Above: Forest of Luffness 11. Oil on 30×30″ canvas. Rose Strang 2025
I decided to work on yesterday’s painting a bit more as I felt it lacked depth and compared to the rest of the series, looked a bit sketchy.
More details below, including myself next to the painting to show scale…
Above: Forest of Luffness 11. Oil on 30×30″ canvas. Rose Strang 2025
More work today on the Forest of Luffness series. Today’s painting features Richard Demarco beginning to explore the tomb, while in the background Emma walks into the picture with baby Atlas. It’s an odd composition but I liked the filmic sense of mystery. I enjoyed painting loosely and freely; more of this sort of painting to come I think.
A few close-ups and details …
Above: First of June. Forest of Luffness 10. Oil on 12×12″″ canvas. Rose Strang 2025.
Today I updated yesterday’s painting of Richard Demarco, and as usual I’m not at all sure I shoudn’t have left it! Still, it does actually loo more like Richard, and it did need a bit more grounding – so I added legs, hint of the chair etc, but quite sketchy.
In the upcoming documentary, we”ll be interviewing Richard about some of his past work – exploring dialogue between war-torn countries and the healing presence of art.
Back when I worked with Richard as an assistant archivist and curator, Richard was working with Mercy Corp on an exhibition called Beyond Conflict, whch explored the negative impact 9/11 had had on a western view of Muslims.
We’ll be discussing that exhibition in the upcoming doc’ and we’ll be exploring the role of faith in art – does it change what we seek to express, or what we look for in others’ artworks?
Some more views of today’s finished painting.
Above: (Painting in progress) First of June. Forest of Luffness 10. Oil on 12×12″″ canvas. Rose Strang 2025.
I’m working on the hands and the rest of the background tomorrow (the easy part!) you can see pencil outlines.
Clickable images and details below –
Working on a close up portrait of Richard Demarco today for the Luffness series.
This is fairly small again at 12×12″ canvas. I took a still from film footage of our day at Luffness, from which I’m painting this portrait.
There were nine of us there that day last year, including little baby Atlas, but when I carefully look back through all the footage Manuel sent me (Manuel Pennuto is the documentary maker of the Luffness project) the person really paying attention is f course Richard and Terry.
It’s why I asked he and Terry Newman if they’d like to visit the friary ruins at Luffness.
I’d write more about that but it’s 9pm and I’m puggled! There’s nothing more complex than painting the human face – that is, if you truly want to capture expression, hence feeling tired. It’s a good thing I now have a painting lamp so I can paint all hours, but my back isn’t thanking me!
I feel I could create three portraits showing sight, hearing, touch and soul – the idea of (as D.H Lawrence put it) wholly attending.
More tomorrow …
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 –
Above: still from a documentary-in-progress, by Manuel Pennuto, about the project I’m working on. The still features mysef and Jacob Olah, singer and musician.
I mentioned that I’d post some stills from the documentary-in-progress by Manuel Pennuto. The documentary will feature the series of paintings I’m working on just now, inspired by the ruins of a Carmelite Friary discovered in a forest.
A lot of my work is inspired by history, or the traces of history in landscape, as well as literature and music. I’ve been immersed in learning 12th century songs this past year and I’ve been enjoying singing lessons by voice teacher Jacob Olah – also a talented musician.
We all got together earlier this week to record a 12th century song called Bryd one Brere, which wil form part of the soundtrack of the doc’. Manuel lent me these wonderful stills from thefootage …
They show my husband Adam being his multi-talented self – sound-recording, conducting and playing a harmony he’d created on recorder to accompany the song. Also Jacob playing a guitar piece he arranged for the song. It was a lot of fun to be surrounded by these super-talented people!
The resulting documentary should hopefully be released in summer this year, all being well. It’s all about timing and whether we can find the right venue for both the doc;’ and the paintings.
More painting updates tomorrow…
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!
Above: First of June. Forest of Luffness 7. Oil on 12×12″ canvas. Rose Strang 2025
Today’s 12 by 12 inch oil on canvas sketch for the Forest of Luffness series. Also below, the same image (clickable) and a detail …
One more at this size then I’ll be on to 30×30 inch canvas, which will make life easier in some ways. It’s impossible to get more detail on faces at this small scale without getting finicky, which I don’t want.
With today’s painting I wanted to explore the sense of a group of people lost, or searching in a forest. On a larger scale it will be possible to have them smaller and more in the distance.
More on Monday …
Above: First of June. Forest of Luffness 5. Oil on 12×12″ canvas. Rose Strang 2024
This series in progress is strting to take shape. Looking at the paintings as a little group so far I get the feeling of immersion in that place and time.
Here are the six preliminary oil sketches (on 12×12″) canvas so far (click on images to view in detail) …
I have another two small canvases to work on, then I’ll decide which to develop at a much larger size.
More about the series next week ….
Above. First of June. Forest of Lufness. 4. Oil on 12×12″ canvas. Rose Strang 2025
It’s good to be painting again after a Christmas and new year plagued with Covid then a nasty cough – lots of viruses around this winter! The series is growing gradually –
These 12×12″ canvases are a good way to explore my theme before moving on to larger canvases. More on the theme later this week.
Both of today’s paintings in progress …
Rose Strang Artworks 