, is part of a group which is going to be at Thompson's Gallery in Aldeburgh on the Suffolk coast, so it's going to be travelling a bit further across the county.  

Again, I thought it would look really bright and happy - it's of poppies which were growing at the side of the road just by the beach at North Berwick.  I think the seeds had probably escaped from the neatly-tended gardens which are just on the other side of the road.  The view is looking out across the sands to the long low island of Craigleith.

Craigleith with Poppies, Oil on linen, 20 x 20

The show at Thompson's Gallery opens in Aldeburgh on Saturday 7th December.