Coigach series day 3

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Above – Coigach 2.  Oil on 5×7″ wood. Rose Strang 2023.

I’ve realised that strictly speaking this series should be called ‘Coigach Series’ since the paintings are not just my impressions of Achiltibuie. I tend to call the Coigach area of Scotland’s west coast ‘Achiltibuie’ since that’s where I go to visit friends when I’m up there. The whole area is Coigach though – named for one of the mountains in the area. Coigach is an incredible landscape featuring unbelievably pointy mountains with beautiful names such as Stac Polaidh and Suillven. I’m gradually getting to the more dramatic scenes as I progress.

I’ve been getting into the feel of this series on 5×7 inch wood, but today I moved on to 10×10 inch wood as I’ll be creating a series for the Limetree Gallery’s winter show this year. I feel this Coigach series will suit the gallery well. The gallery owners have asked their artists for paintings in the 10×10″ format, which suits me well as I often work at that size.

Here are the latest 7×5 paintings, and the first at 10×10 …

Achiltibuie series day 2

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Above –  ‘Achiltibuie 3’. Oil on 5×7″ wood. Rose Strang 2023

It’s always interesting when you feel you’re going in the right direction paint-wise, but it’s not quite there yet. I prefer the painting below (Achiltibuie 4’. Oil on 5×7″ wood. Rose Strang 2023) to the one above. The one above looks predictable to me whereas the one below has more mystery. Hmmm!

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Achiltibuie series

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Above ‘Achiltibuie 1’. Oil on 5×7″ wood. Rose Strang 2023

It’s been a very experimental time these last few weeks, not least since it’s impossible to find time to paint on a regular basis, or to focus on one subject with all the projects going on. My studio is temporary till next year and consists of a tiny kitchen alcove, until we find a new home somewhere rural where we can stretch out a little. Needless to say I can’t wait, but it’s a laborious process.

The painting above is from a series I’m painting of my impressions of Coigach and Achiltibuie where we stayed for a few days back in May. I’ve always loved the impressions of landscape that remain in imagination after driving through it. One of my favourite artists, Ilse d’Hollander, had a similar approach – she’d cycle through the countryside of Holland, then return to the studio to create semi abstract impressions. A ‘painter’s painter’ as she was described, she wanted to say a lot with little, more about distilled memories of her short journeys. A sense of space, or light, or distance for example.

I particularly enjoyed this short video about her work, beautifully filmed and edited by Gauitier Deblonde …

Ilse D’Hollander film

Despite all the distractions, I must find time to paint a series for the upcoming winter exibition at Limetree for November. I’m also getting together a little project with my friend and collaborator Atzi Muramatsu. I’ll be creating small portraits in oil on wood of Atzi and members of a small string quartet. The quartet will then play for one night at The Scottish Arts club in November. It’ll be a nice little project, meaningful but manageable!

I’m exploring some more abstract approaches at the moment, or mixed media anyway. This piece was created with plastic, cold wax and oils. Quite good fun, it’s good to loosen up – not to always feel you have to stick to the same approach.

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‘Waterfall’. Mixed media on 15×15″ wood. Rose Strang 2023

St Oran’s Chapel day 4

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Above St Oran’s Chapel, Iona 3. Oil on 5×7″ wood. Rose Strang 2023.

A slightly ghostly effect on today’s painting. I like it but it needs a touch more warmth.

Here are the three paintings so far in the St Oran’s series ..

St Oran’s Chapel, day 3

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Above  – St Oran’s Chapel 2, Iona. Oil on 5×7″ wood. Rose Strang 2023

I’m hugely enjoying this self-motivated exploration of light and texture. As yet I’ve no idea where I’m likely to exhibit it. Today’s painting does remind me of the soft buttery light that flowed through the windows of St Oran’s Chapel on the 15th May this year.

I’d love to treat my walls to a coat of lime render (the plaster used to cover the walls of St Oran’s) but it’s a bit caustic I’m told, not ideal for domestic settings.

Here are the three window paintings so far ..

More tomorrow …

St Oran’s Chapel, day 2

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Above St Oran’s Chapel 1, Iona. Oil on 5×7″ wood. Rose Strang 2023

Working with a palette knife brought better results today. So this will officially be the first finished painting of this series!

Once I move on to canvas I’ll explore some dry brush work but the palette knife seems to suit the scale and texture of wood just now. I’m using a palette of white, lemon yellow, medium  yellow, ochre, cadmium red, crimson and black. I’ve been looking at the beautifully subtle work of Jan Mankes, but his technique was very painstaking – slow build up of layers in oils –  which doesn’t suit my style so much.

More tomorrow ..

New series – St Oran’s Chapel, Iona

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Above – painting in progress St Oran’s Chapel, Iona. July 2023. Rose Strang

A change of palette after a very busy few months. No doubt I’m drawn to these cool beiges and subtleties of light because life has been quite hectic.

There hasn’t been much time to paint, what with getting married in May and all! Then Adam and I spent a month editing our wedding video and creating music for it so we could share a video of our special day with family and friends (we decided we’d have a very low-key wedding, so it was just the two of us).

I kept thinking of the light during our wedding in St Oran’s Chapel – it couldn’t have been any more beautiful. Hence these first attempts at capturing the subtlety of light  and the way it plays on textured plaster. It’s quite a minimalist, and spiritual theme. St Oran’s Chapel is believed to be the oldest building on the Isle of Iona that’s still standing. It sits modestly in the grounds of Iona Abbey and it’s quite small. The acoustic is amazing.

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This series will develop onto larger pieces of wood and canvas, and might involve figurative painting too – a bit of a rarity in my work.

Being the visually oriented people we are, we wanted to find an excellent photographer for our wedding day so we were lucky to find Martin Venherm Martin Venherm Photography whose photos we’d admired when he’d been hired to shoot our friends’ wedding. He created images we absolutely love, and will enjoy looking at in the years to come! Here are a few of my favourites  …

Current Exhibitions

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Above: Iona to Staffa 2. 0il on 12×12 inch canvas. Rose Strang 2022

My work is curently on show at the following exhibitions …

RSA Annual Exhibition (online) 6 May – 11 June 2023

SSA at the Caledonia Club London 21 June – 13 July

Summer Exhibition Limetree Gallery Bristol. 14th July till 31st August.

Also at these galleries:

Limetree Gallery, Bristol

The Resipole Gallery, Ardnamurchan, Scotland

'Through Kintail 3' Oil on 14x11" wood. Rose Strang 2020

Exhibition at the Caledonian Club London

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Above: Through Kintail 3. Oil on 14×11″ wood. Rose Strang 2020.

I’m delighted that Through Kintail 3 will be on show at the Caledonian Club in London as part of an exhibition organised by the Society of Scottish Artists (SSA) from Tuesday 20th June this year.

This is a new collaboration with the SSA and The Caledonian Club

The exhibition will take place from 21 June – 13 July in the Club’s Drawing Room and will showcase leading contemporary art by SSA Professional Members.

The exhibition includes works from invited artist Alasdair Wallace, alongside selected works from SSA Professional Members.

Selected Artists:

Christopher Brook | Rowena Comrie SSA PPAI | Soosan Danesh | Jean Duncan | Rhona Fleming | Shona Grant | Cate Inglis | Philip J Lavery | Aileen Keith | Rosalind Lawless | Lindsey Lavender | David Lemm | Kenris MacLeod | Mary Morrison | Gemma Petrie | Jenny Pope | Derek Robertson | Charlotte Roseberry | Carol Sinclair | Christine Sloman | Joan Smith | Rose Strang | Frank To SSA ASGFA | Vasile Toch PSSA | Fenneke Wolters-Sinke | Luke Vinnicombe

The Caledonian Club, founded in 1891, is a private members’ club situated in the heart of Belgravia, London and is “the representative national club and headquarters for Scots in London.”

This exhibition is the first in a revolving exhibition programme exploring the possibility of multiple rolling exhibitions throughout the year.

 

 

RSA Annual exhibition

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Above, with Richard Demaro and Terry Newman at the RSA Annual exhibition, Edinburgh. (Photo Adam Brewster).

Also a few more photos below of a very enjoyable evening!

My painting below Chancelot Mill, the submission that earned me a spot on the Landscape Artist of the Year last year, is in the show. You can view it, or buy it, on the RSA website on this link – RSA Annual Exhibition

My favourite pieces of the evening were a beautiful landscape by Kate Downie, and a self portrait by Duncan Robertson – viewable on these links –

Kate Downie. Field Notes

Duncan Robertson. Working from home, all day long on my chaise longue

Duncan’s piece amused me as I used to share a flat with him and afew other friends (the flat featured in the photograph below) and it’s very characteristic! It was also really lovely to see Richard Demarco, now in his 90’s and looking as energetic as ever.

Obviously my favourite dapper gentleman of the evening was my partner Adam Brewster, looking as though he’d stepped out of a James Bond film in his black tie!

For contrast to the poshness of the event we dropped into a Pizza hut afterwards with our good friend Giles Sutherland. It was an unusually misty evening in Edinburgh, the Haar from the sea making the night lights of Edinburgh look very mysterious!