News, exhibitions & BLOG 2011

This will be the last exhibition at Kranenburg as the gallery closes on the 24th December 2011. We wish Geoff  a long and happy retirement. The gallery will be a big loss to Oban and the West of Scotland and for all the visual artists who have exhibited there over the years. Alex has 3 paintings in this, the final show.

Midge and daughter Kim visited the Knitting and Stitching Show in Harrowgate at the end of last month and came away with lots of new materials, ideas and inspiration. They also renewed acquaintance with friends and colleagues from the Textile Art world.

Alex is working on new paintings inspired by a visit to Iona in October and to Sutherland’s Grove in the autumn sunshine.

This week’s Oban Times features an advert for Port Appin Studio highlighting our website and online shop. New products have been added to our online shop. Have a look !

Lewis has chosen as background music for the video Sigur ros, an Icelandic group, who sound  great. We look forward to the finished article.

Midge has had six pieces accepted for the exhibition – four shoes and two new framed works. The mill itself is very interesting and Sedbergh and the surrounding countryside well worth a visit. The exhibition runs until January 1st 2012 and is open daily 10.30 – 17.00. The exhibits are of a diverse and high standard.

Lewis of Cagoule Productions spent the weekend with us to shoot the video. Some quality stills were taken of our latest work too.

Port Appin Studio is opening a Facebook page with up to date news and images from our studio. This will complement our website blog and Twitter site hopefully reaching a wider audience.

Midge is finishing a piece of work for the EDGE exhibition called ” EDGING SOUTH” to be held in the Howgill Gallery, Farfield Mill Arts and Heritage Centre,Sedburgh, Cumbria.  12th Nov.-1st January. She also hopes that some of her “shoes” will be exhibited there.

Her work “Wallpiece for Elizabeth” is  illustrated in the September/October edition of Embroidery magazine.

Alex has two paintings in the newly opened exhibition of works by the Glencoe Life Drawing Group showing until the end of October at the National Trust Centre in Glencoe.

Last weekend’s open studio in conjunction with Artmap Argyll was a great success with over 100 visitors over the 4 days and we were able to donate £150 , a percentage of sales, to DEC East Africa Appeal.

Midge had her picture, holding one of her latest decorative shoes, in this weeks Oban Times under the heading ” Argyll artists throw open their doors”. Christine McCartney, a reporter for the Oban Times, wrote the article after her visit to the studio on Sunday with her young daughter Lucy.

The weekend of 12-15 August sees our studio open daily to the public from 11 a.m. till 4 p.m.

Paintings and drawings, Textile Art ( including Midge’s exciting new range of “shoes”) , prints and cards are for sale or just take the chance to meet the artists and see their latest works.

This year we are in conjunction with Art map Argyll open studio trail with over 40 artists in the Argyll area exhibiting.

A percentage of our sales will go to the DEC East Africa Crisis Appeal.

We have just completed our annual early summer Painting Course. ‘Early summer’ didn’t describe the weather adequately as it was cold and wet most of the week –  so no work ‘en plein air’. This has been our sixth year running the course and two people have been to all of them. We must be doing something right!

Everyone had an enjoyable time and hopefully learnt a little along the way.

Midge’s latest works – her decorative shoes – were greatly admired. You can see some of them on her gallery page on the website.

In August we are having another Open Studio event – 12-15 August – in conjunction with Artmap Argyll. More details nearer the time.

We have just returned from our regular early visit to St. Martin des Puits in France.

The weather was mainly fine and the wild flowers, orchids and poppies in particular, were stunning, and the butterflies, such as swallowtails, and other exotic insects were profuse. Lots of walks, around Buisse, Lagrasse and Leucate  , remind us what a wonderful area the Lanquedoc is. We have taken lots of photographs to remind and inspire us.

Another visit to the Modern Art Gallery in Ceret was as usual inspirational.

We have put our house in Aude on the market but this won’t mean the end of our visits to the area.

This month we’re heading to Tampere, Finland then on to Lapland. We hope to see the Northern Lights when there, as this is supposed to be a good year for viewing. It should be an exciting and stimulating trip and hopefully inspirational.

Alex instructed a course on ‘Colour Mixing’ for Appin Art Group last Saturday which the ten participants seemed to enjoy.

This year starts with Alex giving a workshop on ‘Colour Mixing’ to the Appin Art Group at the end of January.

Our Online SHOP is regularly updated . Please have a look.

For the sixth consecutive year a 5-day Painting Holiday Course will be held at the studio in Port Appin from May 9-13. We welcome back those who have been before – but there is always room for a few more. This year the emphasis will be tailored more to individual requirements and less of a structured course. Fees remain at £50 per day. Anyone interested should contact us for more details.