Summer Solace

As a warm, bright sun broke briefly through ominous clouds and dreary rain today, I felt the first hint of Spring in the air with a promise of summer heat soon to follow. Looking forward to painting outdoors again, the vision in my mind filled with rich gold and amber light, and I recalled a pair of paintings now sitting proudly in the collection of my favourite Osteopath in Lanarkshire...

Summer Solace I - Oil on canvas - 24 x 24in - Private collection

Such rich amber cadmium colours I associate with the warm glow of the hearth.. I love how the reds and golds vibrate against the hint of palest turquoise-green... Here I wanted to give a sense of peace after a storm.. a golden sunset, an evening glow; looking out to a sparkling light on the horizon...
I keep returning to this theme - a sense of travelling across water towards a new horizon, where there’s often a path leading fowards into the light, a metaphor for a journey through life with lightever fascinating, compelling and guiding onwards into a future as yet unknown, and yet somehow brighter than the present..

Summer Solace II - oil on canvas - 24 x 24in - Private Collection

The Sunset holds associations of a period of peace and relaxation after a sense of achievement. A closure before embarking on a new journey. The calm waters at the entry point of perspactive here give a sense of floating, resting... and yet there’s more solid ground to traverse ahead... another path to walk..... tomorrow...

Eyes Is Am Aye

Painted in 2005 as I was planning my first exhibition in New York.
I began with just a simple palette of the blues and violets I love - and an exceptional feeling of confidence and strength. Taking my inspiration from and evoking the forces of nature: fire, water and steam - my thoughts drifted to powerful images of an eternal cycle of evolving, revolving creativity: birth, life, death and re-birth...

Once the underpainting dried, I masked off a panel to construct the appearance of a doorway through to another dimension. I chose to work in shades of red so that the complementary chromatic wavelengths would vibrate against each other - causing the panel to simultaneously appear to float in front and stand behind the blue surroundings. Opaque cadmium pigments were introduced  into a crimson glaze to keep the colour pure and vibrant as I began to clarify the form beginning to appear in the form of a female muse.

As I brought her more into focus, concentrating on the eyes to form an almost confrontational focal point - the name of the Egyptian Goddess Isis sprang to mind. Isis - devoted sister/wife to Osiris, and the creator of new life and hope from tragedy and death; her image is the embodiment of the devoted sustainer, nurturing protector and of cosmic wisdom...

Although I could have gone on refining and re-defining this painting as new images and ideas came to mind - I felt compelled to stop painting while the image was still fresh as I wanted to preserve the quality of spontaneity.. of potential yet unrealised...  to retain the sense that this was still and always will remain - a work in process... just like nature continues her eternal creative cycle in an infinite state of flux...

Likewise -- the title of this piece evolved over a period of time. I am always fascinated by how names evolve through generations, just as our understanding of the world around is ever developing and changing with new discoveries... As I tried to make a concise verbal sense of the vision I had experienced and expressed during the creative process of this piece, I began with the statement. "I Am, Therefore, Isis". This was something of a tribute to Descartes, albeit revising his original premise "I think, therefore I am" to imply "I Am - therefore I think" while combining that thought with a sense of innocent and complete self-acceptance, and the symbolic strength and cosmic wisdom of Isis.

The focal point of this painting is the intense gaze in the eyes of Isis. Eyes are always fascinating to me - as "windows to the soul" they seem to hold both glimpse and reflection of the truth behind the masks we wear for the roles we play. With our eyes, we see... with "seeing" comes perception, awareness, wisdom. As her strength and power grew, Isis assumed the role of "Eye of Re"...

The accompanying statement "I Am - Therefore I-is / Isis" then evolved into "I am, therefore, Eyes-is" as I wanted to incorporate that sense of perceptive self-awareness in the concept. Poetically simplified, it then became "Eyes-Is I Am" ... and  more recently - "Eyes-is Am Aye"... as the "I" or ego dissolves into a simple positive affirmation of complete internal and external acceptance... "Aye" meaning both positive affirmation, and the Scottish term for "Yes" and/or "Always, Forever".

And so - "Eyes is Am Aye" aims to express an eternal awareness, positive affirmation and the hint of curiosity and and question that states and asks all at once: "I am here.  I am aware.  I am strength, creation and wisdom. I am an ever changing, growing, work-in-process. I am eternal. I am ready........ So... what next?!..."

 

"Moorland Dawn" Oil on canvas

"Gathering Storm" - Oil on canvas - 10 x 14in

Painted at first "en plein" air and then completed in the studio, in "Gathering Storm" I was aiming to capture the dramatic moods and atmosphere in the weather and atmosphere around my home in Dolphinton, just south of Edinburgh in Scotland. This was right about the time I was packing up my cosy, country life, giving up my home and all the possessions I had gathered over 40 years of existence - about to embark on a brand new adventure as I started the process of relocating to North America. 

Optimistic and positive as ever, I had no idea the incredible challenges and upheaval I would face over the following three year period that is still not quite drawn to it's conclusion...  Many of my paintings around this time are quite unsettled, and I believe somewhat premonitory of what lay ahead...