Tag Archives: travel

Forest of Luffness. Painting progress 24

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Above: Forest of Luffness 17. Oil on 30×30 inch canvas. Rose Strang 2025

This is changed quite a bit from the last post, I wasn’t getting the sense of light in the forest – it was afternoon and the tones were warm.

Here’s the last version and posted and today’s side-by-side …

A detail and a close up of my palette – there’s always a nice build up of the coour scheme by the end of a series, then it’s all scrubbed back (this is a glass palette so it’s easier to scrub back) before the next series. …

One more painting and the series will be complete! I’d love to get on with that that tomorrow but we’re off to the beautiful Isle of Iona for our anniversary!

While there I’ll be sketching, painting and photographing for my next series, which will be some large, textured semi-abstract seascape paintings on unbleached linen for the Graystone Gallery, Edinburgh

I’m very excited about the Graystone Exhibition – it launches 18th July and will be part of the Edinburgh Festival. If you click on the link above you can see they show some exciting work and it’s great to be a part of that.

I’ll also be contributing some work as part of the Limetree Gallery‘s Summer Exhibition this year and if you read this blog you’ll know how happy I am to be included as part of their excellent year-round exhibition programme!

Much more about all of that soon, but, one thing at a time. I’ll complete the Luffness series first!

The Luffness series is very much a ‘slow-burn’ as it were, since I want to show the series privately at first, alongside the accompanying documentary. It has been the most absorbing and challenging series of my life so far. The documentary describes the collaborative aspect of a long-term art project like this – all the much loved people involved, the ideas, themes, research and experience.

The Luffness series and documentary probably won’t show publically until early next year. So in a couple of weeks I’ll be posting more here about the Graystone Gallery and Limetree Gallery series very soon!

Forest of Luffness, painting progress 6

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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.

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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.