Tag Archives: green paintings

Forest of Pishwanton 4

Leave a reply

Above: Wood Cabin. Pishwanton. Mixed media on 14×8″ wood. Rose Strang 2026

Today’s painting featuring spring in the foreswt of Pishwanton, following on from the previous three posts. This is a series I’m drawn to paint not just because spring emerging is such a joyful time of year, but also because of the location – Pishwanton in East Lothian.

It’s a piece of land that was formerly used as a tip, which was rescued by the Life Science Centre who decided to experiment with sustainable cultivating approaches isnpired by Steiner principles of observation and connectedness.

When I feel a bit less puggled (it’s been a busy day) I’ll write more, suffice to say for the moment that the principles of observation they describe chime with me, and the way I want to understand the subjects I paint. Not just visually, but in myriad ways. More of that next week.

 

Forest of Pishwanton

Leave a reply

Above. Birch Trees and Willow Shelter. Mixed media on 14×14″ wood. Rose Strang 2026.

This painting is inspired by the birch forests of Pishwanton, which is situated next to a gushing stream and a hill where witches used to gather. In old Scots ‘pish’ means a fast flowing stream and ‘wanton’ means abundant. So there you are, that explains the strange place name!

Pishwanton is owned by the Life Science Trust and everything there is created, grown or built according to Steiner principles about harmony and conservation. Just being there feels more gentle, not in a precious sort of way – just the way that nothing jars, visually or to the nose.

I’ve visited a lot over the years, and now I’m creating a little series of paintings inspired by the arrival of spring in Pishwanton. I feel we could all do with the harmony of Pishwanton just now. Here are a couple of details from the painting ..

Tonight I’m off to see an exhibition in Edinburgh of drawings by Matthew Collings, he did a wonderful series of documentaries in the 1990s about art. He creates paintings with his wife Emma Briggs, and he also draws, very prolifically. I bought one of his sketches a couple of years ago. It’s a self portrait of Matthew Collings drawing a sketch of the artist Frank Auerbach after Auerbach died.  Although Collings says the drawings are instinctive, to me it speaks of mortality. I don’t know if it was intentional, but in the sketch Collings looks semi transparent, as if if disappearing from existence. I find it both moving and uplifting, and I love the colours. I took quite a while choosing the frame with Jamie from Edinburgh’s Detail Framing and I think it looks wonderful floating above the shipwreck n my bookcase, along from a sea triptych I painted a year or so ago.

The subject matter Collings chooses is simply what he experiences each day; memories or current situations and experiences. For the past year of so the best part of his drawings have been about the war on Gaza, tso he work is often harrowing, capturing the brutality visited upon innocent civilians by our world leaders. I’ll post more about the exhibition tomorrow.

 

 

 

 

 

Exhibition Saturday 19th July

1 Reply

Coming up in just 9 days, The Edinburgh Festival Exhibition at The Graystone Gallery, Edinburgh!

Saturday 19th June, 2 to 4pm, Graystone Gallery

Here’s a litle vid showing the inspiration of Iona and clips of the painting process …

Forest of Luffness, painting progress – 12

Leave a reply

Above: First of June. Forest of Luffness 9. Oil on 30 by 30 inch canvas. Rose Strang 2025

This is the largest in a series of the same subject. I wanted to create it on a large scale to really get the sense of the figures in a forest – possibly lost, or perhaps they’ve discovered themselves in a different realm or time!

Here are the three paintings at different sizes –

Forests seem to have always been associated with mystery, a search, sometimes the idea of freedom from authority, or the idea of spiritual seclusion. I’m a fairly instinctive painter – I don’t begin with a definite concept that I then execute precisely – far from it! I think this approach echoes what I find in landscape and why I paint it. Adding figures always brings tension – it makes the viewer ask more questions, especially when the group are so srangely placed as they are in this painting.

More paintings coming soon, I’m having a little break from it for a couple of days while I write a book of short stories I’ve been working on. More on that later …

Here’s aclose-up of the figures –

Forest of Luffness. Painting progress 11

2 Replies

Above: First of June. Forest of Luffness 8. Oil on 19.5×19.5 inch wood. Rose Strang 2025

This series is (at last) coming into its own now. It’s taken far longer than other painting series to become coherent as there have been a lot of elements to bring together.

I’m starting to see the theme of a search emerge – these figures in the forest asking questions of life and death. I’ve always loved Gauguin’s painting D’où venons-nous? Que sommes-nous? Où allons-nous?/Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going? 1897 In which he asks these questions so fundamental to the human condition:

At the same time as painting this series (which explores the ruined remains of a 12th century Carmelite Friary) I’ve also been learning Medieval music from the time, which has become part of the documentary (by filmmaker Manuel Pennuto) about this entire project.

So, tomorrow I’ll share some photos showing part of the process, including really beautiful stills from our music recording session from the Song House at St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral in Edinburgh last week. Hugely inspiring!

Forest of Luffness, painting progress 6

1 Reply

Above: In progress – First of June. Forest of Luffness 3. Oil on 12 x 12 inch wood. Rose Strang 2024.

It feels good to be getting into the swing of a series for the first time in a while. I’ve created three so far in this First of June series, though today’s panting does need a bit more work ..

A bit more definition would help the painting and a few tweaks on the faces. The figure I’m happiest with is that of Terry Ann Newman (in the foreground with her back to us). Terry is the Deputy Director of the Demarco Trust and a very talented artist, when she finds time to paint. She’s holding a mobile in her hand behind her back, and it’s part of this series that we’re recording and witnessing the day in our different ways – there will be more of that.

I think I’ve managed to capture the feel of Richard’s detemination and physical struggle. I remember on the day in question I was a bit worried Richard might not want to walk the path to the Carmelite friary, because at 94 walking has become a challenge and the path required struggling over uneven ground in a forest for about ten minutes. Richard was characteristically determined however! He took great delight in the dappled light, the architecture of the stonework protecting the effigy and many other aspects of the day.

I think it was partly that he’d been inspired by my description of the ruined Carmelite friary near Aberlady but also, on the day, he was telling us about Pope Pius II who in 1435 walked barefoot in the snow all the way from Dunbar to Whitekirk to give thanks for his survival from a shipwreck in the Firth of Forth.

Whitekirk is just a few miles along the road from Aberlady and apart from the church, St Mary’s (which dates back to the 11th century) it also has a beautiful two-story stone building that served as a hostel for pilgrims travelling from Iona to Lindisfarne. Aberlady was an important stop on the way. After Aberlady and our visit to the Carmelite Friary, we also visited St Mary’s.

Readers of this blog might remember I took part on Landscape Artist of the Year a couple of years ago. It was fairly pointless escapade, frankly, except for meeting some nice folks (the other artists) one of whom was called Gregory Miller (artist website Here). He recently sent me a link to a film called No Greater Love, about a Carmelite Convent in Nottinghill, London.

MV5BMTk2ODc0NTAwMV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMzU5NzYzNw@@._V1_FMjpg_UX1000_

It’s worth a watch if you’re curious about their lifestyle. The footage and camera-work is Vermeer-like at times – capturing the natural light from windows and candles. It’s very, very quiet for the first half hour, then we get to know some of the nuns, what inspires them and why they’ve taken on this way of life.

It’s viewable on Amazon, not sure where else  …

No Greater Love

More painting tomorrow.

Forest of Luffness, painting progress 4

Leave a reply

Above: Detail from a panting in progress – The First of June. Luffness

As you can see below there are several versions of this little painting. It’s oil on 10×10″ canvas and I’m sticking to this small size until I’m satisfied with my approach. Paint is just too expensive to waste on larger sizes until I know where I’m going.

I find the figure of Richard Demarco easier to paint. Painting myself is proving a challenge though! It’s partly because I don’t have space to get into detail and the fact that I don’t want to paint in detail.

I began with a straightforward depiction, but it doesn’t express what I’m interested in – it doesn’t express the light, or the feeling of being there.

So the next day I started again with a looser approach. Intriguiningly, this oddly Da Vinci-esque angelic figure appeared. I liked it – it didn’t matter that it doesn’t look like me – but inevitably I began to tamper with it and it was lost, sadly!

P1100586

Today I started again and, though it’s maybe not easy to see in these quick photos below – there’s far more atmosphere, light and expression. I’m happy with the depiction of Richard, but again, not so much with the figure of me. It’s not that I want an exact likeness, it’s more that I want an impression of light more than detail, because that day was a lot to do with incredible light.

Talking of lights. Thanks to a birthday gift from Adam I’ve been both blessed and cursed with the gift of a ‘daylight light’ which means I can carry on painting into the dark hours of winter. Given I’ve only stopped now at 11pm, I’ll have to keep an eye on my hours!

More soon …

Forest of Luffness, painting progress 3

Leave a reply

Above Forest of Luffness 4. Oil on 14×14 inch wood. Rose Strang 2024

Today’s painting (from a series in progress inspired by the presence and history of a Carmelite Friary in the forest of Luffness) features my neice holding her new born baby, standing within the Friary.

I wanted to capture the sense of strength and protection that a young mother exudes, then the style of painting changed slightly and became a bit more contemporary. Probably something to do with Emma’s outfit which was quite contemporary.

I like this as a smaller study in the series. (All four paintings from this particular summer series below). I’ve been exploring the theme of the Carmelite Friary in Luffness since January, but each set of paintings is distinct to each season.

Exhibitions and available paintings Jan’ 2019

2 Replies

Current round-up of current exhibitions and (as yet) unsold paintings  …

 

Limetree Gallery, Bristol. (Contact gallery for enquiries Here)

Paintings available from the Limetree Gallery …

Winter Show. Resipole Gallery, 10th Nov’ to 22nd March. Ardnamurchan, Scotland. (Contact gallery for enquiries Here)

Paintings at the Resipole …

 

Small Paintings. Morningside Gallery, Edinburgh.  (contact gallery for enquiries Here)

Paintings at the Morningside Gallery …

Swimming in the Tweed

Leave a reply

'Emma and Friends, River Tweed, 2009'. Mixed media on 11x11" wooden panel

‘Emma and Friends, River Tweed, 2009’. Mixed media on 11×11″ wooden panel

The painting above was a private commission, or more accurately a painting for my mum’s Christmas! Finished last year.

It shows my niece Emma and friends swimming in the Tweed River several years ago – it was an idylic summer day in 2009 and they’d just finished all their exams. I suppose it was the start of their adult lives – a sense of freedom and ‘what’s next?’. Emma and her partner Joe are travelling for two years in the far east just now, lucky them! We miss them, but it’s great to see them enjoying adventures together.

2015 was a year of green paintings, the painting above representing a sort of zenith of green! I have enjoyed a few days of selecting blue shades for my next series which will be semi-abstract sea and night sky. I usually prefer a darker or more monochrome palette and enjoyed painting these two earlier works from 2014, some of the elements of these might come into the new series..

'Stormy Sky, Lindisfarne'. Mixed media on 20x16" canvas

‘Stormy Sky, Lindisfarne’. Mixed media on 20×16″ canvas

'Moonlight on Eigg'. Acrylic on 20x16" canvas

‘Moonlight on Eigg’. Acrylic on 20×16″ canvas