ANIMAL MAGIC

This week I have started to settle into the new routine of social distancing linked to the Covid 19 pandemic. Many hours per day to be filled.

There are only so many cupboards and rooms to tidy, so many meals to cook and this is in the context of a personal dislike for housework and ironing! Self-indulgent activity, immersion in my newfound pointillism art form, has been a life saver.

I have felt a bit like David Attenborough, as I am working my way through a series of wildlife studies. It is hard to describe the pleasure this has given me. Fortunately the Animal Kingdom is very large , so I have lots of potential subjects to keep me busy for as long as this lock down continues.

I await the application forms from NHS Forth Valley regarding a potential return to work , to support the country’s efforts to beat the virus .

Have you been encouraged in to creativity during the crisis ? One of my friends has crocheted friendly covid viruses 1-18 and another has taken up cross stitch of llamas!

I have been doing some cooking. Tonight, I will be tucking into apple and rhubarb crumble, using up some apples that were past their best and some lovely fresh rhubarb spotted on my weekly visit to the supermarket.

The British are renowned as people who like to queue... how fortunate in these trying times when we are queuing 2 m apart, snaked around the car park, with a one in one out system operating.

There are always positives ... I have taken more walks than ever before, like many of my neighbours, and we are all pulling together to support the more vulnerable members of the community.

As a technophobe I have had to continue my steep learning curve to tackle zoom and other platforms, but as we emerge from the pandemic a few months from now the world will be very different.

Hopefully our enhanced support and communication systems will continue. I have certainly noticed that meetings online have to be much more orderly and less time is wasted with inappropriate asides.

The added benefit of no travel time, no venue costs and being able to stay in bed for an extra half hour for the early breakfast meeting all help.

Stay safe and keep creative.

Rhona

POINTILLISM ISOLATION CREATIONS

Ongoing isolation due to Covid 19 has brought a welcome creative window. It has been as if someone has stopped the clock on the world and it is back to basics.

I don’t think I have ever spent so much time on my own. What a luxury, at such a time of heartache and worry across the world, to be able to indulge in my favourite pastime. Discovering pointillism in the past few weeks has literally been life changing.

I have spent hours every day creating images from millions of dots. It amazes me how it is possible to create depth and structure, light and shade and even texture just by the number and position of the dots on a piece of paper.

Being self-taught means that I have really been on a voyage of discovery every single day. The images lend themselves to merchandising, but that will have to wait until after the pandemic when I can approach companies to produce stock and find retailers to sell it.

It may be time to seek an art agent, which will take me in to new territory, but the only way to make money in merchandising is to sell in bulk, because the profit margins are small.

That requires contacts in the right places. The other option is to explore trade fairs, but that also requires more homework first. My contacts at SDX makers group may prove informative, as it is likely that some of them have already been down that route. That will have to wait until after the pandemic when I get merchandise samples made.

Away from my artistic endeavours I have been, cooking, tidying , walking and supporting my elderly mother , much like the rest of the population.

I await contact from the NHS about possibly returning to work temporarily to assist in the effort as they struggle to manage the covid 19 pandemic. Stay safe and well everyone.

Rhona x

GOING DOTTY

This week the concerns re the Coronavirus covid19 have really ramped up, with the closing of schools, bars, restaurants, gyms and shops. Social distancing, social isolation, empty shelves and queues to panic buy toilet rolls have become the new norm

I suspect it will get a lot worse before it gets better. I may even have to come out of retirement to assist the NHS effort to contain this pandemic ... quite daunting, but everyone has their part to play.

I have continued to use my art as a therapeutic diversion from the madness surrounding me. Firstly, a painting of a Scottish scene and then I got around to producing a pen and ink drawing of a Highland cow.

I have been meaning to do this for more than a year. Making pen and ink images from thousands of dots is rapidly becoming a favourite medium / style for me. These dots are literally stopping me from going dotty! 

Tomorrow is my birthday and the second anniversary of my husband’s death. I will be spending it at home, having cancelled the family get together. Instead, I have made a birthday meal and will give my daughter and sister in law a carry out dinner and birthday cake, to avoid a close gathering.

We all have to try to reduce social contacts in these extraordinary times. What do I plan to do instead ... well, I have a commission to do three guinea pig pet portraits.? that should be quite a challenge! 

I assume that at some point I may get a call from NHS colleagues ... a sort of call to arms. Earlier in the week an ex patient kindly contacted me to say they were thinking of me at this difficult time ... little did I know then that I may be returning in some capacity in the not too distant future!


I suspect many people may seek to unleash their inner artist as they attempt to fill the hours and hours spent at home in the coming months ... I can thoroughly recommend it  


Stay safe everyone.

Rhona x

RAINING CATS AND DOGS

The weather has continued to be a challenge this week. Whilst it may have been raining cats and dogs outside, I have spent some time inside my studio, nice and warm, working on my latest project.

The Scottish Design Exchange approached its artists to see if any of us were interested in getting involved with the Edinburgh Cat and Dog home, to produce pet portraits for a fundraising charity auction. Essentially, we were to be sent a photo of one of the animals up for a DC option and paint it.

As someone who regularly takes on commissions for pet portraits this was an easy YES from me. I received a photo of Coby, so got to work on my task. I hope they are pleased with the result and it helps to raise much needed funds and find a home for Coby. My next commission is two guinea pigs, so that will be a new challenge for me.

This week was clearly a week for charitable work and helping others. I spent an enjoyable day with other Rotarians running the Young Technologist challenge, which involved about 120 secondary school pupils from around the area constructing flashing beacons from what looked like a couple of pieces of wood, some screws and glue!

As the artistic one amongst us, I was on calligraphy duty for all of their certificates. At the end of the week I had the pleasure of supporting my friend Sylvia with her first photography exhibition. It was a huge success. She had shot beautiful photographs of inside Glasgow School of Art during her training many years ago, but they had not been shared until now.

Their content was particularly poignant ,in view of the fact that this beautiful Charles Rennie Macintosh inspired building burned down in recent times .

This week’s challenge is to paint a wedding venue in St Andrews in order to produce ceramic coasters of the venue as gifts for the wedding party. Hopefully there will be an opportunity to work with the venue afterwards, to offer them to future couples getting married there.

Rhona x

CORONAVIRUS LOCK UP

So, what would you do if two of your friends were admitted to hospital, positive for covid19, and public health called you and told you to self-isolate?

That is what happened to me this week. No need to worry about keeping a distance from my son, cleaning handles, using different towels etc as he jumped ship immediately and moved in with his girlfriend!

The question was what to do with all of this time in the house on my own. I decided on a mix of doing some painting and drawing, which I enjoy, and some clearing out of cupboards, a task which is usually avoided except when moving to a new house!

Having enjoyed doing pen and ink drawings for the ceramic candle jar designs, I embarked on some designs for a new range of cards and coasters: Fox, mouse, squirrel and hedgehog. Having completed these fairly quickly and having become bored with cupboards,

I embarked on a recent commission to paint a barn wedding venue in St Andrews, with a view to making ceramic coasters for the wedding party favours, as a keepsake.

It is nice to have variety of subjects and mediums, so probably now time to move on to finishing my sheep felts, which still require beading and embroidery.

Unfortunately, my self-isolation meant my meeting to discuss Etsy had to be postponed, so no movement on that idea just yet. However, I was invited to join a new  Facebook group ‘ She Means Business ‘ this week ,where there are social media experts who may be able to help me too.

I got more information regarding the charity auction for the Edinburgh Cat and Dog home this week . It will be held in April but merchandise featuring our images will be on sale in SDX after that, with all proceeds going to the charity.

I will share related blogs when available.

Rhona x

HOLIDAY DOODLES

Last week I returned to my timeshare in Royal Deeside for my annual winter break.

It has been our family’s second home for 30 years. Despite the horrendous weather conditions elsewhere in the UK, and internationally, we had dry, bright weather for most of the week. That allowed me to drive safely along miles of single-track road to revisit Loch Muick, by the mountains and glens, with herds of stags grazing by the pine trees.

It was especially poignant, as last year when the family visited the same spot, we scattered my husband’s ashes. It will always have a very special place in my heart. It was to be a relaxing week after the busy time in the Far East, so some spa treatments, a good book and some jigsaws.

Imagine my surprise when the jigsaw I bought turned out to be a quirky one where the picture on the box didn’t match the picture on the jigsaw!

I usually like to use my interest in detail to spot the location of each jigsaw piece in the image on the box ... not so with this one. What a nightmare!!! Not so relaxing!

Fortunately, I also took my sketch pad and pens, to work on more potential designs for the ceramic candle jars, for my collaboration with Caroline from Simply Scottish candles. She texted me some new fragrance ideas and I tried to design images to depict the different scents.

Hopefully we can progress towards sample development in the near future. Creating images composed of thousands of individual dots has really been a great way to express myself, using a different medium from my usual watercolour.

It is probably no surprise that I enjoy this, as I am known for enjoying producing detailed paintings. I could hardly find anything more detailed ... just lots of tiny dots. It is exciting to keep exploring new artistic avenues whilst consolidating previous ideas.

This week I need to frame and deliver my felt sheep pictures and make some more, so that is quite a difference from last week’s fun. 


I have decided to enlist for another year of BNI (business network international) as it has really helped me to grow my referral network and my business. I would recommend it.

This week I have a meeting with a colleague to discuss exploring Etsy as another forum to sell goods on. Watch this space....

 

SHABBY SHEEP

I have been working hard since my return from holiday, having completed my stock taking at the Scottish Design Exchange in Ocean Terminal , Leith, and working on my order for pictures of felt sheep for Greengate Gallery , Culross, and the Corner cafe, Falkirk.

I decided to test a new Shabby Sheep product idea, so have made a sample personalised family felt picture. The idea is that the number of sheep will correlate with the number of family members and the customer can choose the background colour scheme to match their room. They would therefore be ‘made to order’, unique gifts.

I plan to explore whether this type of product might be suitable for Etsy... some research required. Having recently joined a Facebook forum for all SDX artists, I will be able to gain from their expertise in this area.

I may have to make quite a bit of stock in various colour schemes in order that I can fulfil orders more quickly if they prove popular, but it is quite exciting to consider launching a new product.

I am also in discussion with the Port Gallery , who are assisting with printing , framing and merchandising regarding potential Tote bags and Teatowels with some of my images on them , including the Shabby Sheep crew ... Baa...rbara, Baa...rry, Meh...lvin and Meh...ryl.  

Looking forward to seeing the samples. Not surprisingly, pricing will be the challenge.

As usual, I will turn to Philip, my website hero, to help put them on to my website when I am ready to sell.

He has also been busy launching his printing business recently, so I would suggest checking out his page for info on all of the deals available, especially if you are looking for business cards, fliers etc. https://www.facebook.com/ReadyPrintUK/.

Good quality printing says a lot about your business and the quality of the products which you sell.

Next week I will be up north amongst the mountains, lochs, stags

Rhona X

FAR EAST ADVENTURE COMPLETE

After three and a half weeks of high temperatures and humidity I have finally arrived back in Scotland to cold temperatures and drizzle. What an adventure travelling between Hong Kong, Taiwan, The Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand.

We were happily cruising away from the Corona virus, but it was ever present in our minds as we stepped off the ship on excursions. Large numbers of people were wearing masks.

It was a cultural overload due to the different religion, behaviours, beliefs and customs and it was also very humbling to see the contrast between the ‘have and have not ‘subsections of the population.

Perhaps the most impactful experience was travelling from the luxurious surroundings of my 5-star cruise ship to visit the rural areas of Cambodia, where the level of poverty was so stark.

Amputees (no doubt the result of land mines) and young barefoot children were begging in the temples, people were living in makeshift shacks beside the roads and the infrastructure for sewage and sanitation was just not there.

Just beside this poverty big shiny casinos were springing up... the result of foreign investment. It was heartening to see children in uniforms heading to very basic classrooms for their education, as surely prioritising education is ultimately the way out of poverty.

At one level it felt inappropriately voyeuristic to visit these areas of deprivation, but tourism is also one way of bringing additional jobs and income into the economy. 

There were so many beautiful tees and pagodas to visit during my trip and so many vibrant colours to inspire my artwork on return home. The fruit market certainly provided ideas for the ceramic candle jar image ideas which I was working on whilst on the ship.

I enjoyed the trip so much that I booked up for next year’s adventure ... Brisbane to Singapore via Kimodo island and Bali. I will be travelling with two new Canadian friends whom I met on the cruise. Becoming a solo traveller for the first time was quite daunting for all of 5 minutes! It is amazing how genuinely nice and inclusive people are when you are travelling on your own.

I was invited to join people for dinner, afternoon tea, quizzes, shopping trips, excursions ... the list is endless. I was even invited to join fellow travellers in the airport lounge ,as their guest , having only met them on the shuttle bus to the airport.

Back home and it was time to get back to business, with a drop off of stock to The Corner cafe , Falkirk , to replenish after recent sales , and now it is time to begin the felting order for The Greengate gallery in Culross . I haven’t felted for months so I am looking forward to it.

While I was away my colleagues at BNI took my quacking duck prop on a networking tour of Ireland. “If you want some art consult the quack “.... a play on the fact that I was a consultant psychiatrist. I received a photo diary of his travels which was quite fun. Back to the early morning breakfast meetings this week.

Rhona x

GREETINGS FROM THE FAR EAST

I am currently on holiday on a Silversea cruise in the Far East. During my travels I will encounter the contrast between the wealth of Hong Kong and poverty in some of the less affluent rural areas, such as Cambodia.

The light show in Hong Kong harbour was quite a spectacle while I dined in a 29th floor restaurant in Kowloon before the sail away the following evening.

Tomorrow I will be visiting hot springs and a geological park in Taiwan... quite a difference! On board the ship I have already been quizzing and learning line dancing and cha-cha, but I am not quite ready for the Strictly Come Dancing tour just yet! 

I decided to bring my sketchbook and drawing pens this time, as I am travelling alone and thought I may need some additional entertainment on sea days. I need not have worried; everyone is so friendly.

The current project is to design some potential illustrations for ceramic candle jars,  to support the next collaboration with Caroline from Simply Scottish candles,  for our Creative Flames range , after the success of our candle tins featuring my felt images of the Shabby sheep , robin and snowman in 2019.

I will keep you posted when we have new products for sale. Mine will be available online and in the Scottish Design Exchange shop in Ocean Terminal, Leith.

On return from my trip I have an order for several framed felt sheep to complete for Greengate gallery in Culross. It will be a welcome return to felting after quite a gap. I have some new ideas for bespoke felt products which I will share once I have a sample to photograph for my blog, so look out for that in the spring. I suspect I may also get some additional inspiration for artwork during my trip.

I have my camera ready for action, to capture all of the places I visit. I expect that there might just be a few temples in amongst there somewhere.

A NEW YEAR...MOVING ON

I can hardly believe it, but the time has come for me to pack for my exciting trip to the Far East, leaving on 16.1.20 and returning on 3.2.20. While I am away, I will be able to monitor my website and Facebook periodically and should be able to organise any orders to be delivered although there may inevitably be some delays.

Obviously, any request for a new commission will now need to await my return. This week I enjoyed doing a pen and ink drawing of Dunan Castle.


When I am away on holiday my friend Dot from the gallery is going to make a sample range of merchandise with the image on it. If you know any special venues who may be interested in having a range of goods to promote their business, please tell them to get in touch.

The possibilities are endless ... paintings, prints, coasters, greetings cards, fridge magnets, tea towels, ceramic plaques and candles ( collaboration with Simply Scottish candles ) . All I need is a detailed photo of the image required and I can produce some images in either pen and ink or watercolour.


I produced a range of images of Colessio hotel in Stirling previously, to demonstrate what options are available. One idea was to offer different artistic images of a venue which could be used by a bride and groom as a memory of their wedding. The guests could be asked to sign the mount. 


This idea would lend itself to retirement parties, special birthday parties and other special events. If the venue has a shop area, then it would be possible to produce souvenirs for visiting guests. Keep checking my website over the next few months as the range starts to expand.

Feedback following the introduction of the ceramic coasters and the candles has been really positive. When individual people and shops start to reorder goods then you know that they are happy with the products.