WEDDING BLISS

Since lockdown began, I have come out of shops and galleries and been focussing on commission work mostly. The trend has definitely been for sentimental artwork which has special meaning for the recipient. The cost value has been overtaken by sentimental value as the deciding factor for buying gifts.

A family friend got married recently. I had already drawn the special location of their engagement and her brother’s three little dogs. I was approached by her husband to be to paint their favourite view, as a gift for his bride, and then I drew an image which celebrated their union as a gift from me and my son, who was ‘brides’ man’, a new concept for me.

The painting was of the iconic three bridges at sunset, in South Queensferry, Scotland. My gift combined theatre masks and music with the symbol often depicted on medical branding, as the bride is a singer and casting agent, and her groom is a doctor. They were delighted.

This week I am preparing for my Open Studio event on 31.10.21, so lots of packaging of new merchandise… fine bone China mugs and candle jars, notepads, tea towels, coasters etc. It has been quite exciting to see it all come together.

The update on my memoir is that I have signed a contract with The Right Book Company, and I am currently working with my editor. Publication date is likely to be June 2021.

Watch this space for updates or follow my Facebook page: Rhonamorrisonauthor

Hello Only Myself back from my break

Over the past week I have enjoyed a fabulous staycation in the Isle of Lewis, with visits to Harris, Skye, North Uist, South Uist, Benbecula and Eriskay thrown in. What a wonderful advert for Scotland.

There were so many stunning, deserted beaches, with pristine sand and crystal-clear water. We had many miles of rollercoaster hills, blind summits, single track roads and passing places but the journeys were definitely rewarded with the scenic treasures at their end points. Thank goodness for automatic cars.

Not surprisingly, there were many photographs taken over the course of the week but perhaps my favourite was not the most picturesque. As we drove through North Uist, a traditional blackhouse came in to view and I couldn’t believe it.

I had painted that very building from a photograph a few years ago. Having now taken my very own photographs I think I may just have to do a pointillism version to join my two previous watercolour paintings.

I am on a three month ‘Write That Book‘ masterclass at the moment so quieter on the art front . Hopefully I will get my memoir finalised and I can sign up with a publisher. I look forward to being able to report on this other creative endeavour over the next few months. It is certainly a steep learning curve.

When I retired from the NHS in 2018, I never imagined that I would be forging a career as an artist and then an author. I guess the future for anyone is what you make it. It has been a lot of work but well worth it!

⭐️YOUR VOTES COUNT⭐️

I have taken delivery of sample merchandise and would love your input to decide what is most popular before I order some stock.

I will have to order a sizeable amount as the fine bone China hug-a-mugs, candle jars and diffusers are produced, and kiln fired in England.

More about the candle jars and diffusers later, as they are currently with the candle maker.

It is quite a process to design fragrances and waxes which burn well in the fine bone China containers. The candle jars have China lids too which can be used as bases and then once the candle has been used, the container can be cleaned for use as a collectible trinket jar with lid.

These are quality products which will feature on the website once available. They come with black presentation boxes and Rhona Morrison Art black and silver ribbon. Unique Rhona Morrison Art gifts. The mugs come with matching ceramic coasters and there are even greetings cards too.

This has been an exceptionally creative period for me, but not always with my art. I had got a bit stuck with the process of editing my memoir, to move towards publication, but I have joined a Write That Book masterclass for 3 months with Michael Heppell and have found myself fired up in to productivity…read, write, edit repeat …. I will keep you posted with my progress.

During this period of activity, I was coincidentally asked to do some book illustrations for a young, local author. This was a departure from my normal type of artwork, but an enjoyable project. I look forward to her book launch in a few months and seeing my work in print.

I don’t think the subject matter in my book lends itself to my illustrations but who knows. Watch this space.

Rhona

 

🌸🌲 NATURE ON OUR DOORSTEP 🌳🌺

The weather recently has been, at best, variable. However, on one of the nicer days I decided to go for a walk around the pond at Stirling University campus.

What a treat! It is an absolutely stunning campus, with such a wide array of mature trees. I was surrounded by vibrant green foliage and dappled light filtering through to illuminate both small patches of bluebells and the local wildlife.

Out in the middle of the pond were the swans, keeping a watch from a distance on their mates who were carefully sitting on nests nearer the shore. As the swans swapped places, to keep the eggs warm, I counted 7 large eggs.

The ducks appeared a bit further on, with their little brood swimming along behind them...the miracle of nature and new life was looking back at me as a reflection on the surface. I could also see the Wallace monument reflected there. 

It reminded me of the pointillism series that I completed last summer: Stirling Uni, Wallace Monument, Stirling bridge and Stirling castle. The image I created of the university and the monument was reflected in the pond, just like the duck and the swans.

Lockdown has certainly encouraged me to get out walking more, so more and more opportunities for artistic inspiration.


I also attended my nephew’s wedding in Charles Rennie Macintosh’s House for an Art lover. What a beautiful venue. I was pleased to see that my wedding present of a pointillism drawing of the venue captured the essence of the place as a memento.

The manager suggested that I take prints to the shop to see if they might be interested in stocking it. Nothing ventured nothing gained, so I will give it a try. It was really nice to get such positive feedback on my work.

I would be happy to capture other wedding venues in a similar way ... ideal personalised gifts with meaning.

🐾🐶THEO RULES 🐶🐾

This week was really good for me. One of my greatest pleasures is getting a positive reaction from a customer. My business colleague had ordered a painting of his wife’s grandmother’s cottage in Dornie and a pen and ink pointillism drawing of their cute little dog Theo.

I had not realised the significance of the little cottage and the painted blue bench outside, which overlooked the loch. Apparently, her gran had died, and she had spoken so fondly of times spent there, that her husband thought he would commission the painting.

After a bit of a struggle identifying a photo which I could use, we were off. I sent daily updates until it was complete. He also wanted the drawing of their cute little dog as a present from their son, but sent me a photo of an action shot, with little Theo running towards the camera.

It captured his little personality perfectly, but I was slightly hesitant, as I was unsure if I would be able to capture the action adequately. However, I decided to give it a go. Another challenge was drawing a white dog using only black dots!

Every day is a school day as I learn my craft. Again, it was targeting the shadows that would achieve the result, similar to painting snow in watercolour!

Imagine my delight, when on the evening of his wife’s birthday, my friend forwarded a video of his wife opening her present. She was genuinely moved to tears. That kind of reaction is what makes art so worthwhile.

I wonder what the next challenge and learning experience will be. As I am not working for someone else, I have the luxury of being able to choose when I work, what medium I use and what I work on. That is quite liberating.

In down time, I give some focus to working on editing by book. It would be nice to get that project to fruition, so if you know a good literary agent, send them my way.

💙 SNOWDROPS FOR STRATHCARRON

Guess what arrived last week? I designed a greetings card for the Strathcarron Hospice 40th anniversary. All proceeds will go to the hospice. It feels good to give back to this wonderful organisation. As a charity they have to raise £12900 per day to keep the hospice going.

They have a special place in my heart, as in 2018 their’ hospice at home ‘team visited my home, to support my husband Richard in his final days, before he died from a brain tumour.

The packs of cards can be bought from the Strathcarron Hospice online shop from the 40th anniversary merchandise section.

Last year at the start of lockdown I designed the crocus cards to raise funds for Rotary’s international End Polio Now campaign. Since then, I have been on the Rotary guest speaker list and have delivered talks on my career as a forensic psychiatrist, my art and my fundraising campaign. We have sold more than £2000 worth of cards so far.

The Bill and Melinda Gates foundation support this charity and multiply what we raise by three, so that means £6000 towards EPN already. I have talked from Stornaway to the Isle of Wight. I think Margate is next ... thank goodness for zoom!

Fundraising for charity feels like a really worthwhile endeavour. Utilising my skills for the greater good has reinforced the core Rotary statement ... SERVICE BEFORE SELF. 
I plan to continue to try to fundraise for charity using my artistic skills whilst in Rotary, as it generates good profit.

I wonder what the next project will be.

I have considered putting the crocus image on other merchandise to sell at the District Conference... watch this space. There may be coasters, tea towels and plaques ...

EDINBURGH SKYLINE 🏰 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

When my son announced that his friend was getting married, he followed up with a request for a commission, as a wedding present.

Unfortunately, he told me on the Wednesday night and said he would be visiting his friend on the Sunday! No pressure! I got started on the Thursday and had to finish by Friday afternoon, in order to drop off the drawing with the gallery for a quick turnaround framing job.

First, we had to decide on subject matter. It had to be something meaningful for this lockdown, twice rescheduled wedding. It was to be held in Edinburgh, so we decided on a pen and ink drawing of the Edinburgh skyline.

However, as I use photographs as inspiration, I had to rely on images taken from the internet. Sadly, shadows and lack of detail when the photos were enlarged meant a large portion of artistic license when it came to architectural detail. The final result was still representative of the Edinburgh skyline, as viewed from Calton Hill.

As someone who thrives on detail, it was challenging, but the final result was good. Framed with a double mount and black frame, and the happy couple’s names and wedding day date printed on the mount, it proved to be a popular gift. People really value gifts where time has been taken to choose a uniquely personal keepsake. 

If you are planning a commission as a gift for someone who has everything, or who is difficult to buy for, please try to build in a bit more time for the artist!

I was reminded again of how important good quality photographs are for me because of my preference for creating detailed artwork. 

Congratulations to the happy couple when the big day comes.

WINTER, SPRING, SUMMER OR FALL

Recently we have regularly had four seasons in one day. Who knew we would still be seeing snow in April? I have enjoyed a busy winter working on a range of commissions, covering dogs, horses, houses and wild animals, to name some of the subject matter.

When my friend asked me to paint her friend’s beautiful self-build bungalow, surrounded by deep snow, I had quite a challenge on my hands.

If you have never tried watercolour painting, you may have assumed that when you want to paint something white you will just crack open a tube of white paint... you would be mistaken. If you want something to remain white, you don’t paint it.

I had a photograph to work from which on first glance was a sea of white, so I would not be painting a lot of it! In reality, what I would be painting were reflections and shadows which would suggest the presence of the snow underneath. It proved to be a real test of my observational skills.

I was quite pleased with the end result, as was my customer and the recipient of the gift, which is what really matters. As this was something that I hadn’t tackled before, it was one of those useful learning curve challenges which ultimately results in personal growth. I relish the next one.

The issues with white are true for any subject matter. Endless hours of work on a pet portrait could be wasted, if my hand slips or paint runs over the glint in the eye, which is a tiny speck of white on the paper.

That unpainted spot brings sparkle and life to the eye. Again, a case of DON’T PAINT THE WHITE! Some very fine brushwork skills are required. Unlike acrylic painting, you can’t really paint over mistakes in watercolour. Many artists find watercolour one of the most difficult mediums to work with because you can’t paint over mistakes or control the paint so easily.

That is however one of the joys of watercolour, particularly when painting skies, where I find it is better to work with what the paint and water do on the page rather than contrive clouds in a manmade fashion. Dabbing damp skies with a piece of kitchen roll lifts sufficient paint to create lovely, realistic, fluffy clouds.

🏝COAST TO COAST 🏝

As we face yet another week of freezing temperatures and a forecast for more snow, it seemed appropriate to share some coastal watercolour paintings to get us in the mood for holiday planning later in the year.

I can’t wait to get back to cruising again although I suspect that I will staying a bit closer to home for the first one. As the vaccination programme starts rolling out, it brings with it some hope. We need to get those smiles and social interactions back as soon as safely possible.

This week I have been deluged with commissions which is great news for me ... lots of lockdown entertainment for me. There are dogs in woolly hats, horses and houses ... so welcome variety. It was a first for me trying to paint a knitted hat where every stitch was on show.

Although initially daunted, it was actually all about a task of accurate observation of detail, light and shadow. I can’t wait to hear how the recipient reacts following the big reveal as it a highly personal surprise commission in memory of a much-loved pet. The joy of commissions continues to be the feedback from happy customers.

What have you been up to creatively? I had no bananas for banana bread, so it was red velvet cupcakes for me. Sadly, all of the cooking is resulting in a few extra pounds on the hips.

I have spent some time looking through some previous paintings, to create some more themed collages to keep everyone’s spirits up. Revisiting previous work is also a good way to showcase the range of subject matter I have tackled. I notice a progression as I have honed my skills.

Being self-taught it has been an interesting journey of discovery, finding what techniques work best for skies, water and reflection in particular. It is quite liberating not being constrained by conventional techniques, as I don’t know what they are.

Have a great week.

Rhona.

GRRRR...

This week it was time for a change on the commission front. Recently I have tended to be painting favourite pets and favourite places, but then my friend Janis commissioned a painting of his favourite two wild animals, a lion and a tiger.

Well, I am hopeful that he doesn’t have live ones stashed in the back garden! I decided to post the painting to him, just in case! Travel restrictions did play their part too.

Next on the list was a pet portrait of a horse for a 21st birthday present.

More of that later ... it’s a surprise!

The focus this week is work on my memoir, with a change in focus towards more of a professional confessional genre, following a helpful discussion with a lovely literary agent. It seems that is likely to have more commercial appeal.

The challenge is trying to achieve the balance between interesting stories, destigmatisation of mental illness and the human element. Sensationalist journalism can be so damaging.

I hope is to change attitudes towards mentally disordered offenders by offering a window to my unique world and the people within it. I sense a major rewrite in prospect, but perhaps quite fortuitously I have quite a bit of time on my hands due to lockdown and social isolation.


I am pleased to report that Strathcarron hospice are planning to have my snowdrop design cards printed for use in their 40th anniversary celebration fundraising this year.

All the profits will go to the charity, with funds much needed due to the current constraints on fundraising experienced by all charities during the pandemic. It is nice to be able to use my skills for the greater good.

Sales of the charity crocus cards for Rotary’s End Polio Now campaign is ongoing too. As a Rotary guest speaker, I have regular opportunities to raise the profile and sell cards which is great.

The worldwide campaign started by Rotary International has eradicated more than 99 % of Polio throughout the world so far. It is great to play my part in such a worthwhile cause.

Stay safe everyone.