an exhibition

First the promised news – a couple of weeks late –

four of my paintings are in the Tatha Gallery, in Newport on Tay for their winter group show, Finding the Wonder. If you follow the link you can see the exhibition online.

so there was the private view – I haven’t had one of those for some time – on a Saturday afternoon – and family and friends came and I made two new friends, one a painter from Glasgow and another from Edinburgh.

and nice words have been said, which is very gratifying. Lets hope there are sales too.

Last time I posted we had floods after heavy rain, so at last the burn which had stopped flowing onto Kinshaldy beach has filled up enough to  return.

there are a lot of pools there which are partly tidal, it will be interesting to see what happens. but it is mostly sand which shifts and changes, so I don’t think there will be a saltmarsh. The highest tides are ripping up the marram grass further down the beach on the corner of the Eden estuary, and it looks as if there will be a change of habitat there.

From one day to the next it is different. Last week it was calm with clear skies.

A wonderful morning for taking photos and drawing.

Yesterday there was a cold northerly wind, heavy surf

constant showers and rainbows following us down the beach.

After walking about a third of our usual walk

we dodged into the forest and walked back in shelter

It was extra beautiful and I had my new giant iphone 12 to try out,

but walking back into the icy wind and rain was unkind to Bims, even with her raincoat on. Out of the wind in the forest it was a different climate.

The other news is that she has to put up with a usurper. That is, family have found a new dog to adopt.

A tiny white terrier, Nonna, from Ireland ( a place where they unashamedly remove puppies’ tails).

She is very sweet and full of love and kisses, for people and other dogs

So teeny! But B has her nose out of joint and ticks her off if approached.

Play in the garden seems ok. But B with a muzzle on, as on the beach, for now. She is very apt to be snicker-snack with those teeth in play.

A very sweet addition, but she needs some training. It’s great for bonding with your dog, to go to classes. B and I miss our classes in Norfolk with amazing behaviourist trainer Rainie in Briston, especially agility.

Last week I spent quite a bit of time in the studio, following the gold light of autumn.

I love gold paint, it does special things. It reminds one of icons and medieval art,

it reflects light,

just as the water in the landscape – and on the beach – reflects the low sun here in Scotland at this time of year.

this 12 x 12 inch/ 30 x 30 cm linen box canvas (it is for sale on Artist Support Pledge, £ 220 plus shipping, send me an email  to design@janewheeler.co.uk if you are interested) is the result of many layers, and is the spirit of the winter beach at Tentsmuir, “Rain Showers Following Sun”. detail is the image above.

A new – or rather, refurbished – giant iphone 12 is taking better photos – this is the edge of Owlet wood above Cupar, with plenty of that golden light.

In the studio I have and had, so many things going on –

this one is in progress, it has nice things on it, but needs to simmer in the back of my brain for a while. A diptych 80 cm high, 120 cm wide.

Pink as well as gold has been a warming colour in the very chilly studio.

I wanted to continue with the scratched and layered painting in the last post, and rounded up a lot of unfinished small canvases to work over. this is 20 x 20 cm (8 x 8 “).

And this even smaller, 15 x 15 cm. These little ones hang around in the studio waiting for more inspiration.

So do some of the bigger ones –

leaning this smaller painting against the big blue Litany for Kinshaldy sparked an idea –

now it is much better!

some more from my walk over to Ceres in the sunshine and cold wind yesterday –

winter trees –

with a little help from Hipstamatic –

and “A last throw of the pink” to round it off.

(Also  available, this is a deep cradled plywood panel,12 x 12 inches, same price as the gold painting.)