HAPPY NEW YEAR

I thought I would start the new year with something different. We had a two week break from our Business Network International breakfast meetings over the festive period, so 8.1.21 was my first 5.30 am alarm call.

As part of the meeting, we have the opportunity to give testimonials for any exemplary work that another member has done for us. I received the following testimonial (see below) from a BNI colleague from another chapter. It was so lovely to get recognition for a good piece of work I had completed and to hear of the positive impact my work had made.

It raised my spirits on this freezing, snowy morning but it also raised my profile and credibility with my BNI colleagues, making it more likely that they will feel comfortable referring me to friends and family.

As a result of this kind gesture, I may get more referrals. Currently I am working on a new watercolour commission of a lion and tiger and I have just completed a pointillism pen and ink picture of Charles Rennie MacIntosh’s House for an Art Lover

This is a wedding present for my nephew as this is the wedding venue. Sadly, we may have to reschedule due to the current lockdown. However, with all the retail outlet disruption just now, this is a great time to commission artwork as a personal gift solution, so I remain active, working from home. Please get in touch if I can help.

My vet colleague announced this morning that he has noticed a puppy boom in lockdown. Perhaps that will trigger a pet portrait boom too.

Watch this space.

 Rhona

Testimonial

Good morning Building Bridges Chapter, I wanted to write and provide a testimonial for one of your exceptionally talented members – Rhona Morrison.

I was introduced to Rhona through one of our fellow BNi members and I am very glad this introduction was made. In lockdown our home has joined the masses in taking on the responsibility of a puppy Boe Violet the Cavapoo.

I wanted to have a painting of Boe Violet commissioned to give to my partner Jen for her Christmas. From the moment I contacted Rhona I felt I was in safe hands. Rhona took the time to understand what style of painting I was looking for; showed me examples of her work to give me confidence in her clear talents and gave very clear pricing.

When I saw the painting, I was absolutely delighted with the finished article. Rhona has managed to capture not only the gorgeous puppy looks that Boe has but also her personality. I cannot wait to see the joy in Jen’s face when she takes receipt of the beautifully framed and mounted painting that Rhona has created for her this Christmas.

Rhona, thank you doing such a fantastic job and I would have absolutely no hesitation in referring you to anyone in my network or my family who is looking to commission a piece of art. Thank you. Ally Watson Director 0141 345 0850 07789572882 Ally@simply-recruit.co.uk

MERRY CHRISTMAS 🎄

Merry Christmas to everyone. What did you manage within the restrictions this year? A surprise visit to granny, a quiet family meal and some board games got us through.

I noticed quite a few more personalised gifts this year, probably linked to friends and family shopping online and making an extra effort to be thoughtful.

This will certainly be a Christmas to remember, but hopefully it is a ‘one of ‘and not the new normal moving forward. I have waited patiently to start getting feedback on the Christmas commissions and now it has started to trickle in.

Everyone so far has been delighted with their personal unique gifts. It has been a real pleasure being part of their gift experience. Moving forward, commissions appear to be my preferred direction of travel.

Requests for new commissions from strangers, who have been given personal recommendations by previous recipients of my artwork, are the best form of marketing my business could have.

I have already had my first post-Christmas commission, triggered by someone seeing their friend’s Christmas commission painting of their Cavapoo.

In the art world reputation is everything. It is not about training and qualifications... it is about producing good quality work which customers enjoy. When the subject matter is their favourite pet or place, satisfaction is almost guaranteed.

So, what will the new year bring? Brexit, vaccines, face masks and hopes of foreign travel as we start to take control of the coronavirus pandemic. I have not booked my next cruise yet, but I have started thinking about it again.

It is difficult to predict what subject matter will make its way into the commissions, as cartoon Christmas cards, family homes, hospitals and personalised maps would not have been on last year’s predictions list, yet they still made their way on to my list. Pet portraits certainly have been the most constant feature, so are perhaps the most predictable requests moving forwards.

At last, the fine bone China products with pointillism artwork have arrived. Off to the candle maker next, to get them ready for advertising and sale. I can’t wait to share them.

Have a great New Year celebration, as best you can.

Rhona x

HARNESSING MEMORIES

At this time of year I find myself inundated with urgent requests for commissions. The idea of truly unique personal gifts is becoming the new norm as we negotiate lockdown . It seems that spending more time with family and less time with friends has made us stop to appreciate who and what is important in life . Gone are big fancy weddings , instead replaced by small intimate gatherings with the people who really matter, Christmas plans with only our immediate family, cancelled’ BIG’ birthday celebrations and all sorts of other adjusted festivities.

It seems we have all been trying a little bit harder to find gifts with special meaning ,to let people know we are still thinking of them ... cue ,call the artist ! The range of requests has included paintings and pen and ink drawings of pianos, dead dogs, puppies, cats, commemorative benches, beaches, personalised maps, sunsets, roses / thistles/ clover , houses, hospitals ... the list is endless.

As a result I am on very personal terms with the picture framer . I practically live at the gallery. I should probably have my own car parking space !!! I also had some fun designing fun cartoon Christmas cards for my friend Gavin’s electricians business . Rudolph will certainly be lighting up this Christmas . As you can see it has been a very varied and very busy autumn . It shows no sign of slowing down just yet.

Sadly the recent lockdown due to the Covid 19 pandemic has delayed the delivery of fine bone china merchandise which I had ordered with my artwork on it as Christmas gift ideas . Hopefully I will be able to share them as year round gift options instead ( candles, diffusers and mugs ). The quality of the samples was excellent , so I am really excited to see them and share them with everyone. Watch this space for updates.

During the summer I worked mostly on pen and ink pointillism and felt less motivated to paint . How things change ... a recent surge of painting requests has sparked my interest again .

These two commissions were requested by my friend Sam ,to harness memories of two special people no longer with us . They are of places with particular significance to them so they are a constant memorial to their lives .

Who will you be remembering this Christmas?

COMMISSION CITY 🎨

In the past few weeks, the big ‘C’ has definitely raised its head ... yes, I am talking about CHRISTMAS!

People are starting to think about what presents to buy for their loved ones and looking for unique gifts for all these birthday and anniversary celebrations which have been cancelled due to Covid restrictions. As a result, I have started to get busy with commissions.... it truly has become commission city. 

I have been focussing almost exclusively on pen and ink pointillism recently, but I had to get the watercolour paints out as there have been requests to capture favourite scenes and landmarks as gifts. It made me realise just how much I love pointillism, as it was hard to motivate myself to do the paintings.

This week I have completed two watercolour landscapes and two pointillism pet portraits. I have decided to focus more on pointillism after Christmas. There seem to be plenty of people with plenty of pets out there to keep me busy.

It is strange to have come full circle, back to the pet portraits that I thought I did not want to focus on, but life is a journey of discovery.

Having re-edited my memoir recently, I seem to have been doing a lot of reflecting on journeys. It seems we are always learning and reinventing ourselves, deciding on life’s next path.

This part of my journey would never have happened had I not been in lockdown with paper and pens. Something good has come from something terrible. I guess that is how we evolve.

I may be producing lots of artwork as gifts but the situation this Christmas seems quite uncertain. As we head back in to ever increasing restrictions, due to escalating levels of infection, it is unclear just what Christmas will look like in 2020.

Many may not spend it with loved ones ... all the more reason for thoughtful gifts which let people know that we are thinking of them. It is good to be part of this small but meaningful solution.

Personally, I enjoy hearing the reactions of recipients. You do not get that from anonymous sales in shops and galleries. Delivering the framed artwork is all part of the experience for me.

I wonder where the next commission will take me.

⛰ HIGHLAND RETREAT

Over the past week I have spent more time with my 89-year-old mother than I have in years. I decided to treat her to a staycation in a lodge in Ballater, nestled in the heart of Royal Deeside. What an inspiring place for an artist.

There were mountains, glens, trees, waterfalls, falling autumn leaves and trees of every shade of red, and vibrant orange. However, most pleasure on this trip was derived from watching the sheer joy of mum having her first proper holiday in years, away from the confines of her Covid restricted four walls.

Originally it was intended to be a holiday with me and both grandchildren, but the current restrictions meant only our extended family bubble could gob (I am her carer) My daughter had to drop out. Trips out for a drive in the beautiful Highland scenery, afternoon tea, coffee shop lunches and fancy dinners became our itinerary, with a lot of resting in between.

I caught up on a pointillism pet portrait commission and designed this year’s Christmas card... a traditional robin with holly berries, treated to a bit of pointillism magic.

Hopefully, I can get them printed and ready for sale in the next couple of weeks. I am thinking red envelopes are in order, so a sourcing challenge for the printer. Sourcing anything at the moment is trickier due to Covid related supply chain delays. 

I also took the time to make final tweaks to my memoir ‘ No, I don’t talk to dead bodies’- the memoir of a forensic psychiatrist, as I was due to send the whole manuscript to a publisher in Florida for comment . Part of this process involved my two adult children having first sight of the content. It was incredibly daunting.

There is so much personal investment in the content of a memoir that feedback is likely to feel very personal too. They loved it ... what a relief. Their feedback meant a lot to me. I now feel more confident to actively pursue literary agents and publishers.

This will be my focus over the next few months, whilst trying to meet commission demands and deal with Christmas orders. I have been deluged with pet portrait orders recently. I suspect this is the start of a wave.

Rhona x

COMMISSION CITY

It is interesting for this technophobe to watch the response to Facebook posts, LinkedIn and blogs, in terms of number of engagements, followers, likes, comments and the subsequent commissions requests.

For some time now I have been planting the seed that I am the person to approach if you are looking for a unique gift for someone special or for a birthday, anniversary etc. I wondered whether this personal shopper idea where create the specific gift that you cannot buy in the shops would take off. I guess I adopted a watch and wait approach.

To my surprise these seeds have taken hold and the fresh growth of referrals for commissions are now sprouting. I have had my busiest two weeks since I started trading. It has been particularly pleasing to see demand for pen and ink pointillism commissions, my preferred medium / style now.

I completed a seagull and crow on a wall with Ravenscraig steelworks behind them ( unique back story to that one ) , two Rottweilers, two spaniels, the Cat Protection league building ( a  Vet colleague was leaving ) and several more on the list, including a view of a commemorative bench with the backdrop of Arthur’s seat in Edinburgh.

How would you feel if someone took the time to have something unique commissioned for you? With the second wave of Covid and further lockdown looming, I think I will be able to keep myself gainfully employed. It feels as if all of the hard work has paid off.

Art is a profession built on reputation, customer satisfaction and word of mouth recommendations. There really is no substitute for taking the time to build this, painting by painting, drawing by drawing and in my case dot by dot. I am pleased to say that several customers are repeat customers, with several pieces of artwork on their walls.

I have heard people say that they are growing as an artist. Until recently I didn’t appreciate what that meant ... now I feel it. I have truly found my own style and groove and it feels good. With each picture I am developing my technique and repertoire.

What is next ...onwards and upwards.

UNUSUAL COMMISSIONS AND CUTE KITTENS

This has been a funny old week. I have had a flurry of commissions for very specific and unique gifts. Whether it is a retiring colleague and an image of their workplace or a special birthday gift, the subject matter has to have special significance for the recipient.

It holds many memories, capturing them within the frame as a moment in time to treasure. Normally I simply turn the photograph in to my interpretation in the artwork but this week all I got was a request for a crow and a seagull on a wall, with Ravenscraig steelworks in the background.

The commissioner clearly had an image in his head, but I had nothing to go on in terms of scale, composition or medium, as he said he trusted my judgement and would leave it up to me. With the industrial theme it seemed appropriate to go with the starker black and white pointillism style.

From a tentative start it began to emerge in front of my eyes and the end result seemed to meet the brief. Sometimes we all need to be taken out of our comfort zone.

I try to put an image on Facebook each week but avoid putting surprise commissions on there, just in case the intended recipient sees them. The question then was, what will I put on Facebook? I decided to create a pointillism picture of a kitten, something which I hadn’t tried before. To my surprise, there seem to be a lot of cat lovers out there! It was clearly a hit.

My creativity then extended to home baking for the Rotary Car Treasure Hunt this weekend.

A box of in-car goodies for each of the 54 participants to keep them going for the journey... fortunately a task shared with one of the other Rotarians.


Attempts to find a literary agent or publisher for my memoir are ongoing but BNI colleagues have been really helpful in making contacts for me ... needless to say I am actively following them all up. In summary, this week has been a mixed bag of creative endeavours, each achieving some degree of success.

I wonder where this week will take me in t

BAAA...BAAA 🐑 ... MEMOIR

What impact has lockdown had on you?

The impact for me has definitely been the massive increase in the use of technology, to aid communication.

I spend multiple hours per week on ZOOM calls and meetings linked to being Vice President of my BNI business group , Junior Vice President at my Rotary club and doing guest speaker talks at Rotary clubs around Scotland about my life and work , my art and my fundraising campaign for End Polio Now (11 so far and counting !)

This week it was Crail and Stornoway ... they are all starting to roll in to one. It is a pleasure to meet likeminded people and it helps the charity card sales...I have sold more than £2000 worth so far. 

I also had a successful meeting with the local hospice this week ... so I am hopeful that we will be collaborating on a charity card for them too in the near future.

However , zoom is taking its toll on my eyes . My varifocals are set for reading and distance vision. I suspect I may not be the only person who has required to invest in intermediate strength lenses, to sharpen up the smiling faces on screen! I collected my “ zoom specs “ this morning ... can’t wait to try them out .

Much of this week was spent re-editing my memoir ,to get it more polished before my next batch of submissions to literary agents.  It is incredibly difficult and frustrating trying to get an agent ... it would be much easier if you could just send the whole manuscript and get an opinion, but apparently that is not how it works. 

My personal assistant from NHS days (still friends) has kindly agreed to make the final tweaks to it, which means she will be the first person to read it. She was such a big part of my journey, that it feels apt.

The process of sharing this personal story  has turned out to be a very vulnerable experience ,which I hadn’t really appreciated when I embarked on my writing journey ,but it is also incredibly exciting.

I did  eventually get back in to the art studio, to finish a felt sheep family commission ,which needed embroidery and bead embellishments. Off to the gallery for framing and family names on the mount next. They are unique gifts for families, especially if there is a new baby.

FACE MASKS AND STAYCATIONS...THE ‘ NEW NORMAL ‘

This has been quite a summer due to lockdown and all the restrictions linked to the Covid 19 pandemic. Staycations in Scotland were recommended to support the local economy and prevent the spread of the virus.


Having completed my trip to Oban, I then got ready for Staycation number 2 in Arran. Having never been to Arran I did not know what to expect. What a pleasant surprise.


It was Scotland in miniature... it had everything, coastal walks on pebble beaches, great expanses of unspoiled sandy beaches, seals, rock pools, castles, mountains, glens, waterfalls, caves and standing stones. We even went crab fishing and had a Segway adventure.


There was so much scenic inspiration for painting ... lots of photos as a result. The odd thing was the ‘new normal’ situation with face masks.


You cannot go anywhere without one nowadays. Hopefully, these precautions mean that we will avoid a second lockdown.

I still have a further staycation to go ... Ballater at the end of October.

On return, I picked up a sample face mask from the printers, with one of my pen and ink drawings on it ... the bumble bee with pollen.

 Something different!

I need to make some decisions soon, as SDX in Leith is moving to the centre of Edinburgh. We had to remove all our stock and will need to restock for opening in October.

The original shop catered for tourists from the cruise ships coming into Ocean Terminal, so merchandise was key. The new location may attract a different clientele, so difficult decisions to be made re what to stock. Original watercolours may potentially be more likely to sell than merchandise.

I also have my new pointillism range to consider... decisions, decisions ... I hope to sell on the SDX online shop too, so will monitor the response to that too.

People’s shopping habits have definitely been impacted by the pandemic, with more online sales likely than before. I will watch on with interest.

ARISAIG CALLING

This week I was on holiday in Oban for a staycation. You might have thought that there would be no artwork or normal Rotary or BNI business going on, but I was quite busy.

I had agreed to be guest speaker for Ellon Rotary club in Aberdeen via zoom, so had to contend with dodgy Wi-Fi in my holiday apartment. I felt that I could not miss BNI as it was my first week in the role of Vice President.

The Wi-Fi went down, and I couldn’t access the script or stats for an anxious few hours but I was instructed how to create a hotspot with my mobile phone and calm was restored.

Bob the vet from BNI asked me to do some artwork for quirky covid posters for his practice, which was a bit of holiday light relief ... I have not drawn cartoons for years! Next, I moved on to designing a possible charity greetings card idea for Strathcarron hospice.

Fingers crossed that they like it and we can help raise some much needed funds for them .

One of my latest pointillism drawings was of Arisaig beach where my neighbour’s daughter got engaged , so it only seemed right to actually visit Arisaig when I was on holiday . It was stunning! I may have to get the paintbrushes out.

This week my son Fraser is the main creative person in the family as he is directing and performing in a virtual musical theatre concert on YouTube with his friends. It was recorded in bedrooms across Scotland during lockdown.

They normally have two fundraising concerts per year and have raised more than £20000. They did not want a pandemic to halt their plans. I hope you enjoy it.

The work that goes into the production is quite astounding.

The pianist records his music , sends it to Fraser , Fraser videos himself conducting to the music , the conducting video and music are sent to performers who then video themselves singing their part of the harmony and then all the recordings come back to Fraser to be digitally knitted together on audio and screen .... it has been exhausting just watching over his shoulder!

They have chosen music mostly from newish musicals, so it is refreshingly different ... enjoy x